Building Successful Teams
Completion requirements
The article provides useful ideas on how to build successful teams, particularly by paying close attention to team size and composition, providing accountability, and using periodic check-ins to gauge how the team is progressing. It also talks more about team building and small group formation. It is important to lay the groundwork for successful teams at the very outset.
Stages of Team Development
The Forming–Storming–Norming–Performing model of group development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965.
Learning Objectives
Evaluate each of the stages in team development for opportunities, threats, and strategy
Key Takeaways
Key Points
- Teams move through a series of four phases - from when they are formed to when their work is complete.
- During the forming stage, a the team discusses it purpose, defines and assigns tasks, establishes timelines, and begins forming personal relationships.
- The often-contentious storming stage is the period when team members clarify their goals and the strategy for achieving them.
- The norming stage is when the team establishes its values for how individuals will interact and collaborate.
- Performing is the stage of team development when team members have productive relationships and are able to communicate and coordinate effectively and efficiently.
- While teams move through the four stages in sequence, the phases may overlap or be repeated.
Key Terms
- forming: The stage of group development when the team discusses its purpose, defines and assigns tasks, establishes timelines, and begins forming personal relationships.
- performing: The stage of group development when team members have productive relationships and are able to communicate and coordinate effectively and efficiently.
- storming: The stage of group development when the team clarifies its goals and its strategy for achieving them.
- norming: The stage of group development when the team establishes its values for how individuals will interact and collaborate.
Teams move through a series of stages, beginning when they are formed and ending when they are disbanded. Bruce Tuckman identified four distinct phases of team development: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Each has a primary purpose and a common set of interpersonal dynamics among team members. Tuckman proposed that all are inevitable and even necessary parts of a successful team's evolution.