In other words, it’s a group-forming model that consists of 5 distinct phases. Most high-performing teams go through five stages of team development. Without strong leadership, teams may struggle reaching the performing stage. By developing your own leadership skills, you can model collaboration best practices and help your team reach their fullest potential.
This activity is a great way of quickly and efficiently helping a team share themselves with the group and go beyond the scope of some standard activities. Using our tool, you and your employees can seamlessly work through the stages of team development through effective team meetings and one-on-ones, meaningful feedback, and progress tracking. At the performing stage, the group is functioning together as a cohesive unit. The team has a shared vision and can function without the leader’s interference. It’s here that the group has learned how to resolve conflicts when they arise, and if changes need to occur, they’re implemented well.
Cooperation and Integration (Norming Stage)
Being conscious of the process is a great place to start, but it’s worth remembering that reaching the performing stage isn’t a given and many teams get stuck early on. When your team is performing well, it can be easy to get caught up in the moment and assume that things will remain at this high level indefinitely. As teams grow and change they can move back into the Norming, Storming or even Forming stages of the group development process. To truly get to know your colleagues and build strong relationships requires honest self-appraisal, deeper sharing, and clear communication.
Later, during the norming and performing stages, norms focus on relationships and levels of performance. Performance norms are very important because they define the level of work effort and standards that determine the success of the team. As you might expect, leaders play an important part in establishing productive norms by acting as role models and by rewarding desired behaviors. As your team settles into a more regular pattern, it’s vital that you continue to take opportunities to celebrate one another and keep team spirit high. Happy teams are productive teams and so taking the time to improve team bonds through the team development process can help improve overall efficacy. Groups who were brought together to complete specific projects may begin to think about their next steps in stage five.
The Day Milton Friedman Called Me Back. Collect.
In addition to handling conflicts, thanks to group development, you’ll need to determine workflows, follow them, and constantly tweak and improve them as you go. So, team members have grown fully accustomed to each other’s workflows. They respect and acknowledge each other’s skills, talents, and experience. In fact, they trust that everyone involved will do their share of the work.
- The second version is for teams who want to explore how they are working together as a team.
- Brier is a communications professional and freelance content writer based in Ottawa.
- This framework is also known as Tuckman’s stages of group development.
- Tuckman’s final stage of group development, adjourning, was not originally part of his development model.
- Having a team with already existing collaborative skills can help resolve conflicts more easily and faster.
In the performing stage, consensus and cooperation have been well-established and the team is mature, organized, and well-functioning. There is a clear and stable structure, and members are committed to the team’s mission. Problems and conflicts still emerge, but they are dealt with constructively.
Stage 2: Storming stage
The renowned Bruce W. Tuckman — a researcher at the American Psychological Association — established a 4-step model in 1965 in his landmark paper titled Developmental sequence in small groups. This is the stage where the dominating group development process group members emerge, while the less confrontational members stay in their comfort zone. At this stage, group members are learning what to do, how the group is going to operate, what is expected, and what is acceptable.
It’s no longer a game of cat and mouse where team members try to catch each other’s errors and criticize them. Of course, you can only move on to this more pleasant stage if you’ve addressed and answered all the vital questions from the previous, Storming Stage. Now, this is where things get tense for Adam, Daisy, Daniel, and Stella as they set their plan into motion — and find their opinions and personalities are at odds with each other.
What is Team Development?
Those team members who are conflict avoidance will often participate little in this phase due to its inherent nature. Conversely, those that are not conflict avoiding will often participate more during this stage than others. In this stage of team development, team members fall into a rhythm as a cohesive taskforce. The skills of each member are validated and utilized to execute the necessary tasks. While conflict may still arise in this stage, it no longer spirals into dysfunction. The team can handle conflict and proceed with the project successfully.
Members experience a form of socialization as they try to find out what is expected of them and how they will fit into the team. Alasdair A. K. White together with his colleague, John Fairhurst, examined Tuckman’s development sequence when developing the White-Fairhurst TPR model. They simplify the sequence and group the forming-storming-norming stages together as the «transforming» phase, which they equate with the initial performance level. This is then followed by a «performing» phase that leads to a new performance level which they call the «reforming» phase. In the Performing stage, the team makes significant progress towards its goals. Commitment to the team’s mission is high and the competence of team members is also high.
Storming
With that in mind, this is probably one of the most unstable of the 5 stages of group development. In all honesty, some teams may skip this step altogether, hoping to avoid unpleasant conflict and the clash of ideas. Similarly, she has established that teams should use warm-up activities — like physical exercise and mind games — to ensure a smooth transition from https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ the Forming Stage to the Norming Stage. At this initial stage, a glimpse of a future project leader may emerge. For illustration, the person with the largest knowledge about the project’s subject takes unofficial charge. Furthermore, Rebecca Stroud Stasel cites that people have natural, deeply seated tendencies for either leadership or following leaders.
Brier is a communications professional and freelance content writer based in Ottawa. She currently works as an Engagement Strategy Advisor for Carleton University. She is passionate about using creative marketing to solve business challenges. In her spare time, she’s either reading fiction, trying out a new fitness class, playing guitar, or cooking a recipe from TikTok.
Team development stages
Bruce Tuckman divided this process into 5 stages and provided characteristics, typical for each stage. Team members feel insecure as they don’t know what to expect from their upcoming work. They need some time 🕒 to emotionally overcome the loss of their close relations with the team during their experience, and get acquainted with their new teammates.
