Group projects can be tough; however, in a pandemic, they can be even harder. Here are the things to keep in mind to make your Making History group project go as smoothly as possible!

1. Communicate!

This is the most crucial aspect of working in a group. The best projects come about when everyone communicates, pitching ideas and making their voices heard. It’s also important to speak up if you have concerns; you might think an idea isn’t feasible, or that a task is too difficult for you to complete by yourself. Say so! If everyone makes their feelings and ideas clear, the group has the best chance of success.

For more serious issues, if you’re struggling with university in general or having any personal issues that are affecting your work, please don’t suffer in silence. Reach out to your seminar tutor or personal tutor and let them know what’s going on. They’ll be able to put measures into place to help you.

2. Stick to your word as much as possible.

Generally, it’s important for group harmony that you do whatever you say you will! If you agree a weekly time to meet on Zoom and discuss ideas, plan to log on five minutes early. If you were delegated a certain task to complete that week, plan time to get it done.

Of course, in the midst of a global pandemic, things happen! It’s understandable that occasionally, you might not be able to meet a particular deadline, or you might have an emergency that stops you from attending a group meeting. As long as you generally try to stick to your word, you’ll prevent friction in the group and make sure your project runs on time.

3. Split work evenly.

Try to make sure everyone has a fairly even workload each week. This is when having a list of tasks for the week comes in really handy – you can estimate the time that each task will take and split it amongst your group equally. This means that one group member might have 3 short tasks, and another will have 1 long task. That’s perfectly okay, as long as you’re all putting roughly the same number of hours into the project each week. Assigning longer tasks to certain individuals consistently may cause resentment and friction in the group.

4. Play to the strengths of your team members.

Following on from the last point, an important consideration when splitting the workload is the strengths of each of the group. If someone is really into filmmaking, assigning them editing tasks would be a good idea. If a couple of group members love creative writing, they could be responsible for the first draft of the script.

Try not to coerce people into doing tasks they are really unenthusiastic about, as it’ll negatively impact the quality of your project as a whole. If there’s a task that nobody wants to do, try to do it in a pair to make it easier. Worse comes to worst, rock-paper-scissors and agree that someone else will take it on the following week!

5. Collaborate as much as possible.

Having someone else work with you can be really fun, and I’d argue it’s one of the best parts of Making History. It really gets the creativity flowing to talk through ideas with a friend, and you might come up with something together that neither of you would have thought of individually! You’re working by yourself on essays the rest of the year anyway, so why not collaborate on tasks to make them more enjoyable? For example, two group members could arrange a virtual visit to a museum together whilst chatting about their thoughts on Zoom. Collaborating with other historians will be vital if you’re planning on entering academia, too!

6. Make sure everyone feels heard.

It’s completely natural to have louder and quieter personalities mixed together in a group. In this battle of introverts vs. extroverts, it’s important to be self-conscious and make sure we form a space where everyone has a voice. If you find yourself dominating conversations, try to direct more questions to other members, asking their opinions and including their creative vision in the project. If you’re naturally a little quieter, the chat function on Zoom is very helpful in the early group meetings where you’re all still strangers. Making History should be an inclusive environment where we can explore a completely different side of History without fear of being drowned out.

7. Compromise, compromise, compromise.

There’ll always be disagreements in a group project, especially one that invites as much creativity as Making History. Creative differences can be frustrating. Try to compromise as far as possible; if it’s possible to include multiple ideas, do it! If not, find an alternative that both parties are happy with, or perhaps use one party’s idea on this aspect of the project and give the other party creative control of another aspect.

8. Get to know each other better!

Friends work together better than strangers! In Covid-19 times, it’s hard enough to meet new people, especially if you’re studying remotely, so I would strongly recommend meeting up virtually as a group but doing no work. Chat, play games, take a personal interest in each other and a better project is inevitable! Do this early on to get rid of any initial awkwardness and make sure that it’s easier for you guys to communicate.

9. Appreciate each other’s contributions.

Everyone loves compliments. If you think someone has done something really well, don’t feel awkward about saying so – the world always needs more positivity! Complimenting each other’s work will create a great group atmosphere, and it’ll encourage everyone to keep working hard.