SESSION SEVEN: THE FIVE STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Teams go through a predictable sequence of growth, and your knowledge of the sequence can help you support your team and lead to the best possible outcomes together. Go team go!

In this session, you’ll learn about the five stages of team development that ill influence the way the team functions.

The Five Stages of Team Development

There has been a great deal of study on teams and on group dynamics. Bruce Tuckman is responsible for this straightforward model, which emphasizes that all teams and groups go through five stages of development, although they do not necessarily go through those stages together or at the same time.

Forming

This is sometimes referred to as a team’s childhood. This is the first stage of development. This stage is not unlike how you felt when you learned you were coming to this workshop: some of you would have been a bit excited; some would have been anxious; others would have been concerned that they wouldn’t have the same level of experience and understanding as everyone else; while others feared this would be a waste of time. At this stage, team members may have no clear idea of what to expect or what they will accomplish. The team leader will be influential and will likely make many of the decisions. Your leadership style here is usually that of telling.

As team leader, you will make sure your team members know one another and know about one another so they can begin feeling comfortable together. You help them decide on their team goals and objective, and you share your expectations with them. You are the role model so you must demonstrate that you value each member of the team, and have high expectations that they will perform well.

Storming

This stage is often referred to as team adolescence. As members of the group work together, they become more comfortable voicing their own opinion and they may not agree with either the team leader or the other members of the team. There is often disagreement and conflict, with little cliques forming and alternate goals being suggested. Members of the team notice how different other members are and a pecking order may be established.

This can be a difficult time, particularly if turf wars develop. You are an even more important role model now, communicating with all team members, reminding them of how valuable each of their roles is, and helping them settle their disagreements in a civilized fashion: not ignoring them, but dealing with them openly and honestly. All the while, you are helping them get to know one another better and coaching them so they become more skilled at their job. Any group training at this point is often on team building.

Norming

This stage is often referred to as young adulthood for a team. Eventually, if you continue to encourage, support, and communicate with your team they will work out their differences and begin to see that they are quite a bit alike after all. Now they begin to enjoy being together and they start having more fun — so much fun that occasionally they may forget about the work they are to get done. You will find that the participating style serves you well when a group is in this stage of development.

Eventually your hard work and your support will pay off and your team gradually begins to trust one another and become a more cohesive group. Now they start enjoying work and the company of other team members. They begin to notice what you have been telling them all along: they really do have a lot in common. They start to socialize together and may even get so involved in social activities that they forget about what they are trying to accomplish. This is a good time to move away from being quite so hands-on and begin to delegate tasks. Cross-training can be useful.

Performing

Now the team is beginning to mature. They have skills, know their own strengths and limitations, and have a good deal of problem solving abilities. By now they have figured out (perhaps with your help) who does what to make the team effective and they work well together. The challenge for you now is to keep them from becoming bored. You will use your delegating and coaching skills to keep people engaged and active.

Finally they’ve arrived! You have a team who really are capable of working on their own. Hopefully you have been celebrating team successes ever since you started working together. However, don’t stop now. They still need to feel appreciated. Encourage them to do some self-evaluation and some work evaluation to see if there are things they can do even better. Continuous suggestions for improvement should come from this group.

A word of warning: Group dynamics are never static, so don’t ever be fooled into thinking your battle is won. If a new member joins the team, or their roles change, you may find your group right back in the storming stage again.

Adjourning

When the group has formally finished working together, or when things are winding down naturally, the group will disband. Celebrate successes and achievements, and then bring the team to a close. Alternatively, if this was not a successful team, the group should evaluate what went wrong, and use the lessons for later projects.

Even if the same group is to work on future projects, they will still need to go through all of the stages, although they will likely form and storm very quickly.

Important Factors in Team Development

Commitment

Members of the team can set their personal aspirations or ideals aside as part of their commitment to ensure the group goals are achieved.

Trust

Team members have solid relationships with one another. They also have faith that each member of the team will honor commitments and wholly support one another while working in a predictable, consistent way.

Purpose

The team has been oriented to understand their roles, level, or ownership, and see how they fit into the overall strategic plan for the organization.

Communication

Teams that communicate well save a lot of time by handling day to day exchanges as well as managing conflict, making decisions, and leveraging strong relationships to get their work completed.

Involvement

By its nature and title, team work means that everyone has a role and commits to working as partners, despite differences they may have.

Process Orientation

Process orientation helps the team to work together. Processes can include problem solving methods, planning techniques, meeting schedules complete with agendas and minutes, and a defined conflict resolution method.