Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

The Forming Stage Of Group Development In Youth Work

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Forming stage of group developmentWe’re currently exploring the five stages of group development as identified by Tuckman and Jensen (1977). Today, we’re looking at the Forming Stage – a time when the group gets to know one another, tests the boundaries (both within the rules and with the leadership) and becomes more dependent on one another.

Peter Barnes (2002:43) gives examples of what can be expected during the forming stage:

  • Considerable anxiety
  • Questions about the appropriateness of behavior
  • Polite communication
  • Minimal productivity

Here are some ways you can provide the support necessary to help your youth group move from the forming stage of group development towards more productive phases:

  • Give clear expectations – By going through your youth group’s hopes and fears, as well as clearly laying out the basics of what the group can expect from you and the youth work program, you will be able to help quell a lot of potential anxiety in the forming stage of group development
  • Identify ground rules through a group agreement – Take time and have the group identify what are some acceptable and unacceptable behaviors for their group
  • Provide a safe place for opposing opinions – This is also identified in the expectations and group agreement, but youth will feel more safe to move beyond ‘polite’ to ‘real’ when they know the boundaries for their views. By allowing youth to express their views in the forming stage of group development – even if they aren’t positive or mainstream – this will allow you to contradict incorrect information that young people may have internalized
  • Provide tasks that build confidence, understanding of team dynamics, roles and abilities – Take the time for team building activities and teach the group about team roles. You can also help them identify their learning styles and their individual intelligences. These activities will provide time for your team to bond during the forming stage and will develop relational capital that they can draw on when they begin to feel tension in the next stage

Doing all of these basic steps early on in the forming stage of group development will help lay the ground work for the next stage which we will explore next week: the Storming stage.

Question: What stories do you have from the forming stage of your youth group? Let us know 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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