Teams go through a lot of ups and downs, from forming to disbanding. What these stages of a team life mean for you as a manager or member of a team depends on where your group is in its lifespan.
Here are the five stages of teams life development:
Stage 1: Forming
People are new to the group and getting to know each other, the leader and the task. They are also learning about their environment. This is a great time for them to share stories about themselves, as well as their roles in life. The more they get acquainted with each other, the easier it will be for them when things get tough later on in your project or team.
The first step to forming is for you as the leader to make sure that your people know each other’s names and have a general understanding of who they are. You can do this by giving each person an opportunity to introduce themselves (perhaps in pairs), or letting them talk about themselves when they volunteer their stories.
Stage 2: Storming
There is still a lot of work to do, and the team is not sure where it is going or how to get there. The team may need more direction from senior leaders about what success looks like for them.
- Storming is when everyone is asking, “Who am I and what is my role?”
- People are still getting to know each other.
- There can be a lot of conflict and disagreement.
- People may be unsure of how to work together.
- There may be a lack of trust between team members.
Stage 3: Norming
The third stage of team development is called Norming. This is when your team gets to know each other and starts to feel comfortable with one another. Team members begin to trust one another, share common goals, and develop a sense of identity.
As the team members get to know each other better, they start to have more meaningful conversations about their personal lives and interests. They may even go out together for meals or drinks after work!
Stage 4: Performing
At this stage, the team is performing well. Team members are comfortable with each other and have a sense of trust. They have developed an identity as a group and have established relationships with one another. They perform well together because they are confident in their abilities and skills as individuals, but also know how to leverage the strengths of others on the team.
This stage is important because it is the first time that team members are able to perform at a high level. This may be due to the fact that they have mastered their individual roles, but also because they have developed trust in one another. When teams reach this stage, they typically experience increased productivity and performance.
Stage 5: Adjourning
The fifth stage of group development is adjourning, or winding down. This is the final stage of a team’s life cycle and it typically occurs when the group has reached its peak in terms of productivity, maturity and performance.
In this stage, the team has achieved a clear purpose and members are committed to that purpose. The team also has an established hierarchy and structure with clearly defined roles for everyone involved.
This can be seen as either an advantage or disadvantage depending on how well it was established from the start. In addition, norms and rules are well-established at this point so that all members know what they need to do in order for things to run smoothly within the group.
This is the basic outline of a team development theory
The stages are not fixed and can overlap, so you may see a team in Stage 2 that is also exhibiting characteristics of Stage 3 or 4. The stages are not in a strict sequence; they’ll often run parallel to each other for some time before progressing on to the next one. And sometimes, a stage will repeat itself—this helps teams identify where they are and what needs to be done at any time during the development process.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a team’s life can be broken down into the five stages outlined above. There are many other aspects to consider and explore when analyzing teams, but hopefully, this article has given you a good overview of what to expect from your team as they grow through these phases.
We’d love to hear any thoughts or comments that you have on this topic; just leave them below! Happy reading 🙂
Mo Fayez is an engineer by trade with more than 15 years of experience in management, passionate about Management coaching, self-help, and productivity. He has a passion for teaching and helping others become the best that they can be. He also enjoys training people to become more productive at work.Learn more about this blog that Mo has created in 2021, and why he decided to start this blog. If you want to send Mo a quick message, then visit his contact page here.
