Once upon a time in a GD
By: Pankhuri Agrawal
Give the width and depth to the discussion and provide a proper direction while discussing the given topic in a GD.
You all might have read a lot of articles where the authors mention what you should do, how you should dress, how to sit, about eye contact and smile, being calm and composed, building or structuring someone else’s point, etc. In this article, let me tell you a story which shows how all this would not matter if the depth of the discussion is not enough.
It is a story of one of my friend’s admission process; let’s call him Mr X. So, he was going for a Group Discussion and Personal Interview round for a very reputed B-school of India. He went all dressed up, well-groomed, proper attire, and everything. He was very confident, not at all nervous, and had a mind full of ideas and information that he prepared for this process. The first round was a Group Discussion round, he was mentally prepared for this and went inside the room. There were eight candidates, including him present for the process. There were two moderators to moderate and observe the discussion.
The topic was announced by one of the moderators, and they were given 20 minutes to discuss the topic. The topic was, “Should professors allow the usage of mobile phones in b-school classrooms.”
As soon as you hear the topic, you know which side you are on. As an aspirant of B-school and in front of the professors from a B-school, the first thought which came to his mind was - Of course, Not! No one should be allowed to use a mobile phone in a classroom and they could carry but not use it in between the class. So was the thought in the minds of the rest of the students too. Everyone thought that no, a student should not be allowed to use a phone during the class.
The discussion started, two of the applicants spoke before Mr X, and then he gave a proper structure to the discussion and mentioned all the points making it clearer why students should not be allowed to use their phones in the classroom. Everyone spoke on the given topic and after this came the tough part, everyone was so stern and assertive that usage of phones should not be allowed that they forgot that there was no one opposing the argument. After around 12 minutes, the group had no new point to discuss as no one was challenging the points raised by them.
They started rephrasing and reiterating the points, and after a while, there was silence in the room. They didn’t know what to do or say next. Mr X finally understood the situation and quickly concluded the discussion by mentioning everyone’s points and giving a fitting end. For a few seconds, there was pin-drop silence in the room and then Mr X looked at one of the moderators (who announced the topic) and told him that the topic of discussion has been concluded by them. To which the moderator replied that the time is not over. After this, Mr X realised how he could have mentioned all the points by supporting the opposite side of the story, how he could have discussed the topic in detail and have explored the other side but before he could articulate anything the moderators stood up, thanked everyone for the valuable time and left. Everyone was staring at each other and knew the result. The result was as expected and no one got shortlisted for further process.
This story shows how important is it to know all the information about the topic given. One could lose their dream college just as there was no diversity in the group or the topic given was so one-sided and easy that you never thought that you could go wrong in that. The lesson to learn from this story is always provided direction to the discussion but never stuck in one direction only. Give the width and depth to your discussion. It is not about being right but look in all the directions and analyse the topic with a logical and pragmatic mind.
About the Author:
Pankhuri Agrawal is pursuing MBA in Marketing from IIM Visakhapatnam. She used to work as a Digital Marketing Consultant and loves preparing people for GDs and PIs. Her interests range from Football to T.V series to Digital Marketing.