Tips and Tricks for cracking GDs
Undergraduate students need to be able to handle group discussion scenarios as they can be crucial to placements in both postgraduate courses as well as in companies. At Ambalika Institute of Management and Technology, we impart comprehensive and crucial soft skills training to all our students so that they can ace both individual and group interviews and exhibit efficiency and proficiency in their future professional life.
Group Discussions are conducted by many companies as a way of assessing how an individual reacts and interacts in a group situation in terms of
- Team Skills
- Confidence
- Analytical ability
- Listening skills
- Degree of professionalism
- Communication skills
- Leadership and initiative taking
Regarding the above parameters, here are the main Do’s and Don’ts for Group Discussions with examples of the terms and sentences that can be used:
Do’s
| Be respectful always, whether you agree or not with another participant’s views | “I beg to disagree with……./I respectfully disagree with the views of……”
“I do not entirely agree with…..” |
| Try and remember the names of your fellow participants and use them while expressing your ideas | “Akash made a very good point about….” |
| Be mindful of the time you take to speak | At a time, spend only about a minute to express your views and then give others a chance to talk |
| Do not be the initiator in the GD, unless you have something meaningful to say | “I remember hearing the speech of our Prime Minister about demonetization and thought it was a brilliant idea, but it did cause a great deal of encumbrance to the common man in the following ways….” |
| Dress smartly, sit straight but not rigidly and look at all your fellow participants during the whole GD | |
| Take a notebook or notepad with you to jot down any salient points to contribute to a meaningful group discussion | This helps you to contribute to the ideas of the group |
| Do not speak more than twice in a GD lasting about 15 minutes, if others have not had a chance to talk | You can, in fact, display leadership skills even if you have not initiated the discussion, by encouraging shy fellow participants to speak |
| Listen carefully to what others say, whether you agree or disagree; this also helps you to formulate your own views | “Akash mentioned earlier about demonetization not affecting the upper strata of society: I would like him to explain how this happened, as I am not very clear about it” |
Don’ts
| Do not look at the facilitator/panel during the GD. Your attention must only be on the participants | You will display your apprehension or nervousness if you look at the facilitator or panel during the GD. |
| Do not be loud or disrespectful at any point | You can express your views without being forceful |
| Do not look to the facilitator or panel for support | The facilitator is not there to help you in any way |
| Do not treat the GD like a competition, rather, as a friendly discussion to reach some kind of logical conclusion | The only way to do this is to really listen to what everyone is trying to say and to bear in mind that the purpose of the GD is mostly to display collaboration |
| Do not get nervous or anxious if you are not familiar with the GD topic: there are ways to overcome this | Some examples of speaking up even if you do not know the topic: “I’d like Akash to elaborate on what he said about…”
“Neha, would you please explain your point about demonetization increasing the GDP of our country, because I’m not sure if that was the case?”
“Can anyone here give some more examples of the obstacles faced by the common man because of demonetization?” |
| Don’t speak unnecessarily just because you think you have to or that you will be rated higher if you do | At the same time, it is recommended that you speak at least twice during a fifteen minute GD: you can do so through the above examples asking for elaboration or explanation |
| Don’t rudely interrupt anyone | If you do have to interject, you can say it in a polite manner, for example:
“I’d like to hear others’ views on this as well” “We should give others a chance to talk as well” “Akash, if I may interject, I’d like to say that statistics do not necessarily corroborate what you are saying”
“Akash, I disagree with you on that point, and I’d like to explain why…”
“Neha, you do make a good point, and I would like to add to that by saying..” |
| If you are the one to end/summarise the discussion, do not use extreme views for and against the topic | Some examples of what you should not say if asked to summarise or doing so on your own:
“I do not agree with what most of you said, and I still maintain my point of view that….” “This discussion really got us nowhere” “My view is still that….”
Instead, the following phrases are advised: “Well, that was a fruitful discussion and I think we all learnt something from it”
“We may not all have agreed on ….., but it was still very interesting to hear all the different points of view”
“I think this was a very interesting GD, especially because there were so many differing points of view..”
“In conclusion, if I may speak on behalf of all the participants, I think we can all agree that demonetization did benefit our economy in the long term..” |
Remember to treat a Group Discussion as an opportunity to display your collaborative and teamworking skills rather than your knowledge. You will always have a better chance of being hired if you show respect for others, really listen to them and contribute in a meaningful rather than a disruptive way to the discussion. Do visit this blog again for more ideas on how to handle GDS effectively.
