The 5 Stages Of Group Development Explained

Being conscious of the process is a great place to start, but it’s worth remembering that reaching the performing stage isn’t a given and many teams get stuck early on. Effective relationships between team members goes beyond work. To truly get to know your colleagues and build strong relationships requires honest self-appraisal, deeper sharing, and clear communication. This activity is a great way of quickly and efficiently helping a team share themselves with the group and go beyond the scope of some standard activities. An activity to support a group to get to know each other through a set of questions that they create themselves.

The team is free of conflict, members trust each other, and productivity is at an all-time high. Despite initial struggles within the group, the marketing team successfully completes their goal two weeks ahead of schedule. During the performing stage of group development, also known as synergy, the performance of the group is at its peak. The performing phase is characterized by high productivity and happiness between group members brought on by the realized benefits of group work during the norming stage.

Discussion centers on defining the scope of the task, how to approach it, and similar concerns. To grow from this stage to the next, each member must relinquish what is the storming stage the comfort of non-threatening topics and risk the possibility of conflict. All good things must come to an end; and this is also true of groups.

Members often have high positive expectations for the team experience. At the same time, they may also feel some anxiety, wondering how they will fit in to the team and if their performance will measure up. Having a way to identify and understand causes for changes in the team behaviors can help the team maximize its process and its productivity. Reflecting on how perspectives and working practices have changed and been positively affected by individual and group effort can reveal great learning points for the future. It’s also a great way of reinforcing how far you’ve come as a group and to celebrate how you’ve grown. By documenting the individual and group responses, you can begin to chart how attitudes have changed and improved and thus understand how you can do so again in the future.

Stagnation is always worse than conflict — instead of maintaining a facade of politeness, it’s crucial that you identify your problems, analyze them, AND talk about them. And, what’s most important, they trust that everyone involved will do their share of the work. They know exactly which team member to call to help with each type of problem that arises in the project. They’ve polished out most questions and bought everything they need.

Five Stage Model Of Group Development

The team is focused on problem solving and meeting team goals. Most high-performing teams go through five stages of team development. The end of a project is naturally a great time to reflect, collect final learning points and think about what you might improve or do differently in the future. For an adjourning team, this can be an important step in enabling further growth and supercharging future projects and ensuring everyone is well positioned for whatever they do next. Crucially, you and your team should find some way to share learning points through reflection and then document them effectively.

Many group members are disappointed that the group must dissolve, but they recognize and commend other group members for the skills both personally developed and those developed as a team. In our example, the marketing team reached an agreement and restructured the roles of its members during the norming phase of group development. Team members remain happy and loyal towards to group’s function, and they are quickly approaching the completion of the group’s goal.

Why Are The 5 Stages Of Group Development Important?

The real personalities of the team won’t be revealed until later; in the beginning, getting along with the rest of the team members is of primary importance. The forming stage is marked by a mix of anxiety and hesitation . After all, this is the stage at which your team will first meet each other—they’ll be given a task and then faced with completing that task with near-perfect strangers. Another possible outcome in the adjourning phase is that the team may have worked so well together that the organization assigns them to another project, hoping to achieve the same level of success. Using either a top-down or bottom-up approach, a team comes together to address a problem and propose solutions.

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. If teams get through the storming stage, conflict is resolved and some degree of unity emerges. In the norming stage, consensus develops around who the leader or leaders are, and individual member’s roles. Interpersonal differences begin to be resolved, and a sense of cohesion and unity emerges.

• This stage presents a time where the group is just starting to come together and is described with anxiety and uncertainty.
• In case your team is a remote one, you can try virtual onboarding and online video calls.
• Tuckman’s original work simply described the way he had observed groups evolve, whether they were conscious of it or not.
• Provide extra support and guidance to help team members who are less secure about voicing their opinions and ideas stand their ground.
• The storming stage is where conflict and competition are at its greatest because group members feel confident and begin to address some of the more important issues surrounding the group.
• If they’re to move to the next stage, team members must learn to voice disagreement openly and constructively while staying focused on common objectives and areas of agreement.

A “can do” attitude is visible as are offers to assist one another. 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. 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.

This exercise is an effective way of clarifying how your team should work together while also setting clear expectations around personal responsibility, reporting, and individual action. Used alongside exercises that help clarify team purpose and culture, this activity can ensure everyone on your team is positioned for success. At the end of the exercise, all the questions go up on a whiteboard to encourage further conversation throughout the day. By encouraging the group to take ownership of this part of the team development process, you can meaningfully impact the Forming stage. Forming is the first stage of team development and is where a team first comes together, gets to know one another, and becomes oriented with the goals and purpose of the team.

