Healthy Groups: Task Functions and Maintenance Functions

The Change Agency makes a useful distinction between task functions and maintenance functions in a group. Whether you’re a group participant or a facilitator, having some of these different functions on a checklist (mentally or externalized) will help ensure that 1) the group gets done what it needs to get done; and 2) it does so in a way that nourishes and enriches the participants.

Sample task functions include initiating activity, coordinating, summarising, and diagnosing. Sample maintenance functions include reducing tension, consensus-testing, harmonising, and encouraging.

Many facilitators and participants will lean one way or the other in their tendency to support different behaviours. For example, my natural strength is in the group maintenance functions, and I’ve consciously learned skills in the task maintenance functions. Which set of skills are your natural habitat? Which skills do you need to develop in order to bring both analytics and harmony to your groups?