Taking the Pulse of our Christophany Groups

Dear Facilitators,

In her New Year’s Eve blog, “Celebrating a New Year: On the Cusp of the New,” Ilia Delio writes, “As we celebrate the New Year, we turn the concept of time into action – making resolutions that will initiate personal and collective transformation.” Our Christophany Groups are important cites of transformation at the personal and collective levels. Some of you have shared stories of members being deeply changed by their participation in the groups; some even refer to the groups as “church.” As we embark on another year of collective growth and transformation, I invite you to pause and take the pulse of your Christophany Groups. You may wish to bring your group members in on this process, as time allows.

Chapter 7 on “Tuning into Group Life,” from Barbara Fleischer’s book Facilitating for Growth, provides some valuable insights into how we might do this. Fleischer reminds us that groups have a life and personality of their own and, unless we tune into the group as a whole, we will not know it as a group. Thus, she asks us to look for the broader patterns of interaction that characterize the life of the group. 

The first of these is norms or “ground rules,” which provide standards for accountability. There are also implicit nonverbal norms. Fleischer observes, “Groups tend to exert a considerable amount of pressure, both subtle and overt, on their members to conform to these established norms” and may become agitated when they are violated (p. 95). She explains that breaking the unspoken norms can evoke anxiety among some members, which may be expressed through their eye contact and posture. To relieve the anxiety, they may address the behavior or, alternately, ignore the person who violated the norm. Or they might grow to accept this behavior as normative for that person, thus creating a new norm for acceptable behavior.

Having explicit guidelines or norms can alleviate the tension and anxiety in a group and enable it to function in a more peaceful and healthy way. Thus, I encourage you to revisit the Christophany Groups Covenants, which are also available in the Resources section of our Facilitators’ page. As a way of taking the pulse of the group, you may want to review the covenants or other explicit norms you have established and invite your group to discuss how they are doing.

Fleischer reminds us that groups may differ in the degree of formality they exhibit, their use of time, and patterns of interaction. Observing interaction patterns can give us a quick indication of the group’s stage of development. She explains:

If the group appears to be stuck, the facilitator can help the group make some needed adjustments by naming the problem for the group and suggesting some possible corrective actions. By selectively teaching group members how to observe their patterns of interaction, the facilitator can empower participants to correct these imbalances on their own (p. 97).

Stages of Development

Fleischer draws upon the work of Will Schutz, who proposed that groups move through three stages of growth: inclusion, control, and affection.¹ At each stage, the group faces a developmental issue that often is addressed unconsciously and non-verbally. Members cannot progress to the next stage unless they resolve the development task of the stage in which they find themselves.

Inclusion: During this phase, the task is to include everyone in the life of the group. Members are cautious not to do anything that might result in exclusion. Some may stay in an observer position until they feel safe, while others may feel anxious if left out of the conversation. Since norms are not yet firmly established at this stage, the group depends strongly on the facilitator for guidance and direction. The facilitator’s task is to affirm that each member shares the responsibility of maintaining a healthy group and to model inclusive behavior.

Control: At this stage, new issues of who will be the most influential and whose ideas will predominate must be resolved. In order to share power, the facilitator should challenge both the dominators and the quiet members to balance their influence. He or she also needs to model how to share power.

Affection: Once the group has honestly and gracefully resolved its control issues, trust and empathy can emerge, engendering compassion and friendship. Community becomes a felt reality at this stage, yet work is still required in order to prevent cliques from forming within the larger whole. Members may also experience increased vulnerability, thus the facilitator’s ability to sense and reflect feelings is important. Active, skillful listening is needed.

Fleischer informs us that some psychologists recognize two additional stages of group growth, as follows.

Performance: In this stage, having resolved much of their internal emotional work, the purpose and task of the group become central, and the group focuses outward.

Ending: Eventually, the group may decide whether to continue, disband, or reform. In times like these, members may return to an internal focus that moves members to resolve their unfinished business. (Fleischer writes more about this in her next chapter, which I will explore with you in another post.)

Schutz informs us that groups will vary greatly in terms of how much time they spend in each stage and how they resolve the developmental issues that arise, and sometimes groups may recycle to earlier stages to attain deeper levels of resolution. The developmental task of the group may be affected by people joining or leaving the group. The facilitator will be more effective in helping the group to grow and mature if he or she remains alert to the group’s underlying developmental issues.

Perhaps taking the pulse of our Christophany Groups, in light of the ideas of Fleischer and Schutz as well as the Christophany Group Covenants, may lead to new resolutions about how to move forward in ways that activate meaningful change and transformation! Doing so will also surely give us cause to celebrate the bonds that have formed among us and the depths of understanding we have reached together!

Reflection Questions

In what ways has your group successfully resolved issues that have arisen? What skills did this call forth from you?

How has the coming and going of members affected health, wellbeing, and dynamics of the group?

What experiences of growth and transformation do you wish to honor and celebrate?

Feel free to share your responses to these questions in the comments section below, if you feel moved to do so.

Citations

1. William C. Schutz, The Interpersonal Underworld (Palo Alto: Science and Behavior Books, 1966). ↩︎