Stages of Group Development

Effective teamwork is essential in today's world, but as you'll know from the teams you have led or belonged to, you can't expect a new team to perform exceptionally from the very outset. Team formation takes time, and usually follows some easily recognizable stages, as the team journeys from being a group of strangers to becoming a united team with a common goal.

Whether your team is a temporary working group or a newly-formed, permanent team, by understanding these stages you will be able to help it quickly become productive.

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman first came up with the memorable phrase "forming, storming, norming and performing" back in 1965. He used it to describe the path to high-performance that most teams follow. Later, he added a fifth stage that he called "adjourning" (and others often call "mourning" – it rhymes better!):

1. Forming: The group comes together and gets to initially know one other and form as a group.
2. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and trialing of group processes
3. Norming: Eventually agreement is reached on how the group operates (norming)
4. Performing: The group practices its craft and becomes effective in meeting its objectives.
5. Adjourning: The process of "unforming" the group, that is, letting go of the group structure and moving on.

Forming

Teams initially go through a "forming" stage in which members are positive and polite. Some members are anxious, as they haven't yet worked out exactly what work the team will involve. Others are simply excited about the task ahead. As leader, you play a dominant role at this stage: other members' roles and responsibilities are less clear.

This stage is usually fairly short, and may only last for the single meeting at which people are introduced to one-another. At this stage there may be discussions about how the team will work, which can be frustrating for some members who simply want to get on with the team task.

This stage is characterized by:

• High dependence on leader for guidance and direction
• Little agreement on team aims other than received from leader
• Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear
• Leader must be prepared to answer lots of questions about the team's purpose, objectives and external relationships
• Processes are often ignored
• Members test tolerance of system and leader
• Leader directs

Storming

Soon, reality sets in and your team moves into a "storming" phase. Your authority may be challenged as others jockey for position and their roles are clarified. The ways of working start to be defined and, as leader, you must be aware that some members may feel overwhelmed by how much there is to do, or uncomfortable with the approach being used. Some may react by questioning how worthwhile the goal of the team is, and by resisting taking on tasks. This is the stage when many teams fail, and even those that stick with the task may feel that they are on an emotional roller coaster, as they try to focus on the job in hand without the support of established processes or relationships with their colleagues.

This stage is characterized by:

• Decisions don't come easily within group
• Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader, who might receive challenges from team members
• Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of uncertainties persist
• Cliques and factions form and there may be power struggles
• The team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues
• Compromises may be required to enable progress
• Leader coaches

Norming

Gradually, the team moves into a "norming" stage, as a hierarchy is established. Team members come to respect your authority as a leader, and others show leadership in specific areas.

Now that the team members know each other better, they may be socializing together, and they are able to ask each other for help and provide constructive criticism. The team develops a stronger commitment to the team goal, and you start to see good progress towards it.

There is often a prolonged overlap between storming and norming behavior: As new tasks come up, the team may lapse back into typical storming stage behavior, but this eventually dies out.

This stage is characterized by:

• Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader
• Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement
• Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within group
• Commitment and unity is strong
• The team may engage in fun and social activities
• The team discusses and develops its processes and working style
• There is general respect for the leader and some of leadership is more shared by the team
• Leader facilitates and enables

Performing

When the team reaches the "performing" stage, hard work leads directly to progress towards the shared vision of their goal, supported by the structures and processes that have been set up. Individual team members may join or leave the team without affecting the performing culture.

As leader, you are able to delegate much of the work and can concentrate on developing team members. Being part of the team at this stage feels "easy" compared with earlier on.

This stage is characterized by:

• The team is more strategically aware; the team knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing
• The team has a shared vision and is able to stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader
• There is a focus on over-achieving goals, and the team makes most of the decisions against criteria agreed with the leader
• The team has a high degree of autonomy
• Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively and necessary changes to processes and structure are made by the team
• The team is able to work towards achieving the goal, and also to attend to relationship, style and process issues along the way
• Team members look after each other
• The team requires delegated tasks and projects from the leader
• The team does not need to be instructed or assisted
• Team members might ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development
• Leader delegates and oversees

Adjourning

Project teams exist only for a fixed period, and even permanent teams may be disbanded through organizational restructuring. As team leader, your concern is both for the team's goal and the team members. Breaking up a team can be stressful for all concerned and the "adjourning" or "mourning" stage is important in reaching both team goal and personal conclusions.

The breakup of the team can be hard for members who like routine or who have developed close working relationships with other team members, particularly if their future roles or even jobs look uncertain.