Group building and maintenance roles are those related to the functioning of a group as a an actual group. Their main purpose is to alter or maintain how the group works, and these roles are are referred to as group/team building or maintenance roles: they help build a group-centered identity. Out of the following, encourager, follower and gatekeeper are group building and maintenance roles.
Encourager: its main function is to be the group or team’s cheerleader. An encourager stimulates people to come up with new ideas, and then compliments the group or team members on the ideas they were able to generate. They foster an environment where any kind of ideas and suggestions are welcomed.
Follower: followers are individuals who try not to jeopardize the harmony the group. They are often passive, limiting their role to just observing the group’s decision processes and serving as an audience for said process during group discussions.
Gatekeeper: gatekeepers ensure that every participants is able to be freely and openly involved in the group’s decision-making. Gatekeepers usually encourage people who are have lost the point in a discussion to finally arrive at their decision, and encourage those who are more reticent to voice their opinions to participate in the decision-making process.
