The weight loss‘ book club’ 200 Even this chapter on groups should be discussed. This is an opportunity to review your group functioning and clarify boundaries and how well your particular group is working. Any problems should be dealt with in terms of developing better procedures and processes – rather than blaming an individual. In my years in management( running a mental health service) blaming the process rather than an individual was the greatest management lesson I learned. If a meeting was not organized well, a person’ s input was overlooked. Even if there was a suicide on the ward, rather than look for someone to blame we would look at how to improve our processes to avoid the tragedy recurring. This is a critical guideline to follow. But, like all the guidelines I offer, they are just that: guides – not rules. As humans we tend towards breaking rules whereas we tend towards developing guidelines. There is no‘ right’ way for a group to function. It’ s like sex in a relationship – there is no‘ right’ or‘ wrong’ thing to do or not do – the guideline is that each couple do what they like as long as neither party is hurt or asked to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable. This means that what is‘ wrong’ for one couple is‘ right’ for another. A coordinator needs to run each group and this role should be rotated, in a set order, amongst all group members. Newcomers go to the bottom of the list. The list of member’ s names and contact details is kept in each group’ s‘ Group Journal’. The journal records simple information like when members joined and the date of meetings and who the coordinator was. It does not record detailed minutes of each meeting – as this becomes too laborious over time and leaves the minute taker unable to fully participate in the group. In the event that the group runs into problems, the founder can contact Weight Loss for Food Lovers via the website for advice and support. Initially, I will personally provide this service for as long as is possible( but please only contact us for problems that you have first tried to discuss and sort out as a group). A word of advice. Your group is not a