Now listen to a conversation between a professor and the student.
(man) Hi, Sara, to what do I owe this pleasure of this office visit?
(woman) It's my study group, Professor Wilson. We are not getting much studying done, and, you know, none of us did very well on your last quiz.
(man) Hmmm, what's the problem?
(woman) Well, we've all become good friends and we joke around a lot instead of studying.
(man) Hmmm. Sara, let me ask you this. When do you meet?
(woman) Every Friday afternoon.
(man) Have you thought about changing to another day? By the time Friday afternoon rolls around, all of you are probably exhausted and all you want to do was relax and unwind. It's hard to stay focused at the very end of the week.
(woman) Good point, although things have gotten so out of hand that I'm not sure changing days would help. And we'd lose one or two people if we change days, Friday afternoon is the only time everyone's available, but it's worth considering.
(man) OK. But just a second, another possibility is, does your group have a leader?
(woman) No?
(man) Well, if you had a leader that would help enormously. Someone to set an agenda in advance, email it to everyone before the meeting and then make sure when you meet that you stay focused on your goals. And since you’ve seemed to be concerned enough about the problem to have come see me, I think that someone might be you.
(woman) I guess I can take on that role. But it sounds like work.
(man) You don’t have to do it for the whole semester, Sara. You can start if off and then, perhaps, someone else can take over.
