Using the Stages of Team Development MIT Human Resources

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. (We will discuss the role of conflict and conflict resolution in the next section). The team is focused on problem solving and meeting team goals.

Teams may begin to develop their own language (nicknames) or inside jokes. The most commonly used framework for a team’s stages of development was developed in the mid-1960s by Bruce W. Tuckman. 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. Adjourning
When all tasks are completed, it’s important to celebrate the team’s positive achievements. Letting go of the group structure after long periods of intensive team work can also generate uncertainty for individual team members. Motivators would increase job satisfaction while the hygiene factors would reduce job dissatisfaction.

Assertiveness: Key to effective team communication

Roles on the team may have become more fluid, with members taking on various roles and responsibilities as needed. Differences among members are appreciated and used to enhance the team’s performance. Draw a simple four-stage diagram and ask each person to place a dot or sticky note next to the stage they think the team is at. The forming-storming-norming-performing cycle repeats more often than you might think.

• You don’t wait to be told how to do your job – you determine the best way to meet your objectives and get on with it.
• The team members are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decision-making process without supervision.
• “Resolved disagreements and personality clashes result in greater intimacy, and a spirit of co-operation emerges.”[4] This happens when the team is aware of competition and they share a common goal.

Team members are asking such questions as “What does the team offer me? ” Most interactions are social as members get to know each other. In agile software development, high-performance teams will exhibit a swarm behavior as they come together, collaborate, and focus on solving a single problem. Swarming is a sometime behavior, in contrast to mob programming, which can be thought of as swarming all the time. Team members are able to prevent or solve problems in the team’s process or in the team’s progress. A “can do” attitude is visible as are offers to assist one another.

Creating stages

Focus on building a shared understanding across your team and with stakeholders. Project scheduling is a critical and crucial part of project management and planning. It’s the yellow-brick-road that, when followed, will lead you to the gleaming project closure right on time.

During this last stage, the team feelings might be concerns and anxiety because of the uncertainty or future. During this stage some members lose focus and reduce productivity and they focus the tasks in three sections – completion of deliverables, evaluation and closing ( Stein, as cited in McShane et al., 2018). Use this model to establish where you are in the development stages, and decide what steps you personally want to take to help the team move towards performing. 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.

Performing

Though Tuckman presented the different phases as a linear model, it is important to realize that in practice, the phases are rather fluid and group formation is not always a linear process. The co-creation stage, when the focus shifts towards developing group outputs. 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 needs clarity and connection more than anything else at this stage.

Skills of team building are essential for every manager and leader. It is important for the team leader to take them through team creation stages and move to productive stage. In the productive stage team members complement each other’s skills and efforts to achieve common goals.