Group Facilitation Tip - Stages of Group Formation

Group Facilitation Tip - Stages of Group Formation
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton

This week's tip is about the basic building blocks of group formation - those stages a group goes through in its development. In 1965, Bruce Tuckman developed a four stage process of group development -- forming, storming, norming and performing. He later added a fifth stage - adjourning - which groups go through at the end of an intensive group process, such as an intensive retreat, the closure of a project, or the end of an intensive group coaching program. Another label for the adjourning stage is mourning. Some groups move into the transforming stage should the group continue to work together (hence the word transformational leadership/management).

Each stage has its own unique characteristics, signalling the need for different types of facilitation support during each stage.

There are a number of great articles on the stages of group formation online including:
* Wikipedia
*Infed's look at Bruce Tuckman's stages
*12Manage (Rigor and Relevance in Management)

There is also an interesting chart outlining the stages of group development and suggested activities for group facilitators from the 1st Annual Caribbean HIV and Development Workshop, Barbados (1999). Different labels than Tuckman's five stages but it provides really clear ideas on how to support groups in the different stages.

I'll be following up in future posts with a more in depth look at each stage of the group process cycle. The one that I feel is most overlooked is the adjourning stage - what happens at the end of a program. If you haven't read my blog post last summer on the Importance of Closure and some activities you can introduce at this stage, please feel free to take a look. I'm sure there are some ideas you will find useful.

What questions do you have about the stages of group formation? Do you see your groups go through a similar process? How do you support them at each stage? What tools do you want more of for each stage? I'd welcome your comments -- please feel free to post them below.

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized ~ Group Coaching Essentials
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com