Women's Group Success Practices - Setting the Ground Rules

Every women's group needs to establish basic ground rules to be successful and keep your women coming back. Our suggested rules of the road are easy to understand and easy to maintain, and most importantly must be adhered to for the group to remain cohesive.

These Group Success Practices are meant to be followed at all times during your meetings but are most important when discussing your main topic. It is at this time the group should be a bit more formal, always adhering to the following:

Everyone is to be treated with respect

Each guest is coming to a group to learn and grow. Not everyone will have the same views on topics; not everyone will have the same education or financial stability; not everyone will be on the same page. Snickering, annoyed sighing or eye rolling should never be tolerated.

All ideas are welcomed and there are no right or wrong ideas

Everyone should feel free enough to offer up her ideas or suggestions without worrying that she will be criticized or humiliated. An idea is just that, an idea. It is neither good nor bad, right nor wrong, better nor worse. It is just something to be presented and thought about by everyone.

One person talks at a time

Many groups have a speaking stick, a talking object or some other prop that is passed to and held by the person who has the floor. Your meeting's Facilitator, or if you have a designated Timekeeper, may stop anyone else who interrupts the speaker, gently reminding her that she will have to wait her turn. Most times the talking object holder should expect to speak for about two to three minutes. Remind your guests that you will nudge them to finish up if they get too long-winded.

Practice listening as well as speaking

Remember, it's not always about you. It is said we were given two ears and one mouth because we should listen twice as much as we speak. When others are speaking, they have something worth listening to. Other people have important and differing thoughts than you, and you may learn something new from actively listening.

Confidentiality is crucial

It is often said, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Thoughts, feelings and opinions discussed within the confines of a women's group meeting are to be cherished as something all who attended are privy to. Nothing should be repeated to others outside the meeting. It is only the concern of those who are part of your group. Confidentiality leads to trust, which allows even the most reticent participant to open up and participate.

Remembering these five simple Group Success Practices will ensure that your members feel free to open up and participate actively in your discussions. Safety and security within the confines of your group are essential.

Karen Fusco is co-founder of Boomers In Motion, LLC where 'we talk to women'. She is co-author of Essentials for Starting a Women's Group and "Busy Moms: The Heart and Soul of a Home." Maximize the value of the women in your life by visiting Karen's WomensGroupBusyBites blog.

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Hardcore group behind protests' - BBC News

11 November 2010 Last updated at 16:02 GMT The Tory party headquarters were targeted by protesters Police "struck the wrong balance" when preparing for Wednesday's student protests which were marred by violence, the policing minister has said.

Nick Herbert said police would learn lessons after a "hardcore" minority stormed the Conservatives' London HQ.

The prime minister condemned the violence, which left 41 officers injured and led to 50 arrests.

The Met Police has announced an inquiry into the handling of the march against a rise in university tuition fees.

Those arrested - mostly for criminal damage and aggravated trespass - have been released on police bail until February.

Thousands of students had taken to London's streets to join the demonstration against the plan to lift the cap on tuition fees to £9,000.

Around 2,000 split from the main march to gather outside 30 Millbank, the Conservative headquarters in Westminster, where windows were smashed, fires lit and missiles thrown at police, Mr Herbert said.

"Many appeared not to be directly involved in violence. It is now clear that a small hard core within this group were intent on violence," he told the Commons.

'Difficult decisions'

About 225 officers had originally been deployed to police the march, the minister said, although a further 225 were called in as the situation developed.

"The police have to strike a balance between dealing promptly and robustly with violent and unlawful activity on the one hand, and allowing the right to protest on the other," Mr Herbert said.

"Clearly in this case the balance was wrong but these are difficult decisions and they are not taken lightly."

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I put it to the PM that we could be seeing a re-run of the Thatcher years. He denied that, claiming that the fact that this government is a coalition ensures that this is not a case of back to the future”

End Quote Nick Robinson BBC's political editor Earlier Mr Cameron called the protests "unacceptable" and said there had not been enough officers to control the crowds.

He called for the "full force of the law" to be used against those who had been violent.

Some protesters had broken into the Millbank building, although hundreds of workers, including Tory party staff, had already been evacuated.

Mr Cameron said he was watching what had happened on television from Seoul, where he was attending a G20 summit.

"I was worried for the safety of people in the building because I know people who work in there, not just the Conservative Party, but other offices as well, and so I was on the telephone", he said.

He said protests were a part of democracy but violence and law-breaking was not.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has said the police should have better prepared and called Wednesday's events "an embarrassment".

He said: "It's not acceptable. It's an embarrassment for London and for us."

Police are continuing to examine CCTV footage of the incident.

The National Union of Students (NUS) said about 50,000 people joined the demonstration, but according to Scotland Yard, no trouble was anticipated.

Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledges there were too few police at the fees protests

Shadow home secretary Ed Balls described the vandalism as "completely unacceptable".

"It was perpetrated by a small minority of thugs who hijacked what was planned to be a legitimate and peaceful demonstration, and in so doing denied tens of thousands of students and lecturers the right to have their voices properly heard."

