Chances are, at some point, you've had the opportunity to work on a team.
Although purposes vary, many of us first experience working in teams in school.
And while reminiscing those fond memories, you're likely to notice a pattern.
Teams, like all relationships, evolve over time.
In 1965, a psychologist by the name of Bruce Tuckman developed what we refer to as the
stages of team development.
Although it's been in existence for some time, Tuckman's model of team development is still
widely followed today.
Essentially, teams go through a series of stages from when they are created to when
they disband.
It's important to note that not all teams progress through each of these stages, but
the ones that do have seen greater performance than their counterparts.
The first stage of team development is the forming stage.
As the initial stage in the model, the forming stage occurs when the team is created.
At this stage team members tend to get to know one another and develop their first impressions.
Team members also begin to gauge one another's personalities and behavior as they attempt
to determine what is acceptable behavior in the group.
Typically, conversations at this stage are rather cordial and team members rarely take
a strong stance on anyone issue.
As team members size one another up, they may also get a sense for how much time, energy,
and overall effort they'll have to commit to the group.
Despite a lack of productivity, the forming stage is important to establishing relationships
that will be built upon in future stages.
The second stage of team development is the storming stage.
This stage is characterized by conflict and disagreement amongst team members.
After the initial getting acquainted stage, team members try to determine what is the
group is going to look like.
Conflict begins to surface as team members may have differing views of goals or outcomes
of the group, as well as how those goals and outcomes should be accomplished.
Members may even begin to display frustration with group activities openly as them become
more comfortable expressing disagreement.
Although conflict tends to make us feel uncomfortable, it's pivotal for the development of the group
as team members learn how to deal with disagreements and work towards a common goal.
Unfortunately not all teams make it out of of the storming stage.
Those teams are rarely effective and never manage to work together as a fully functioning
team.
Assuming that the team does progress through the storming stage it will come to the norming
stage.
In this stage, team members reach a consensus on the goals of the team as well as how they
intend to achieve those goals.
Team members also begin to understand their own role in the group, as well as the roles
of their fellow teammates.
Think back to your own experiences with teams.
Chances are you reached a point where things started coming together and the team began
to work as one unit.
The fourth and final stage of team development is the performing stage.
At this stage, team performance is at an all-time high as team members are fully committed to
the task as well as one another.
A majority of the work is accomplished at this stage as team members begin to feel a
sense of closeness or connection to each other and actively attempt to help one another.
Because the team has been tested in the storming stage, members are likely to be extremely
loyal to one another as well.
Despite being absent from his original model, Tuckman later added the fifth stage of adjourning.
All teams eventually disband.
Whether it be because their task or project is completed or members get assigned to other
areas, team members will eventually part ways.
So we've spent a few minutes walking through the stages of team development.
But why does it matter?
Does it really help managers to know what stages teams go through as they mature?
Well, in fact it does.
As possible leaders of those teams, managers need to help the group progress through the
initial stages and into the latter stages of the model.
This can be accomplished by getting team members to focus on important issues as well as managing
conflict effectively in the storming stage.
Also, at the forming stages managers can create the conditions where team members can socialize
and get better acquainted with one another.
The important thing is that the group eventually progress to the performing stage, where the
organization reaps the performance benefits of using teams.
Thank you for watching this episode on the stages of team development.
In next weeks episode, we're going to introduce you to the world of human resource management.
If you want more from Alanis Business Academy you can subscribe to our channel, download
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Thanks for watching.