Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

Tuckman’s Group Development Model

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Tuckman's Group Development Model
Everything you need to know to help your youth get through the different stages of youth groups

It’s the start of the new school year, which often means changes in the make-up of youth groups. We therefore thought that this week’s Best Of Youth Workin’ It post should focus on Tuckman’s group development model, as it can help you and your youth work through these changes in your group.

1. Forming Stage Of Group Development – The first stage in Tuckman’s group development model is the Forming stage. This post explains what you can expect to happen – particularly in terms of youth behavior – and how to assist your young people in getting through this awkward time.

2. Storming Stage Of Group Development – The second part is the Storming stage – this is where young people will seek to poke the bear by testing boundaries. This can therefore be a critical stage in terms of your young people learning about your expectations of the group.

3. Norming Stage Of Group Development – The third stage is Norming, where your young people start becoming more comfortable with you and the other youth, thereby becoming more comfortable in the group as a whole. This can lead to its own challenges though (such as complacency), so this post looks at these areas and how to help the group continue to grow.

4. Performing Stage Of Group Development – The fourth stage of Tuckman’s group development model relates to Performing. As the name suggests, this is generally the most productive stage – youth have gelled, they’ve gained confidence in themselves and each other and are enjoying what they’re doing. This post explores this further, what else you can expect and how to prepare the youth for the final stage.

5. Adjourning Stage Of Group Development – The fifth and final stage is Adjourning. This is also known as mourning, as it relates to what happens when the group ends. At the start of the school year, you may find your groups in a mix of both forming and adjourning, so this post is worth reading to identify ways that you can help your young people (and yourself) through these changes.

Questions: What stage of Tuckman’s group development model are you in at the moment? What tips do you have for other youth workers on how to move through the stages?

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The Adjourning Stage of Group Development

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Adjourning stage of group development
Mind The Gap – coming to the end of the line for your youth group

Over the past five weeks, we’ve been exploring the stages of group development as identified by Tuckman and Jensen (1977). The fifth and final stage of group development – the adjourning stage (also known as the mourning stage) – is really more of an after-thought rather than an actual stage.

As discussed by Mark Smith of Infed.org, the initial stages of group development were identified as part of a functioning group, whereas the adjourning stage is really the end of a group.

A few things need to end during the adjourning stage of group development:

1) Tasks – Tie up all the loose ends for the project. Also, do any necessary monitoring and evaluation with the youth about the project and make sure that if they need to do any evaluation as part of their own project, they do that as well.

2) Group Roles – Spend time reflecting on what each youth enjoyed about their role and participation in the project. Help them identify areas where they could have developed their role further within the team or scaled back to allow others to participate more.

3) Group Dependency – While tying up tasks, completing evaluations and identifying areas for development, allow the group to do as many of these tasks as independently as possible. Allow them to form their own opinions about their learning and to feel a sense of personal accomplishment at the end – not just a feeling of achievement by being a part of the team.

Sometimes it’s not possible to end in the way you’d like if your project ends suddenly. Do the best you can in providing a final session for the youth to say their goodbyes and have some reflection time – this will help provide closure.

The worst-case scenario is that you will be unable to have a final session for any reason with your youth. If you have a forced and abrupt adjourning stage like this, write each youth a personal letter (if appropriate), providing the goodbye and closure that they may need.

If you are unable to contact the youth for any reason, encourage your manager or colleagues to hold a final session with the youth and help them reflect on their learning and have closure, even if you are unable to participate.

Because at the end of the day it’s about the youth, their group, their closure and their sense of well-being that’s important – that’s what the adjourning stage of group development is meant to achieve.

Check out our post about Tuckman’s Group Development Model for details of all five stages.

Questions: Did you learn anything new about yourself or your group during this series on group development? Would you like to see more posts like this? If so, what topics would you like explored regarding program administration? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Working with Youth – Group Development

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Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning - youth group development
If only they always got on this well!

Working with youth in a group can be both rewarding and challenging.

When youth work together in a group effectively, you can see some really great things happen. They can achieve more together than on their own, they can support each other through effective team work and they can build long lasting relationships.

Or, when youth work together in a group you can see things fall apart – fast. They can have trouble focusing their collective energies, they can decide that personal feelings or vendettas aren’t worth overcoming for the common good and they can fight and bicker until some young people stop coming to the youth group altogether.

Sometimes working with groups of youth it is a mixture of both. While you can work hard to facilitate team work and encourage relationships, each group development is different and they aren’t always going to get along like you wish they would. In fact, it’s almost guaranteed according to Tuckman (1965) that they won’t, at least for some of the time your group is together.

That’s why it’s important to recognize and understand the dynamics of youth group development. They don’t make every group experience rainbows and sunshine, but by understanding and recognizing the stages outlined by Tuckman and Jensen (1977 – see below), you can better understand where your group development is at. Also, teaching these phases to your youth you can help them become more self-aware group participants in the process.

The five stages of group development are:

  1. Forming stage – Early phase of the group meeting with one another
  2. Storming stage – Conflicts arise within the group as they get more comfortable with one another
  3. Norming stage – The group begins to work out their differences
  4. Performing stage – They work cohesively- getting things done and working together
  5. Adjourning stage – The group ends

Over the next few Wednesdays, we’ll go over these stages in greater detail so you can be better prepared when working with youth and identifying what stage of group development they’re at. We’ll also discuss ways you can help the youth in your program learn about Tuckman’s stages of group development. (n.b. use the links on the bullet point list above to read more about each of the stages).

Question: What is one of the biggest challenges of youth group development for you? Let us know in the comments below.

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