Leadership - Youth Workin' It

Norming stage of group development — No – it’s Storming and Norming, not Stormin’ Norman

We’ve recently been looking at Tuckman’s stages of group development and how they affect your youth work – so far we’ve covered the Forming Stage and Storming Stage.

We’re now reaching the halfway point in the series. If we were a group, we might just be entering Tuckman and Jensen’s (1977) Norming Stage. This is where your youth group is beginning to settle, the members are finding their purpose and some growth, learning or action is starting to happen.

According to Peter Barnes (2002:43) the Norming Stage is characterized by the following:

The group is more comfortable; depending on the group, this can also become complacency
They are openly exchanging ideas through communication
Group members may be ‘on eggshells’ to avoid a return to the Storming Stage
The group may be productive but it’s not always effective

After the rocky road of the Storming Stage, you might be looking forward to the Norming Stage. But be aware that simply because opinions aren’t polarized and the group is able to work together under common leadership and goals, it doesn’t mean they’re achieving all they could be. Barnes suggests the group needs group task focus and interdependence to become an effective team.

Here are some things you can try to move your group from just ‘Norming’ to ‘Performing’:

Give the group a challenge

While you don’t want to send them spiralling back into the conflict of the Storming Stage, you want to help your group avoid complacency. Remind them about their newly formed team roles and conflict resolution skills they learned during the Storming Stage of their group.

Give them a task or take them to an obstacle course that will solidify their team roles, bond them as a group and provide a measurable opportunity for productivity and success.

Praise and correct group communication

We’ve mentioned before that youth need praise – four to one ratios for positive feedback to correction, although some youth need a lot of praise, like eight positives for every correction you make. When your youth are communicating well, praise them. Tell them what they did right when talking to each other.

When your group isn’t communicating well in the Norming Stage, correct it immediately and explain what wasn’t so good about their communication. This will help reinforce good habits for communicating with others in a group.

Remind them of the group agreement

The group needs to remember that it’s a safe space to disagree and that they can do it in a appropriate way. They don’t need to fear the constant disagreements of the Storming Stage because they’re able to express themselves appropriately and are being corrected when they communicate inappropriately. This can be done easily through the use of a group agreement.

Don’t accept less than 100% from your group

Give your group motivation to grow, learn and produce outcomes as they work through tasks and challenges in the Norming Stage of group development. Don’t let them get by with ‘good enough’, but encourage them to do their best work at all times – this will help them accomplish more.

Using the praise and correction mentioned above effectively, along with rationales and explanations, will increase the productivity. The youth group will know what’s acceptable and unacceptable. They’ll be able to clearly understand what’s expected of them and rise to that challenge.

Use session evaluations to measure productivity

Use the session evaluation time to review what went well and areas for improvement. Just remember one thing: what’s 100% of what you can accomplish isn’t necessarily 100% of what everyone else can accomplish.

If the group worked well for the entire youth work session and didn’t complete the task, review if it was achievable in the time allotted (the A of SMART). If they played around and didn’t accomplish much, there needs to be reflection of that during the end of session evaluations so that productivity can be improved.

The Norming Stage of group development can provide much needed cohesion after the tumultuous time of the Storming Stage. But don’t let your group stay there. Help them feel safe, productive and positive, but challenge them so they can continue to move forward into the next phase – the Performing Stage of group development.

Q: What ways do you help your group ‘Norm’ after disagreements? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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Carrying on the series covering Tuckman’s theory of group development, we are now to the Storming Stage of group development as identified by Tuckman and Jensen (1977).

I would call this the stage where young people attempt to poke the bear. They question leadership and authority, look for clear direction and identified team roles and share opinions that may be conflicting.

Peter Barnes (2002:43) says some of the following things should be expected during the Storming stage of group development:

Opinions may become sharply divided
Leadership’s authority is questioned and/or challenged
Arguments become the primary method for communication
Several leaders will attempt to control the group

If you tried some of our suggestions during the Forming stage, you may find that your youth’s time in the Storming stage of youth group development isn’t as challenging as it might have been.

Each group is different though and the best plans don’t always happen the way you’d like in youth work. Here are a few suggestions to try during the Storming stage of group development that may help your youth move through to the next stage:

Take the time to encourage and explore differing opinions within the group. Use the group agreement you created earlier to provide the necessary boundaries for the discussion.
Be prepared to hand over some, most, or all of the leadership roles depending on the age, maturity and responsibilities of your youth by teaching them about the ladder of participation.
Encourage dialogue between group members and allow time and space when discussions get heated. Don’t force youth who are getting progressively more angry or aggressive to remain in the same room. Find activities for them to do in other areas, give a break time or allow a youth to step out of the room to get some air.
Identify the group’s strengths and weaknesses and assign team roles. Take the time to identify everyone’s strengths and have the group take part in the decision process when choosing a leader. If you have a youth who has leadership qualities but also has some serious areas of weakness like aggression management issues, find ways to encourage them to take another role within the team. This will ensure that the leader chosen is the best choice for the group, not just the most liked, most decisive or the most feared.

We will be talking more about team roles, group agreements and finding out about the learning styles and intelligences of your youth group in the coming weeks, so check back for more information on these topics.

The Storming Stage of group development in youth work can be a challenging period, but if you take the time to put the supportive measures in place during the Forming Stage, you’ll find it runs more smoothly than if you just ‘let nature take its course.’

Provide boundaries and a safe space for the disagreements that are likely to happen. Don’t be surprised or disappointed. Disagreements will happen. Remember that they are necessary for creating a more trusting, cohesive group that begins to work well together in the Norming Stage of Group Development, which we will discuss in detail next week.

Question: What stories do you have from the Storming Stage of your work with youth? Please share them in the comments below.

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