The 5 Stages of Team Building With Activities for Each of Them

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If these changes – and their resulting behaviors – are recognized and addressed directly, teams may successfully remain in the Performing stage indefinitely. In the Performing stage of team development, members feel satisfaction in the team’s progress. They share insights into personal and group process and are aware of their own (and each other’s) strengths and weaknesses. Members feel attached to the team as something “greater than the sum of its parts” and feel satisfaction in the team’s effectiveness.

Lastly, teams should achieve the overall goals assigned to them. This involves removing all the blockages that may come their way with the right efforts and strategy. Employees may experience one or all of the emotions just mentioned at once. They may also experience those feelings at different times than their coworkers do, which can make processing them a challenge for some. Explore the possibility to hire a dedicated R&D team that helps your company to scale product development. “Storming” can be thought of as “weathering the trying times that will come with the stresses of a project.” The latter doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue – so storming is efficient.

at which developmental stage of team building

Typically, every team goes through these stages in order to become highly effective and successful. Whereas performing was a blissful phase, the adjourning stage is comparatively melancholy, so much so that you might find yourself longing for the oft-detestable storming phase. The last phase, added to the team development process by Tuckman more than a decade after he identified the first four stages of his development model, is when teams dissolve. This stage is usually characterized by frustration, tension, and competition, but also by creativity, diversity, and innovation.

What are some effective tools and methods for brainstorming with your team?

Instead, it’s about doing the assigned work, achieving goals, and pushing yourself and others forward. If someone is unhappy with the way you resolved a conflict but what four stages of team development you did was for the team’s greater good, so be it. When part of a team stops working while others keep up the hard work, stress and conflict are usually the result.

at which developmental stage of team building

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.

Make sure everyone steps back each day or week to take a look at the larger picture. Any insights should be shared in a public forum so everyone in the company can learn. Disagreements are unavoidable on teams, especially when each person on the team has a different perspective on how to approach the issues the team encounters. When you all work in the same location, it can be easier to hash out problems quickly. On a remote team, you need to be more thoughtful about the tools and the processes that you use to identify and deal with disagreements. Many people experience the feeling of loss when their group disbands.

Storming Stage

Then, they should draw their team logo on the paper and share it with the other groups. At first, ask the participants to discuss and come up with a slogan for their team. Next, give them a raw egg and a limited number of materials such as a cardboard box, duct tape, old cloth, sponge, straws, etc. Then, allow them some time to plan and build the structure. Then, each person can personally rank the items according to their importance.

Individual members might feel all of these things at the same time, or may cycle through feelings of loss followed by feelings of satisfaction. Given these conflicting feelings, individual and team morale may rise or fall throughout the ending stage. It is highly likely that at any given moment individuals on the team will be experiencing different emotions about the team’s ending. The main focus of this activity is to minimize conflicts and improve communication and negotiation skills. Initially, cut a playing card into several pieces and distribute them to different teams. Now, the participants must arrange the pieces so that they can form the original card.

  • And, now that you’ve figured out established practices that help you collaborate effectively, share those with other teams.
  • They try to conform to norms because they want to maintain their relationships in the team and they want to meet team expectations.
  • If you’re fortunate, the performing phase will be the lengthiest phase for your team.
  • Psychologist Bruce Tuckman shared the team development process with the world in 1965.

The topic can be anything related to work or a real-life problem. Like this article on “10 Team Building Activities for the Performing Stage”? He can tell a sentence or two by mentioning one of his teammates as a character. First off, ask the teams to create a structure that will protect an egg when it’s dropped from a certain height.

Finally, share the project roadmap so the team can see the starting point, the proposed check-in points, and the end goal. This gives them insight into the bigger goal but also breaks down the timeline into smaller increments. Project scheduling is a critical and crucial part of project management and planning. It’s the yellow-brick-road that, when followed, will lead you to the gleaming project closure right on time. If your group enjoyed particularly strong team dynamics, it can make permanently separating from their teammates extremely hard for some employees. While the mourning period for most is normally shorter than it would be had they lost a loved one, some workers may feel sad for an extended period.

Norming Stage

An excellent example of team development is when colleagues from different departments partner to work on a project. Our discussion so far has focused mostly on a team as an entity, not on the individuals inside the team. This is like describing a car by its model and color without considering what is under the hood. External characteristics are what we see and interact with, but internal characteristics are what make it work.

at which developmental stage of team building

Your team starts to increase their productivity at this stage as they become more familiar with their teammates and their working styles. 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. The team may find that this is an appropriate time for an evaluation of team processes and productivity.

Team Building Stages: 5 Steps

Forming emotional connections makes us more likely to trust. After all, when we interact regularly with individuals, those folks are likely to act in our best interests to maintain the bond. Also, forming relationships means recognizing different personality facets and understanding our colleagues on a deeper level.

at which developmental stage of team building

Feedback is critical to improving your team’s performance while navigating through the five stages. In this regard, consider ending each meeting with constructive and insightful feedback to enhance the group process. Encouraging the notion that feedback should be given after every meeting makes it easier for team members to air their views. Establishing ground rules from the get-go ensures they get followed as the group moves from one stage to the next. A critical rule to emphasize is that team members should always listen to each other and feel free to consult and raise concerns.

Storming

As a result, the team starts to operate more effectively and gains momentum towards realizing the shared goals. Members become more comfortable with each other and understand the significance of utilizing their diverse perspectives to find practical solutions to any challenges. As a team lead, it’s your goal to get your team to this stage as quickly as possible. We discuss more about how to get your team to this point below. Establishing group collaboration early on can help reduce the impact of—or even prevent—this stage of group development.

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They simplify the sequence and group the forming-storming-norming stages together as the “transforming” phase, which they equate with the initial performance level. This is then followed by a “performing” phase that leads to a new performance level which they call the “reforming” phase. The team members are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decision-making process without supervision. Dissent is expected and allowed as long as it is channelled through means acceptable to the team. In this stage, all team members take responsibility and have the ambition to work for the success of the team’s goals.

Tuckman’s 5 stages of group development

If it exists, conflict in this stage will be minimal and resolved quickly. At this stage, team members are able to talk about their differences honestly and openly without things escalating and without judgment. It requires more preparation from the leader to go smoothly, but non-participation by team members can be catastrophic.

The challenge now is to move a bit faster while keeping the quality of your work high. Elevator Pitch – This exercise answers the “What exactly are we doing, and why? Creating an elevator pitch together sets your team up with a consistent and simple explanation of your work and the unique value it delivers. There’s a new initiative to run at and you’re keen to get started.

By understanding these phases, you’ll be able to calibrate where your team is and how to take it to the next phase. Whether in a team at work, in your neighborhood, or in a nonprofit organization, you can use these skills to create a better team. Choose a project management software that lets you plan the entire project and assign deadlines and responsibilities so everyone can see what tasks need to be accomplished. Let’s say your team is working on a project to make it easier for users to navigate your product.

Mary Davis
My name is Mary Davis. I am successful broker. I want to share my experience with you through tutorials and webinars. For any questions of interest, please contact us by e-mail: [email protected]. +1 973-709-5130

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