ABSTRACT
The processes are in themselves neither positive nor negative – they just are. The task of the group coach is to understand and work with them to hold the group in a productive balance between safety and challenge. The balance is different in every group, and the coach needs skill to attune to a particular group’s capacity. The more mature a group is, the more it is able to tolerate its own differences, discords and negative aspects, secure in the knowledge that it is basically a ‘good team’. Therefore what might be a destructive experience in a new group can be a profound learning experience in a more mature group.
