In the beginning ...
October 10, 2018 10:21 PM   Subscribe

What is the most clear and concise way to convey the earliest days of a group, when it was just starting to be planned, well before it was official?

Some options are:
* Beginning
* Day 1
* Earliest days
* Embryonic stage
* First formative days
* Genesis
* Nascent stage
* Planning stage
* Start
* Something else?
posted by maurreen to Writing & Language (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Zygote
posted by sacrifix at 10:40 PM on October 10, 2018


Origins
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:53 PM on October 10, 2018


germinal
incipient
fledgling
inchoate
rudimentary
foundational
prototypical
pioneering
posted by Rhaomi at 10:54 PM on October 10, 2018


"Forming". This is based on the 1965 paper by psychologist Bruce Tuckman "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups." (PDF). The set of stages he mentioned were "forming, storming, norming, and performing" - and then later "mourning".

During "Forming" the group members are meeting each other and finding out about overall shared goals. And starting to tackle the tasks at hand. People are motivated but largely uninformed; they are also on their best behaviour. They have not yet reached the next "Storming" stage where differences have to be sorted out.
posted by rongorongo at 11:55 PM on October 10, 2018 [4 favorites]


Second forming and the Tuckman stages of group development. This is what we were taught to use in public affairs/nonprofit leadership classes.
posted by assenav at 11:59 PM on October 10, 2018


Inception, nascent
posted by rhizome at 1:00 AM on October 11, 2018


Best answer: Genesis, Origins, Beginnings all work for me if the aim is to talk about the early stages of a group (before the group decided it was officially a group). Then there's the stage where group-hood has been established, and the formal process of planning is underway; that's what I'd call the Formation, Planning Stage, or whatever. I think what you're talking about is more the first thing than the second.
posted by pipeski at 4:19 AM on October 11, 2018


Also concept-stage or seedling if you're talking about the planning before actions were really getting taken.
posted by aimedwander at 8:25 AM on October 11, 2018


Response by poster: Thanks for all your answers.
posted by maurreen at 1:28 PM on November 10, 2018


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