How to ace a group project or task

Whether you love or loathe a group task, you’ll have to take part in one sometimes – whether that’s at university, during the graduate recruitment process or after you’ve bagged your perfect job.

As teamwork is a part of work, employers often use assessment centre group exercises to test how well candidates will work with others.

We’ve put together our top tips to succeed in a group exercise that you can apply in an assessment centre – and beyond. We’ll cover the following tricks for how to ace a group project:

• Understand the brief
• Communicate effectively
• Build on the ideas of others
• Engage and include everyone
• Motivate your team
• Keep track of time

You can’t ace a group project if you don’t understand the brief. The first thing you need to do is work out what the brief is asking you to do – and make sure your teammates understand too.

It’s important that you fully get the brief so that you can contribute. If you don’t understand anything, ask your team for help.

One way to check you’re all on the same page is to each summarise your understanding of the brief.

To work well in a team, you need good communication skills.

When you're expressing your ideas, be clear, concise and confident. Make your point but don’t dominate the discussion.

Part of effective communication is listening. It’s crucial that you show assessors that you take other people’s opinions on board. Try not to just wait for a talking teammate to finish so you can change the topic. Instead, you should actively listen to them and respond to what they say.

To prove your active listening skills, build on the ideas that your teammates bring to the table.

It's also a way of supporting others. Look to recognise the good parts of people’s ideas and promote them using positive language.

For example, you could say “I like that idea, and it would allow us to…” to praise them while showing that you’ve spotted an additional benefit.

Alternatively, you might say “That makes sense, and it’d be particularly good if we combined it with…” to show how you’d take things further without putting the original contributor down.

When you’re in a team, it’s important that everyone feels part of it.

At an assessment centre, assessors will be looking for your ability to manage (and improve) a team dynamic. You’ll always get better results out of a team if everyone feels comfortable enough to contribute.

The performance of a team depends largely on the effectiveness of all members, so do what you can to get everyone involved.

If you’re leading a group discussion, encourage everyone to take turns to suggest their opinions and give each person equal time to get their points across. When everyone has shared their ideas, suggest a democratic approach to decision-making (ie. a team vote), so everyone has a say.

Even if you’re not the one in charge of a group project, you can still support your team. Ask the quieter members of the group for their feedback on your suggestions. You can address them directly using their name.

“Alex, what do you think about that idea?”

It’s important to keep up morale within a team. To boost morale, use positive language. When you have successes within a team activity, congratulate people.

“Well done everyone, that was brilliant.”

“We’re halfway through! We’re going to finish the project on time.”

Motivational words show that you care about your team and encourage everyone to do their best work.

In an assessment centre, your group exercises will be time-limited – and that time will fly by if you don’t keep track of it.

Make sure that either you or someone else is managing timekeeping.

You could allocate time to the tasks within the overall objective. For example, if you’ve got an hour to complete the activity and there are four parts, plan how long each stage will take and check in on your progress throughout to make sure you’re on track.

To be successful in a group exercise, you’ve got to get the most out of others and manage the team dynamic positively.

It’s always important to listen to others but remember that you’ve still got to actively contribute to the group. You need to give the assessor something to assess, so show that you’re a team player who’s willing to listen to others and has ideas of their own.

Group exercises are just one test you’ll likely come across during the graduate recruitment process. For more guidance, check out our expert assessment centre advice. We’ve also put together some tips on what employers are looking for at an assessment centre.