Forming a Community
The 'Forming a Community'
stage is the first eight weeks of the new group. Each week they have
a meeting. Different members take turns in running each meeting. The
eighth meeting is an evaluation meeting of the group.
What
are the main things to be achieved during this stage?
1. To build friendship
and trust among the members of this new group - the foundation for
them becoming a true community.
2. To get the members
into the 'habit' of coming to a regular meeting. Perhaps some may
decide not to continue, perhaps some will invite other friends along
to join. Anyway at the end of eight weeks you will have a good idea
of those who seem interested
3. To provide an
opportunity tor the members to learn the bases of what YPD is
about and the methods used to achieve its aims This learning is
achieved by action, not by study or talks
4. To give
different members the opportunity to lead a meeting or take minutes.
This prepares members to elect the persons they want to be
chairperson, secretary and treasurer at the ninth meeting?
What
is the work of the team during this stage?
Preparing
the meetings
It is important that the
members, from the very beginning, realise that this is their meeting
and that they are responsible. So it is good if one of them can lead
each meeting. They will, of course, need help to prepare the meeting.
For the first couple of meetings it is a good idea if the team member
leads the first part of the meeting and the new member/leader leads
the enquiry, general business etc.
What does this mean in
practice? It means that one of the team will need to make an
appointment to meet with the member who will be leading the next
meeting during the week. The two of them should go through the
meeting and work out what needs to be done. And after the meeting,
perhaps during the week, they should meet to evaluate how the meeting
went and how their work of leadership could improve.
Follow
up of members
When a group is just
starting, it is important that the team try to meet up with the
members between meetings. It often happens that a new member feels a
bit shy at first. They easily make an excuse not to come and we have
lost that member. So team members should organise to follow up the
members regularly for the first few weeks.
The group will be much
more successful if the members do some preparation work. For example,
they could read the questions from the enquiry section and think
about them. Also they could try to ask some of their co-workers what
they think about these issues. Then at the meeting they will have
plenty to say and will be able to speak with authority and
confidence. Team members should try to motivate members to do this.
At
the meetings
It is important that team
members do participate in the meeting and not just sit listening like
judges - but mostly they should be the ones who say the least. They
should listen carefully to what is being said and be able to affirm
and reflect with members when they talk to them outside the meeting.
We should be constantly
aware that YPD is not a meeting. It is a community of young
workers We must ensure that the meetings do not become too
business-like and that there is a time for being youthful and
enjoying things together There are many ways to promote this and
different ways in different cultures.
For example:
The group could share a
meal before the meeting, or go out for a drink and supper after the
meeting
The group might organise
one night when there is no meeting but the group goes out together to
enjoy something social.
Team
meetings
This work of the team is
vitally important for a good start in the formation of the members.
It should be well planned, evaluated and coordinated. And so it is
necessary that there be a number of team meetings to do this work.
Perhaps you could decide to have meetings after the first, fourth and
seventh meetings.
What sorts of questions
would you have on the agenda? Perhaps this list may help.
