Rabu 21/3/2018
What I learned in class today is about frequent mistakes in planning. There are thirteen frequent mistakes in planning. First of all, not planning. The biggest mistakes made in planning is not doing it. Second is planning too much. It is because, having
too many activities planned often results in superficial coverage of several important topics. Third, irrelevant or meaningless content. Leaders sometimes use introductory exercises that are irrelevant and, thus, fail to set the appropriate tone, or they
conduct activities that are not related to the members’ concerns. Leaders also introduce topics that relate to only one or two members and this causes the others to lose interest or become resentful. Fourth, not allowing enough time for the group to have any significant meaning. A good plan will include exercises and activities that obviously allow members to gain meaningful experiences from the group sessions. Fifth, Inappropriate Exercises. Leaders will sometimes plan an exercise for which members are not ready. For example, exercise that involve sharing about sexual concerns.
Next is too many exercises. This prevents members from having enough time to process and learn from the exercises,
thereby robbing them of much of the value of the exercise. Poor planning of time which is leaders often plan too much time for activities such as rounds or written exercises. Poor Planning of the Flow of the Session. In planning, a good plan has a reasonable order or flow. But, some leaders forget this and plan topics or exercises that are not related to each other. Not Planning an Interesting Beginning. Some leaders fail to plan interesting warm-up phases. This is a mistake especially for
groups run in institutions such as prisons or mental hospitals where members tend to be negative.
Allowing Too Much Time for Warm-Up. A common mistake is planning warm-up or introductory activities that last too long. These exercises, although important, can drastically reduce time available for more meaningful, productive work in the middle part of the session. Next is Not Allowing Enough Time for Warm-Up. When leaders have much to cover in a session, they sometimes forget to plan forthe warm-up phase. Members usually need some time to get focused, which is the purpose of the first few minutes of any group. Vague Plans. Many beginning leaders plan their groups too vaguely to be of much help. Forinstance, the leader might plan to deal with the subject of anger and allow 45 minutes for the topic, but neglect to plan in detail how to introduce the topic and what exercises and activities to use. Last is lack of flexibility. Some leaders rigidly follow their plan even when members have raised issues that are more meaningful and appropriate than those planned.