During the norming stage, the team is cohesive, allowing the leader to adopt a more hands-off approach. While staying engaged, the leader facilitates the team’s work and encourages autonomy. It’s important not to let harmony suppress necessary conflicts; instead, assists the team in addressing issues constructively and improving processes. In the forming stage, https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ where team members are still acquaintances, your role as a leader is akin to a director providing clear guidance and structure. This helps team members feel more secure and capable as they embark on their collective journey. 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.
While working on a high-performing team may be a truly pleasurable and growthful experience, it is not the end of team development. There is still a need for the team to focus on both process and product, setting new goals as appropriate. Changes, such as members coming or going or large-scale changes in the external environment, can lead a team to cycle back to an earlier stage. If these changes – and their resulting behaviors – are recognized and addressed directly, teams may successfully remain in the Performing stage indefinitely.
How Can Team Building Activities Strengthen Your Team?
You can assess progress by asking for feedback from your team. Feel free to ask your team for recommendations for improvement. When choosing your teammates, you should analyze your current team makeup and identify any gaps. Consider what you want your team to achieve and which abilities will help the team reach those goals. Everyone should try their best, but nobody will get it right on the first try or every time.
- This stage often starts when they voice their opinions; conflict may arise between team members as power and status are assigned.
- 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.
- Bruce Tuckman was a renowned American psychologist who spent his career studying the theory behind group dynamics.
- This is the second stage of team development, where the group starts to sort itself out and gain each others’ trust.
- This way, they’ll remain high-performing while re-establishing trusted connections.
Validate your assumptions about what your customers need, then proactively decide what you’re not doing right now so you don’t get distracted. When you start to sense that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing, you’ve made it into the “norming” stage. The challenge now is to move a bit faster while keeping the quality of your work high. There’s a new initiative to run at and you’re keen to get started. You’re not sure who is doing what, or how to break this epic project into smaller components. All groups must go through the initial four stages in order to become productive and deliver results.
Module 8: Groups, Teams, and Teamwork
During this phase of team building, responsibilities are clearly defined and the team begins to map out a plan to achieve its goals. The team’s leader is more engaged in team building at this stage to make sure everyone understands the plan. If the team’s objectives are not aligned, there can be mistakes and missed opportunities. To clarify roles, introduce team members and highlight each teammate’s position, skills, and experience.
Moreover, exercises that focus on improving adaptability and managing change are also needed. In this stage, the group members try to share their individual goals and expectations. Additionally, some people resist control, and they try to oppose others. As a result, conflicts, unwanted confrontations, and misunderstandings arise during this stage. In this stage, all team members take responsibility and have the ambition to work for the success of the team’s goals. They start tolerating the whims and fancies of the other team members.
What is the team building process?
And, now that you’ve figured out established practices that help you collaborate effectively, share those with other teams. When you have been on a team, how did you know how to act? How did you know what behaviors were acceptable or what level of performance was required?
Even for an established team, reviewing the four stages of team building is important to maintain morale and cohesion, thereby maintaining successful performance. Below we look at the four stages of team building and how these can be achieved in your office. Teammates move beyond the introductory forming stage and start putting plans into action. At this point, teammates have built up enough trust to feel safe sharing honest opinions with the others. In terms of the dating metaphor, this stage is akin to a couple’s first fight, a disagreement over something silly like a comment over a movie or a mess in the sink.
Stages of Team Development
Dissent is expected and allowed as long as it is channelled through means acceptable to the team. The performing stage is characterized by high levels of productivity and efficiency. Team members understand their roles and responsibilities clearly, and they work seamlessly together to achieve the team’s goals. Communication is smooth, and the team is at its peak performance.
For more than 20 years, Eric has successfully helped a wide array of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations achieve breakthroughs in performance. His new book The Leadership Equation helps leaders achieve strategic clarity, manage change effectively, and build a leadership culture. Alasdair A. K. White together with his colleague, John Fairhurst, examined Tuckman’s development sequence when developing the White-Fairhurst TPR model.
Try a new kind of team building.
When teams understand the part of each individual player, teammates can confidently tackle tasks and produce timely results. As the Harvard Business Review notes, collaboration increases when roles are unambiguous. The team building process is a step-by-step system for transforming a group of employees into an effective and collaborative unit.
Alternatively, you can also arrange a DJ party at your own office. There are loads of ways to grow a company – learn about our approach here. One task we often help clients with is exploring the feasibility of developing an idea… Here is a list of ways to celebrate with a virtual team, and ideas for recognizing employee of the month. Check out this list of communication games for more ideas.
The unconventional guide to performance reviews
Note that teams can lapse back into earlier stages when changes occur with personnel or the project itself. Ideally, the end of this phase is the successful completion of the project. The 4 stages of team building team, which will potentially remain the same in a smaller company or startup, can now move on to the next project. The forming stage of team development is the first step in team bonding.
