4 Key Stages of Team Development Leading to High-Performance Teams - Easy2Employ

May 5, 2021by Easy2Employ

When it’s time to celebrate meeting a milestone, consider indulging in a team dinner or day out doing something fun together. And, now that you’ve figured out established practices that help you collaborate effectively, share those with other teams. Maybe your four stages of team development 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. The next phase, if you overcome the storming stage, is the “coming around” or norming stage.

In some cases storming (i.e., disagreements) can be resolved quickly. Other times a team never leaves this stage and becomes stuck and unable to do its work. Patience and consideration toward team members and their views go a long way toward avoiding this. Download a spreadsheet with each of the characteristics you can observe at each stage of the forming, storming, norming and performing process. Each stage of team development doesn’t necessarily take just as much time as the one that comes after it, nor the one before it. The norming stage is more harmonious since teams understand why it’s important to ask for help, and how to come to you with questions when they need guidance.

The team meets and learns about the opportunities and challenges, and then agrees on goals and begins to tackle the tasks. They may be motivated but are usually relatively uninformed of the issues and objectives of the team. 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.

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There can also be conflict about the goals and objectives of the project . For those group members who have previously worked together, formerly unresolved issues may even arise. Some conflict can be good as it can help work through issues, as well as determine whether or not the group will be able to work together. Ultimately, the group needs to gain clarity by working through its major issues, which allows them to move forward into the next stage. The leader’s role in team building during this stage is a significant one. It’s important to note that not all groups make it past this stage.

four stages of team development

How can we prioritize our personal lives while excelling in our careers? Here’s where we explore the emerging conversations about Work 2.0. Clockify is a time tracker and timesheet app that lets you track work hours across projects. How to track your team’s time off Here’s how you can easily track your team’s time off in Clockify….

Scenario: You’re leading your team through the forming stage

In this stage, people can work independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal competencies. The performing stage is a clear indication that your team is in a state of alignment. They not only understand how to ask for help, but they’ve also developed a gauge for when it’s an opportune moment to speak up, and involve you.

  • You can then further analyze your reports to see how much time you need to finish individual project tasks and whether there is room for improvement in that time.
  • Their working styles and skills complement one another, and they rely on the each other to perform tasks more efficiently.
  • Leaders need to be prepared to effectively coach team members by validating their concerns and providing tangible resolutions.
  • Crossed wires and missed connections – good communication among teams is tablestakes for effective teamwork.
  • After the internal conflicts have been resolved, the team members begin to exhibit a sense of cohesion and are more comfortable with one another.
  • Slack IntegrationCollaborate on meeting agendas, share notes, and exchange feedback – without leaving Slack.

Despite initial struggles within the group, the marketing team successfully completes their goal two weeks ahead of schedule. Each of the stages of group formation represents a unique and critical time in the team development process. The remainder of this lesson will describe each individual phase of group development in order and describe how each stage impacts the formation of a healthy, cohesive group. Keep reminding the team to check in with each other regularly in person or via instant chat, but stay out of their way.

Team Development Stage 1 – Forming

Fair warning to team members who don’t like conflict—things will get awkward. But if teams can’t identify the issues, communicate constructively, and work to resolve them, they will get stuck at this stage. Getting comfortable with each other leads to connections, and connections pull people out of their individualistic attitudes. Part of this is leading them to realize that their new team members are bringing skills to the table that help everyone to succeed in a way they couldn’t do by themselves. Setting goals together puts these skills and interests into the open.

four stages of team development

Remember that at any time this team might revert again to a earlier stage. Or, let’s assume that Mohammed slips back into his old methods of keeping to himself and not sharing information with the team – this may cause the group to revert again to the “storming” stage. The staff is happy with how properly the project is going alongside, as is Sandra and the executives of the organization.

