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This is important considering that at least some of you may work together in the future once again. Arrange at least 1 team-building activity, to help people grow closer as a team. Speaking of ends, the Adjourning Stage is the bittersweet cherry on the top of each team and project, and it will happen whether you want it or not. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments and think about what you learned. If the team members have grown attached to the project, they may even mourn the fact that the project is ending and that they need to move on to work on other projects. The Performing stage is what your team is really after — in this stage, you and your team get to enjoy synergy.
The danger here is that members may be so focused on preventing conflict that they are reluctant to share controversial ideas. When your team has grown through the stages of team development they establish a state of “flow”. This means they understand how to work together in a cohesive way that helps them reach their goals. Team effectiveness is enhanced by a team’s commitment to reflection and on-going evaluation. In addition to evaluating accomplishments in terms of meeting specific goals, for teams to be high-performing it is essential for them to understand their development as a team.
Performing Stage
During this phase, group members are introduced to one another. Forming is met with anxiety and uncertainty as team members learn about the strengths and weaknesses of other members. During the forming phase, the group objectives are established and roles are delegated to team members. In 1965, American psychologist Bruce Wayne Tuckman created the Stages of Development model to describe the process of group development.
This stage can last a while as people get to know each other and the team’s success. That’s because this stage depends on their familiarity with each other’s work styles, their experience with prior teams and clarity of assigned tasks. In this earlier stage, take time to establish or re-establish ground rules and roles in the team. Realign on the team’s purpose to so everyone knows how to maximize their strengths and trust in other’s strengths in times where they need help. Sometimes also called the termination, mourning, or ending stage, most, if not all, of the goals of the team have been accomplished. The project as a whole is being wrapped up and final tasks and documentation are completed.
More Resources on Team Development
Returning to the marketing team example, the group originally formed a cohesive group that clearly outlined its goals and assigned roles to each of its members. However, during the storming phase, the group begins to lose focus as two strong leaders attempt to control the group. The rest of the members remain quiet while what are the four stages of group development the two individuals vying for control question each other’s methods and deviate from their assigned roles. Although the group remains intact, the team’s output remains small because of unproductivity during meetings. At this stage, team leaders can begin delegating tasks easily and seeing growth within their teams.
When that time comes it might help you to know that all teams go through a series of sequential stages as they grow towards sustained levels of high performance and synergy. The main feature in this stage is the cohesion between team members. The team members are now willing to accept ideas, opinions, facts and figures, procedures and solutions from one another. There is a sense of group belonging and a feeling of relief as a result of resolving interpersonal conflicts. It’s one thing to be given a task and quite another to get a group to successfully complete that task. Now you know more about the forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning activities, you’re almost ready to get your team together.
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The implication of Tuckman’s group development is essential for establishing a cohesive and productive project management team. Each stage relates to a project phase and establishes roles and mutual goals. Below, the theory is applied to the lifecycle https://globalcloudteam.com/ of a project and the role of the project manager. The team focuses their energy on their goals and productivity (Stein, n.d). According to the Cambridge, Dictionary feeling as a noun is a fact of feeling something physically (Cambridge, n.d.).
During the Norming stage, members shift their energy to the team’s goals and show an increase in productivity, in both individual and collective work. The team may find that this is an appropriate time for an evaluation of team processes and productivity. The final stage, adjourning, involves the termination of task behaviors and disengagement from relationships.
Scenario: You’re leading your team through the performing stage
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 you build a new team, keep the stages of team development in mind so you can help individual team members reach their full potential and collaborate together effectively. While there’s no one right way to support your team, try these four strategies to boost your team’s cohesiveness. Even though these individuals stay quiet, issues may still exist. Questions surrounding leadership, authority, rules, responsibilities, structure, evaluation criteria and reward systems tend to arise during the storming stage.
- What everyone needs most is a clear understanding of their part in the journey.
- As the group develops cohesion, leadership changes from ‘one’ teammate in charge to shared leadership.
- Because of this, there might be a lot of individual insecurity at the beginning.
- The process can be stressful – particularly where the dissolution is unplanned.
- Team development will have your team be as successful and as high performing as possible.
This is the hardest stage in the development of any team, and undoubtedly your team will be at its least effective here. This stage is marked by conflict and competition as personalities and working styles begin to evolve and the group members of your team are unfamiliar on how to communicate with each other. Teams may also disagree on the common goal and subgroups or cliques may form. Many teams often fail at this stage so it is important to reduce and address this conflict so that problems do not occur later on. They have resolved the issues from the previous stage and are in a state of finding better ways to be a team. Often, teams will redefine their goals or team structure that were established in the Forming stage.
Keep Your Teamwork Transparent And Dreamy
Teams move through a series of four phases—from when they are formed to when their work is complete. This is also the time in which teams can celebrate everything they have achieved together. Take the time to reflect on your achievements and remind your team why they’re doing what they do.