Process Mapping

Recognize and celebrate the team’s achievements, to make sure your work as a team ends on a positive note. This is important considering that at least some of you may work together in the future once again. Build trust among team members, by advocating honesty, transparency, and accountability. Address and resolve conflicts and problems as soon as they arise.

Everyone can bring their whole self to the team, play to their strengths, and will step up and help one another when it’s needed. Think of this phase like when you move in with a friend you’ve never lived with before, and you slowly start to notice the little things about them that get on your nerves. While some teams think they can skip this stage, it’s important to dive into it with the expectation that there may be some conflict. ProductFeatures OverviewSee how high-performing teams are using Fellow to level-up their meeting and productivity habits. For your team to work collaboratively with few interruptions, they need tools that operate intuitively and will save them time. Find tools that don’t require hours of training and automate basic functions to get the job done.

Forming Stage

Jira IntegrationTurn action items generated in Fellow into Jira issues so their completion status stays in sync between both tools. Google MeetUse Fellow’s Google Meet extension to collaborate on meeting notes and record action items, right within your video calls. Team MeetingsCollaborate on meeting agendas, take notes in real-time, and end every team meeting with an action plan. Workspace AnalyticsGain insight about your company’s meeting frequency, productivity, and feedback culture. StreamsStreams are digital notepads to help you organize projects, share OKRs, and whatever else you dream up. For those that don’t, make sure you listen to them and what suggestions they have to offer.

Norms are only effective in controlling behaviors when they are accepted by team members. The level of cohesiveness on the team primarily determines whether team members accept and conform to norms. Team cohesiveness is the extent that members are attracted to the team and are motivated to remain in the team. Members of highly cohesive teams value their membership, are committed to team activities, and gain satisfaction from team success. They try to conform to norms because they want to maintain their relationships in the team and they want to meet team expectations.

Check in frequently with your team, both individually and as a team. Retrospective meetings are a great opportunity for everyone to work together to make improvements. It’s also important for you to touch base individually with employees in one-on-one meetings.

The tight structure supports team members to be open and honest in their assessment. After reflecting as individuals, the team builds a collective map which can serve as the basis for further discussions and actions. Each one encouraging https://globalcloudteam.com/ the team to reflect and analyse a different and crucial element of their behaviour. In fact, moving from Norming to Performing often involves further refinement and reappraisal of working methods as your team grows and develops.

Otherwise, the group is likely to become mired in relationships and emotional issues and never progress to completing the actual task. The performing stage is when your team is truly interdependent. Teamwork and creativity is at an all time high, and team members step up to take ownership over multiple parts of the project. Leaders provide little direction, meanwhile team members share new information and solutions constantly. In this stage, everyone is working towards the team’s goals, and group cohesion is at an all time high.

One of those rules can be to remember to always listen to one another. No question is stupid, no idea is too silly to bring up, and no one is too “senior” to ask for help. At the end of the day, you’re all working towards a common goal, to get there, you need a foundation built on listening to what the others on the team have to say. On-Demand DemosEmpower your team to build a culture of productive meetings with these on-demand product tutorials. Team Meetings GuideLearn how the world’s best companies run effective team meetings – featuring insights from Figma, Buffer, Close, Webflow, Shopify, and more.

The 5 Stages Of Team Development

Stages of group development examples can help you understand that what your team is going through is completely normal. Understanding the five stages and how to keep your team moving through each of them helps bolster productivity and foster a creative and collaborative team. While the forming stage is useful in establishing objectives, members rarely branch out from their individual roles.

The Storming Phase Of Group Development

Tuckman’s final stage of group development, adjourning, was not originally part of his development model. During this closure or mourning phase, the group dissolves or disbands following the successful completion of their main objective. Adjourning is used to wrap up the activities of the group and provide team members with a sense of closure or fulfillment. The norming phase of group development also represents a time of security and adaptability within the group, as well as an increased sense of interdependent trust. During norming, individual and collective work is completed to work towards the team’s ultimate goal and feedback is shared between members of the group. On the marketing team, the two competing leaders reached an agreement and clarified the goals of the team to their peers.

As the team begins to move towards its goals, members discover that the team can’t live up to all of their early excitement and expectations. Their focus may shift from the tasks at hand to feelings of frustration or anger with the team’s progress or process. Members may express concerns about being unable to meet the team’s goals. During the Storming stage, members are trying to see how the team will respond to differences and how it will handle conflict. During the Forming stage of team development, team members are usually excited to be part of the team and eager about the work ahead.