Most people are involved in some form of a group throughout their professional and/or academic careers. I was fortunate enough to be a part of several groups throughout my professional career. My most memorable group to date was within a local church. The group that I was a part of went through all of the group stages, as I’m sure many groups do. These stages consist of forming, storming, norming and performing (PSU World Campus, n.d.). The difference between this group and the others that I have been a part of was that this particular group at the church was given a significant amount of creative freedom. This allowed for unique and unforeseeable occurrences as the group progressed through stages.
The group that I was a part of at the church formed because members of the church wanted to keep a video archive of work that was completed in the community by church members. The team that I was a part of was in charge of filming and editing video of the church interacting with the community. The group began by going through the forming stage where members were gathered to take part in the group’s mission. In the forming stage, group members are introduced to one another (PSU World Campus, n.d.). The group consisted of three creative individuals from the church, all of which were informally introduced previously. After the members of the group decided to work together, all were more formally introduced to each other by discussing each other’s personal life and missions within the group.
After coming together and meeting one another, my group’s next mission was to decide how to tackle the task at hand. The first task in order was a church picnic. My group took part in storming to decide how to accomplish the task (PSU World Campus, n.d.). Storming is when a group decides how the task at hand will be accomplished (PSU World Campus, n.d.). Although there were some disagreements as to who would take care of what portion of the job, all members were eventually given tasks they were happy with.
Norming is the third group stage and happened in a unique way with my church group. Norming is when a leader emerges and the group begins to work together to achieve a common goal (PSU World Campus, n.d.). During the norming stage, I decided to step forward and help guide others as to the best way to accomplish the task. Because of my previous creative experience, I felt that I had the necessary skills to help other group members decide what to do. I began to help others with their own personal group tasks as well as ensure overall group progress.
Finally, the day of the church picnic had arrived. We all knew what our roles were, and proceeded to create a video archive of the event. In the performing stage, all group members did their role and the project was a success. Performing occurs when all group members play their interdependent roles to ensure the group achieves it’s goals (PSU World Campus, n.d.). Not only was the first video shown for the entire church, but also our group was asked to do several more video archives. This group that I was a part of continued to work successfully on projects for a few years. Eventually certain members, including myself, no longer had time to commit to the church projects. Although we eventually passed on the torch to new team members, the group that I was a part of was a great success. By thoroughly understanding how groups function together, it is easy to understand how and why groups either succeed or fail. In my church group, I was fortune to have cooperative and helpful team members to make the several projects we completed as easy as possible.
References:
PSU World Campus. (n.d.). Lesson 9: Team leadership. Lecture. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp13/psych485/001/content/09_lesson/01_page.html