Practicing Organization Development, 5th Edition

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURThe T-Group: Powerful Portal to Self-Knowledge

Matt Minahan

You enter a room with a circle of chairs, several flipcharts, and 8–12 strangers. Given the vague description of the event, you are anxious about what will happen, which says you will learn about yourself. What can these strangers possibly teach me about me?

That’s the starting point for your learning in a T-group.

WHAT A T-GROUP IS AND HOW IT WORKS

The T-group is a learning event, likely lasting five to six days, designed to create experiences that provide participants an “… opportunity to learn about themselves, their impact on others and how to function more effectively in group and interpersonal situations” (Seashore 1999). “It facilitates this learning by bringing together a small group of people to study their behavior when interacting within a small group” (Gallagher 2012).

One of the few organizations offering T-groups today is NTL Institute, in their Human Interaction Laboratories (HI Labs). They describe the elements of the HI Lab as:

• Self-Awareness
• Emotional Intelligence
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
• Group Dynamics
• Authenticity in Relationships
• Deep Listening
• Giving and Receiving Feedback Effectively
• Leadership Effectiveness
• Experiential Methodology of T-Group Work
• Understanding the Use of Self and Our impact on Others (Human Interaction Laboratory n.d.).

It is important to note that these are not goals or learning objectives because the experience of being in a T-group ...