How to empower your team at every stage of development

Team members are usually on their best behavior but very focused on themselves. Mature team members begin to model appropriate behavior even at this early phase. The meeting environment also plays an important role to model the initial behavior of each individual. Members attempt to become oriented to the tasks as well as to one another. This is also the stage in which group members test boundaries, create ground rules, and define organizational standards.

They need to learn how each individual team member operates and become skilled in coordinating their activities. The second stage, Storming, is characterised by competition and conflict. To grow from this stage to the next, each team member stages of team development must be prepared to risk the possibility of conflict. They need to discuss difficult issues and challenge each other. Team members are unfamiliar with the groups tasks and so they rely heavily on the group leader for guidance and direction.

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Performing — High-performance is the name of the game.

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After the team members have moved past the forming, storming, and norming stages of group development, they can finally produce work and rely on team members for support. Their working styles and skills complement one another, and they rely on the each other to perform tasks more efficiently. As with all the stages it is important to recognize that forming occurs whenever a new team is created. In a typical Rizing engagement teams are formed and dissolved throughout the project lifecycle hence the ongoing need to provide leadership and guidance.

Modern team development with Charma

To accommodate your remote teams and to make sure your first project team meeting is productive, use a video conferencing platform like Zoom. This way team members can meet from anywhere and share their screen so that everyone can see the project details simultaneously. Record and store the meeting in Teamwork Projects so that team members can revisit it at any time if they need a reminder of the discussion. Having a way to identify and understand causes for changes in the team behaviors can help the team maximize its process and its productivity. This Tuckman’s Team and Group Model just says these are phases a team tends to cycle through. It’s not a hard and fast – they go through Stage 1, then Stage 2.

Some teams reach a stage of development in which they thrive at their individual and collective tasks. The skills of each member are fully optimized, supervision is almost never needed, and members feel a strong sense of trust in one another. As the real work kicks in, the project may present both technical and interpersonal challenges. Individual work habits, leadership decisions, or lapses in communication can cause tension within a team. Annoyance, frustration, and anxiety commonly arise in response.

Skipping this crucial development stage can stunt a team’s growth and delay true harmony. During the “forming” stage of team development, the team members acquaint themselves with the basic aspects of their task. Forming stage discussion topics often include the project goal, team member roles, basic ground rules, and designation of authority. The forming stage is truly a honeymoon phase in teamwork—productivity is low, but the team members are too newly acquainted to encounter conflict.

This way, you can prepare for conversations that build trust while supporting your team and leading through each team development stage. End-to-end Demo – A visual representation of the final product or experience makes it easy for stakeholders to provide early feedback. As you repeat this exercise over time, it’ll become higher fidelity and help your team see they’re making progress. You’ll clarify each person’s role, what they’re responsible for, and any other expectations team members have of each other.

Navigate the stages of team development

As you add people to the team, pay attention to what qualities and skills you’ll need to complete the project. As roles solidify, it’s important to make those responsibilities clear and distinct so that everyone knows who is doing what by when. If you haven’t already, consider creating a RACI chart to let each team member know who’s responsible, accountable, contributing, and informed for a specific initiative. As a team leader, it’s your goal to support and empower your team to help get their highest-impact work done. When your team members feel comfortable with each other, it’s easier to collaborate and work together.

Creating a team plan is a crucial exercise for the success of your team and business as a whole. This way, you will see how much time individuals need for a specific task. Candid feedback, provided in 1-1 conversations, is an important instrument for developing trust.

Tips for high-performing leaders

Maybe your team is humming along in the “performing” stage, then a new person joins. Likewise, a strategic pivot for the company sends your team back to the “storming” phase. Forming is a period of testing and orientation in which members learn about each other and evaluate the benefits and costs of continued membership. People tend to be polite, will defer to authority, and try to find out what is expected of them and how they will fit into the team (McShane et al., 2018, p. 232). The team seamlessly trusts, collaborates with, and supports one another.

• Members feel attached to the team as something “greater than the sum of its parts” and feel satisfaction in the team’s effectiveness.
• This is the stage when things begin to settle down as your team finds their groove.
• In 1977, she added the last stage — Adjourning — thereby completing what we now know as the modern theory of Team Development.
• This is a stage when dominant members of the group start to emerge.
• During the forming stage, team members are often optimistic and enthusiastic about getting started.

Storming is the most difficult and unproductive of the five stages of development, but it is nevertheless vital to the team development process. When team members are upset with themselves, the task, or each other, they learn what causes the most dysfunction. With this information, the team can begin aspiring to a better team dynamic.

Who invented Tuckman’s Team & Group Development Model?

For example, a change in leadership may cause the team to revert to storming as the new people challenge the existing norms and dynamics of the team. An organization is only as strong as the teams it creates to handle various projects. For this reason, organizations should invest in team development since it impacts the bottom line significantly.

Further developments

But you have to find a way to make sure team members are aligned and on the same page. Behaviors during the Norming stage may include members making a conscious effort to resolve problems and achieve group harmony. There might be more frequent and more meaningful communication among team members, and an increased willingness to share ideas or ask teammates for help.

Every member of the team knows their role in the project and is able to complete their tasks efficiently. This stage occurs when team members are adjusting to each other and settling into their roles on the project. There will be a lot less arguing and planning and more working with one another. Team members will be tired of conflicting ideas and work harder to solve problems and reach the best state possible for the group to achieve. The storming phase may be quick or it may be incredibly long, depending on the complexity of the project. Since tensions may get high during this phase of the team, be prepared for there to be some arguing, hurt feelings and other conflicts amongst team members.

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HR is important in this stage, since they may need to be called upon to settle disputes and assist the team. Norming is a great stage for a team, since many barriers will have been broken down and the team can really start working in harmony. Encourage all ideas and provide positive feedback when an idea is presented. Finally, they are adjourning to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as a team.

How did you know what behaviors were acceptable or what level of performance was required? Teams usually develop norms that guide the activities of team members. Team norms set a standard for behavior, attitude, and performance that all team members are expected to follow. Norms are effective because team members want to support the team and preserve relationships in the team, and when norms are violated, there is peer pressure or sanctions to enforce compliance. Our discussion so far has focused mostly on a team as an entity, not on the individuals inside the team.