Blog #4

The Stages of Group Development:
Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, & Possibly Adjourning

I'm a first year here at OSU, so to get through all the stages I'm going to back track to my high school student council.

I joined Cambridge Student Council my first week of high school. The President came in on our orientation day and said it was worthwhile. I love being involved, so of course I took it on.

Forming:
Each year, our Student Council encourages these freshman to join. I've been on both ends as the freshman joining and as the President my senior year recruiting them. As a freshman, let's be honest, I was so confused. I remember not knowing what "homecoming" was. I hadn't experienced the events yet, so it was hard for me to have input on what should happen, but that's what I loved about our organization....

Storming:
In the storming part of Student Council, I never felt stupid asking questions. Everyone was open to helping me understand and I always tried to continue that when I was President. As we worked together, we did do a lot of majority voting, but only we had a 30-40 person council, so getting a unanimous vote wasn't normally an issue. We agreed pretty regularly on themes, and fundraisers, and community service opportunities. I cannot remember one "argument" in my 4 years of high school. Yes, people did talk over each other on occasion, but we had a gavel that normally quieted things down. We talked honestly and openly about what we thought would work or wouldn't and made sure offensive comments were never involved in the discussions, which can be quite hard sometimes in high school.

Norming:

As we worked towards our goals, keeping everyone updated was a must. Having such a small council, sometimes it was hard to get everything accomplished. We kept a facebook group and when I was President, everyone had my cell phone number. As corny as this is, I loved getting texts from members asking questions about StuCo. Our weekly meetings kept everyone informed and students from freshman to seniors interacted without the common "age gap" so dreaded during those years. One thing I wish we had done more of in the norming stage was starting each meeting with our goals. I mean, we said what events we were working on, but had we really talked about what we wanted to see happen, I think we may have even more productive.

Performing:

Our 3 major events were Homecoming, MORP (backwards Prom), and Blood Drives. Once we were done planning, putting together the decorations or working the drives was such a boost. We got to hang out as friends instead of acting like officials which made the reward even better. At MORP, we always spent a song dancing with the people who helped plan it and a shout out when to us from the DJ. It always made me feel special being recognized for our work. Making a profit was great, but knowing people had fun was more important to us. I think the little rewards, the shout outs, the kids who couldn't afford to go to prom thanking us for being able to attend our $2.99 MORP, the smiles from our advisor, and the friendship between our council made all our work worthwhile. 

Adjourning:

Well, technically, I adjourned my council, but it is still going strong back home. On my last day as President, I brought in Monster Energy Drinks for everyone with a note that said "I hope you never lose the energy to stop coming to meetings or attending events! Thanks for a great year!" I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciated their attendance and participation throughout the year even when I had to leave them. They are not a group that should adjourn though. I have always felt that our Key Club should adjourn at my high school. It had dwindled to 8 members who did not even attend each meeting. We did very little community service and had no money left in our account to work with. Our advisor quit and our new advisor was completely confused on the duties we were supposed to fulfill. I think it would be wise to incorporate those members into our Student Council and then have a better basis to accomplish both social and community service events. 

In the end, realizing that the question of members is "how they should be involved, not whether they should be involved," keeps a leader from overbearing the rest of the group and keeps the rest of the members invested in the goals. The leader must also remember, "Don't just do something, stand there."Leaders have to listen effectively and have a sincere care for their participants to gain their trust and respect.

And i'll end with just some pictures from our events over the years. This might help explain MORP. :)

(toilet paper decorations)

(Sign in "sheets" from over the years)