However, he said the investigation should look at whether there was intelligence to suggest pre-planned violence, whether sufficient officers and back-up were deployed, and how operational decisions were made about which buildings to protect.

And shadow business secretary John Denham said the students had a legitimate cause and needed to be listened to.

He said: "Those parents and the students who were there yesterday have a legitimate cause that needs to be taken up and debated. We mustn't allow the despicable action of some protesters to divert attention from a real issue."

Hundreds of coachloads of students and lecturers travelled to London from across England, Wales and Scotland for the demonstration in Whitehall.

As well as higher fees, they were protesting against plans to cut higher education funding by 40% and to all but wipe out teaching grants except for science and maths.

'Lost sympathy'

However Mr Cameron said he would not abandon his plan to reform tuition fees to allow some institutions to charge up to £9,000 a year.

NUS president Aaron Porter said he believed members had "lost a lot of public sympathy" because of what happened.

But Clare Solomon, president of the University of London Student Union, predicted a growing wave of similar protests in coming months.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said he also hoped those responsible for violence "paid a serious price for their actions".

Angry scenes at Millbank Tower at student fees protest

Asked about his decision to sign an NUS pledge promising to fight any rise in fees, Mr Clegg told ITV1's Daybreak: "I should have been more careful perhaps in signing that pledge. At the time I thought I could do it."

But Shadow Commons leader Hilary Benn said Mr Clegg knew exactly what he was doing.

"Before the election [the Lib Dems] made everything of their pledge to vote against the lifting of tuition fees, after the election they couldn't dump it fast enough."

Under the coalition's plans, students would not have to pay anything "up front" and as graduates, would only have to pay back their tuition fee loans once they were earning £21,000 or more.

But the NUS and other opponents say the prospect of such large debts will deter young people from poorer backgrounds from going to university.

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Plot puts Jewish group in spotlight - Chicago Tribune

About two dozen members of the Congregation Or Chadash were enjoying their usual Friday evening dinner before services at their Edgewater neighborhood headquarters when they got the startling news that they were apparently the target of an international terrorist plot.

The small congregation for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual Jews that started with an alternative newspaper ad in 1976 had gotten used to a life of relative obscurity — too small with about 100 members to afford its own building or build much of a profile.

How a terrorist in Yemen who'd rigged printer cartridges with explosives would know who and where they are sparked as much puzzlement as fear, congregants said Saturday.

"I thought 'Wow, I didn't know we had such visibility,'" congregation member Marvin Levin said.

Pausing, he added: "I don't know that we want such visibility."

But that's what the tight-knit group got as federal officials announced Saturday that a woman in Yemen had been arrested in the alleged terrorist plot that sent several packages to the U.S. loaded with the industrial explosive, PETN.

Authorities have not said which two Chicago addresses the packages were mailed to, but a source told the Tribune both were Jewish congregations on the North Side, home to a thriving Jewish community. Chicago police Saturday said they were making increased checks in areas with a high number of synagogues, including Edgewater, Rogers Park and West Rogers Park.

Or Chadash has for seven years shared space on North Sheridan Road with another Jewish congregation, the Emanuel Congregation. The squat brick building yards from Lake Michigan also is home to a day school for about 140 children between kindergarten and seventh grade.

Or Chadash leaders said they learned that their group was an intended recipient of one of the Yemen packages from Emanuel's Rabbi Michael Zedek.

"It was just a surprise," said Rabbi Larry Edwards of Or Chadash. "When I was first hearing news (about the packages), I assumed there were probably bigger targets. We're a small congregation. Either we were selected at random or it's because we're a mostly gay congregation."

Or Chadash, which is officially aligned with the Union of Reform Judaism, began after somebody placed an ad in a local paper in 1976, seeking to meet with like-minded gay and lesbian Jews, Levin said.

"At that time, it was probably one of the few places gay and lesbian Jews could openly worship in the area," he said. "Today, there are many more options, and some people like to be part of a congregation that's more mainstream, while others like to worship with people like themselves."

Over the years, the group has expanded to include Jews from more traditional backgrounds, said Bill Wahler, the group's co-president. With Edwards working part time, volunteers frequently conduct services to lend a diversity of perspectives to how they practice their faith, he said.

Until now, Or Chadash had never received threats of violence, Edwards said.

While Or Chadash members vowed Saturday against letting the threat affect their how they operate, members of the Emanuel Congregation reacted with a mix of weary humor and sadness over the idea that harm might have come to students at the day school.

"There is nothing shocking in (the threat)," Zedek said during a service Saturday punctuated by the whir of a high-speed camera shutter emerging from the cadre of media at the synagogue's rear. "We're heartbroken. But realistically, as well, one lives in this world."

"The real tragedy of this is if it caused us to hate," said Shifra Werch, an Emanuel congregant.

Considering the day's school children, Zedek spoke of his own grandchildren during the service.

"It does pain me, the kind of world that we're leaving for them," he said.

Tribune reporters Caroline Kyungae Smith and Jeremy Gorner contributed.

jebyrne@tribune.com

dlhinkel@tribune.com

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