You cannot be an effective trainer if you don’t have an understanding and working knowledge of the processes groups go through.
Probably the best known work on group process remains that of BruceTuckman who described groups as moving through five stages:
FORMING – the bringing together of the group at the start of the team or the project
STORMING – the stage when people are trying to test the boundaries of the group and discover what is acceptable; interpersonal conflicts arise and can be expected
NORMING – the process by which everyone in the group establishes what are and what are not the norms of the group; they contribute more and are prepared to take more risks; norms may be explicit or implicit
PERFORMING – the stage when a group effectively achieves its objectives; many groups do not get to this stage!
ENDING – the point at which the group terminates its project or disbands or changes group membership; all of these bring about an ending of the group as it was.
Tuckman points out that groups do not have to follow this order chronologically and that several of the processes can be taking place at one time. For example whilst a group is storming it will also be norming and whilst it is forming, it will also be norming.
Think of a group of which you are a member. What stage do you think this group is at? What are the norms of the groups? How do you know this? Is there much ‘storming’ going on? How much actual ‘performing’ goes on in this group and why?
Your skill as trainer will develop as you become more and more aware of group process so start with the groups you already know and observe what is happening.
Tuckman maintains that the group process applies to any group which mean it also applies to your next training group! If you want your group to get the ‘performing’ stage, you should give some time to thinking about the preceding stages first.
Forming – when the group physically comes together for this first time. This is pretty straightforward if we assume that everyone turns up on the first day at the designated time!
Storming – this stage can take the form of questions posed on the way the group will work together, the time you break for lunch and other reasonable requests. In the early stages of an event, you can be sure that the trainer will be the focus of the storming as group members test out their boundaries within the group. It can progress to more heated exchanges between group members (which can provide very useful material for feedback!). As the trainer you can always be the target of any latent discontent within the group; for example, if you give your group a participative exercise, make sure you give them the correct instructions and the wherewithal to achieve the task. If you don’t, and they ‘fail’ in their task, be sure you will be in for some anger from group members!
Norming – you set the norms for you group from the moment they walk in your room. The way you greet people and your general behaviour at this stage, will send the message about your event – it will be informal or formal, participative or tutor-led etc. the way you set out the room will also say a lot about how you work; if you have large tables in rows with each trainee behind a ‘desk’, this conveys the message that this will be like school and that you are the school teacher (and all that goes with that!).
The ‘rules’ that you establish with the group (or that you impose on them) is a way of detailing explicit norms – you are expected to be back from breaks on time, respect the confidentiality of the group, participate actively in the process of the training and so on. Implicit norms will arise from the type of organisation you are in but depend largely on our norms as adult human beings – although you may disagree with each other, it isn’t expected that you will get up and bunch someone on the nose!
In training groups it is common that the norming and storming phases move backwards and forwards as the event unfolds.
Be aware of these stages when planning your next training course and remember that the early stages of a group are very important if you want trainees to achieve their learning objectives. And don’t forget the ending phase when you must give time to review of the event, review of learning points and evaluation.
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