Team building doesn?t happen overnight ? it is a process. Read this article on Tuckman?s stages of group development, and how managers need to give their teams apple time to gel.
We see it so often in professional sports: a top football club will spend millions of pounds on the world?s best players, but they just do not seem to come together and play cohesively as a team at the level that their talents would suggest. One would assume that when you assemble a talented team, the talent alone would be enough to establish productivity and quality. This, however, is not generally the case.
Bruce Tuckman?s landmark study on team building in the 1960s suggest that group development is a process, and in many instances, things can get worse before they get better.
The Happy Manager has a wonderful synopsis of Tuckman?s theory, which lays out the four key stages:??forming?, ?storming?, ?norming? and ?performing?.? These four stages account for the growth and progression of a successful team, ??from their creation as groups of individuals, to cohesive, task-focused teams.?
Forming
The ?forming? stage often features a high level of morale and can set the productivity bar high at the onset, since at this stage, coworkers are still getting to know one another and feeling each other out. Because of the widespread lack of familiarity, the ice has yet to be broken, and while very early team processes might seem effective, they are usually not representative of the team?s full potential.
Storming
This stage represents the natural downturn in a team?s progression towards successful teamwork and productivity. Once team members begin to familiarize themselves with other personalities in the group, initial power struggles and protective, isolationist work practices can begin to get in the way of smooth, effective workflow. This is due to the fact that few teams fully outline or understand work responsibilities from the very outset of their team formation, as business processes tend to evolve over time.
It can be said that the ?storming? stage is the true ?danger zone? for managers and employees, since managers can give up too easily of team formations in stage, and damaging interpersonal conflicts can occur which can be hard to ?walk back? in the long term.
Norming
While in the ?storming? stage, managers have to keep the ?norming? phase on the horizon, and mitigate the growing pains of a team in order to reach full productivity and potential down the line. Once a team manages to move out of the storming phase, they begin to know and accept their place within the business process, and work in tandem with their coworkers. If a manager can position his or her team in the norming phase, it is here that productivity, quality, confidence, and communication begin to grow exponentially.
Performing
This final stage is an open-ended one that represents the full maturing of the team building process. It is where a team truly becomes ?veteran? and works optimally and confidently, so that the company can rely on them on a consistent basis for steady productivity and the ability to meet even challenging, time-critical demands.
Teams get to this level by settling in comfortably to their individual roles, relying on their coworkers? complementary skills and contributions, and understanding what it expected from them at the managerial level.
Where Team Building Events Can Help in the Tuckman Model
From a team building events perspective, where can one expect to get the most ROI in the Tuckman model? At what stage should a company use a team building event?
There are two areas along Tuckman?s margin that are ripe for a team building event: the first is in the ?storming? stage. In this range, team building events can help to mitigate the potential damage that the storming stage can cause. For this reason, it is ideal for a team to engage in an event before they bottom out on the scale, as the low-point usually represents a potential ?point of no return.?
The other stage where team building events can be particularly helpful are in the ?Performing? stage. In this stage, even seasoned teams can run the risk of becoming stale or sedentary in their processes, and in this way, a team building events tailored for reenergizing a team and encouraging them to ?think out of the box? can yield a measurable ROI.
It?s worth noting that not all team perfectly follow the Tuckman model ? not all team building trajectories are the same. However, most teams progress along tuck man?s line in some relative similar fashion, so it is worth keeping it in focus for all of your team building efforts.
Thanks for reading our article! Are you looking to plan a team building event for your business? Be sure to target="_blank">contact Accolade Corporate Events for a FREE consultation today!
Tags: Tuckman
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