The 4 stages of team development: Where are you?
Here's a checklist to make sure you're progressing your team through the stages of forming, storming, norming and performing
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The forming, storming, norming and performing model of group development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who maintained that these phases are all necessary and inevitable in order for the team to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find solutions, to plan work, and to deliver results.
Today Public Health Departments are employing the teaming concept on a regular basis to make quality improvements to their critical processes. Team leaders and managers need to understand how teams mature and when to intervene when things are not progressing as desired. This Teamwork Observation Check List (√) is designed to help observe a team to determine how they are maturing, where some problems might exits, and some tips to overcome them.
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The forming, storming, norming and performing model of team development.
Stage 1: Forming
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Characteristics Displayed By Team Members |
Observed |
Not Observed |
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Signs of excitement, anticipation and optimism for the project |
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Anxiety about the task |
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Gathering information on who is on the team and why |
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Hesitant Participation – everyone at best behavior |
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Testing behavioral expectations |
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Watching appointed leader for guidance and direction |
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Process starting to be established |
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Avoidance of conflict |
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Information gathering - Interested in the why of the team, when we meet, how long will this last, what are roles, etc |
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Other(s) |
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Tips to facilitate a move to the next stage:
- Distribute a clear AIM Statement to all team members.
- Let team members openly express concerns.
- Discover common ground – use a JoHari Window.
- Define what is appropriate team behavior.
- Orient the team to scope of their task.
- Clearly define what is to expected of each team member.
- Introduce and train the team on the problem solving model to be used.
Stage 2: Storming
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Characteristics Displayed By Team Members |
Observed |
Not Observed |
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Decision making is difficult - ideas compete for consideration |
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Challenging the rules |
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Defined problem solving process introduced |
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Listening to others is a problem |
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Conflict is evident in group interaction - defensiveness or competitiveness |
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Some tension arises people trying to dominate – some attempt to establish themselves – power struggle |
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Minimal task accomplishment |
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Leader being challenged |
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Some trust being built |
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Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of uncertainties persist |
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Other(s) |
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Tips to facilitate a move to next stage:
- Constructive feedback on what is and is not working.
- Even work load distribution.
- Focus on the problem.
- Develop ground rules.
- Get the team away from conflict on competing ideas and get them to debate them constructively.
- Different ideas compete for consideration; team members open up to each other and confront each other's ideas and perspectives.
- Do not let team members focus on minutiae to evade real issues.
- Start utilizing the problem solving model.
- Help the team build its trust level.
Stage 3: Norming
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Characteristics Displayed By Team Members |
Observed |
Not Observed |
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Positive feeling towards the leader emerge |
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Decisions are being reached through consensus |
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Members accept their roles and responsibilities |
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Commitment to the task is high |
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Comfortable and productive as a team |
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Follow a defined problem solving process |
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Team starts to become independent |
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Team leader can delegate tasks to sub groups |
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Other(s)? |
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Tips to facilitate a move to next stage:
- Reinforce ground rules at the start of each team meeting.
- Follow the problem solving model.
- Use Brainstorming to get ideas flowing.
- Get team members use to using data to resolve conflicts.
- Confront destructive behaviors when they occur.
Stage 4: Performing
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Characteristics Displayed By Team Members |
Observed |
Not Observed |
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Team clearly knows what it is doing – shared vision |
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Leader facilitates rather than leads |
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Team is focused on its improvement goals |
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Disagreements are resolved with data |
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Team functions with a high degree of independence |
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Team makes decisions easily |
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Team members understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and use them to achieve their goals |
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Other(s)? |
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Tips to facilitate a move to next stage:
- Do not rest – finish the solving and fixing the problem.
- Develop a handoff strategy – who will continue on the work of the team.
- Conduct a lessons learned session on how we could have matured quicker to help other teams starting out.
Summary
Being part of a high-performance team can be a rewarding experience for those on the team. But if the team does not reach the high performing stage it can be extremely frustrating for team members. Being a high performing team requires time and commitment on the part of all on the team to get to that stage.
As a team leader your job is to help your team reach and sustain high-performance. The Four Stages of Teamwork Observation Check List (√) was designed to help you be aware of the challenges the team will encounter.
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