Author(s): Dr. J Lail
Interstage awareness in group formation is a critical skill for leaders attempting to form any group for a specific, if limited, purpose, specifically in primary and secondary educational settings. The gathering storm is a term I have assigned to one such interstage in the process of group formation and team building. Past research combined with contemporary framework models has delved deeply into the stages of group formation and the research to this point has focused on the attributes of a group when they have already been assembled for a prescribed or even indeterminant purpose. This in-between stage is important for those leaders in organizations who seek to build effective teams by using all available data at their disposal. The gathering storm provides measures and suggestions for leaders to minimize the impacts of the destructive effects of the storming phase on group formation and anticipate interventions that will aid in normalizing group dynamics.