Stage #3 — The Norming Stage

But don’t panic, not all teams go through this period of storming. Team effectiveness expert Kimberly Douglas provides best practices, tips, tools, and techniques in her FireFly Flash 90-minute workshops customized to your organization’s specific needs. Based on a survey of hybrid work challenges conducted with your team, she develops and conducts a unique learning experience. Effective communication within organizations is critical for success.

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When this happens, it’s important to take stock of what your team needs. Your team feels confident, excited and satisfied with their work. This gives them an opportunity to recognize their abilities as well as those of their teammates.

They share insights into personal and group process and are aware of their own (and each other’s) strengths and weaknesses. Members feel attached to the team as something “greater than the sum of its parts” and feel satisfaction in the team’s effectiveness. Members feel confident in their individual abilities and those of their teammates.

There should also be a sense of comfort in the norming stage when giving constructive feedback through online forms, or asking for help as you work through various tasks. It might not be possible to plan an in-person meet-up, especially if your projects have short turnaround times. Create an agenda and establish a document to track ideas and comments during the meeting. Share a link to these meeting notes afterwards so that everyone has access and can review it later.

Forming Stage

Often the team will go back and forth or hover around some of the stages. Every time you add a new person to the team, they will more than https://globalcloudteam.com/ likely fall back a step or two. Just because your team is grooving, you shouldn’t stop investing attention into team development.

four stages of team development

Your team asks questions formulated in ways that are rooted in emotional intelligent practices. At this point, you recognize that your team has grown significantly and is capable of achieving big things together. They feel confident and comfortable when approaching you with concerns and questions. You recognize this isn’t any one team member’s fault, but you want to make it right.

Seminars and webinars are designed to help you navigate the college admissions process, plan, and pay for your—or your child’s—college education. Creating a closing celebration that acknowledges the contributions of individuals and the accomplishments of the team and that formally ends this particular team’s existence. Elevator Pitch – This exercise answers the “What exactly are we doing, and why? Creating an elevator pitch together sets your team up with a consistent and simple explanation of your work and the unique value it delivers. Build trust among team members, by advocating honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Where do “Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning” come from?

During norming, individual and collective work is completed to work towards the team’s ultimate goal and feedback is shared between members of the group. On the marketing team, the two competing leaders reached an agreement and clarified the goals of the team to their peers. Other members in the group began to express motivation towards completing the group goals and now work harder to finish the project ahead of time.

Although many authors have written variations and enhancements to Tuckman’s work, his descriptions of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing provide a useful framework for looking at your own team. Recently, several teams in our engineering department undertook a massive, ludicrously complex, business-critical infrastructure project. The number of risks and dependencies sent these established and cohesive dev teams into a flurry of (ultimately, unproductive and/or counter-productive) activity. If your team has ever thrashed about like this, then you know what “storming” is. The team development cycle starts over more often than you might think.

Group norms have been accepted, and people feel comfortable to exchange ideas and challenge the status quo without fear of misplaced judgment or rejection. According to group development theory, team dynamics play a big part in pushing people past average and into exceptional success. The project manager is the important thing to success in terms of contract groups.

Although forming, storming, norming, and performing takes teams on the journey to high performance, team development is not a linear process. As new elements are added or subtracted, the dynamic is altered. At this stage, the project is coming to an finish and the team members are shifting off in several stages of team development directions.

During this time, group members experience conflict and a lack of productivity as leaders emerge and ideas are exchanged. Group members are more confident in their abilities than during the previous forming phase, meaning that disagreements will be established and a power struggle will likely occur. Members may also deviate from their originally assigned roles as they explore their own methods of completing a task. All good things must come to an end; and this is also true of groups. After a group has successfully completed their task, they must dissolve or disband from both the task and group members. This adjourning stage is used to wrap up activities of the group and provide a sense of closure to its members.

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What do we do?
Recruitment, Executive search, Onshore/Offshore tech resources, HR services, technology consulting, financial and business analysis,
GET IN TOUCHEasy2Employ Social links
Become part of trending conversations and a brand new community of recruiters online!

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Copyright by Easy2Employ.   All rights reserved.  Privacy Policy