Introduction
While it is common to see various teams working together and achieving common goals, it is not a one-day event for new teams but a gradual process that requires time and strategy. Getting a team to work together, especially with members who are strangers to each other, can be challenging. Generally, it takes some time for most people who are unfamiliar with one another to transform and become colleagues. It becomes even more challenging when strangers need to collaborate to achieve a common goal.
Since individuals have different personalities, which may be conflicting, it becomes difficult for team members to understand one another, coordinate, and cooperate to achieve a common goal. The members must undergo a series of stages before they can become a complete working team. Understanding this difficulty, Bruce Tuckman introduced a team development model to solve the puzzle. The plan highlights the various stages, including forming, storming, norming, and performing, which team leaders can use to get their groups working effectively.
Forming Stage
Every team begins with the formation, which involves attracting and gathering new members for a specific activity, such as a research project. However, when forming a new team, most members are often unfamiliar with each other and may need time to interact, bond, and work together effectively. Due to the unfamiliarity caused by dealing with strangers, new members often experience anxiety and curiosity.
Individuals may be unsure whether they will fit into the system and what reaction they will receive from their new colleagues (Aquino et al., 2022). People have different personalities and values, which influence their behaviors and characters. When individuals come together to work for the first time, they often do not know each other and may therefore struggle to understand their colleagues’ behaviors and feelings.
For example, some people are open-minded and will discuss and criticize whatever they feel is unsatisfactory. However, this character may be perceived as strange by others, who may find it radical and defiant. When people come together to work as a team for the first time, conflict is inevitable. The forming stage is, therefore, important for resolving and avoiding possible conflicts by allowing members to know and understand each other.
A team leader can organize activities such as a get-together welcome party for the members to mingle, interact, and bond in a bid to get to know each other. The get-together party can be a special, exclusive function for members only, allowing them to introduce themselves, share stories, and interact widely among themselves and with their team leaders (Cao et al., 2023).
During the party, the team leader can briefly explain and introduce the team’s purpose, goals, strategies, and expectations to the members, and take the time to welcome them. Such activities will help the team develop a sense of belonging and alleviate anxiety, feelings, and fear associated with working with new people. The forming stage in the developmental model is a critical phase as it creates the foundation for the team.
Storming Stage
After the forming stage, the newly built team is struggling to take shape. The new members assume various roles in the project as assigned by their leader. Additionally, individuals begin to break free from fear and anxiety as they develop a sense of belonging. However, the sense of belonging may come with the desire to push against established boundaries, as the members now feel part of the team. At the forming stage, most members usually hide their true personalities and characters as they fear being judged by their colleagues. Similarly, most individuals often take a back seat to showcase their working styles.
Furthermore, the team leader is feared, and their authority remains unchallenged. Even if their decisions are unpopular, no individual member dares to challenge them. However, all these changes occur at the storming stage following the members’ new dawn (Cao et al., 2023). At the storming stage, the new members have already developed a sense of belonging and begin to conduct their various roles. The fear and anxiety have been replaced by the ambition and desire to succeed.
The storming stage is typically characterized by conflict and friction as members begin to reveal their true characters and personalities. Those with conflicting personalities may find themselves clashing with others with contrary characters. For example, ambitious leaders may begin to openly display their ambitious characters, which others may not welcome. As a result, some little conflict and friction may arise among the opposing camps (Van Tyne et al., 2022).
Similarly, individuals have different working styles, which might be another source of disagreement. For example, some people believe in conducting research before undertaking any task, while others do not value research, especially when they believe the solution is readily available. Such contradicting working styles can trigger conflicts among working teams, as each group may want to favor its working style.
Furthermore, the storming stage can be characterized by members challenging the authority and decisions of their leader, which is common when dealing with members who were accustomed to different management styles before joining the new team (Srivastava & Pinto, 2022). For instance, the previous team leader might have been inclusive when making decisions. However, the new leader might choose to be independent, strict, and authoritarian. As a result, members who are not accustomed to this management style may challenge their leader’s leadership style, leading to confrontations and tensions within the team (Cao et al., 2023).
Similarly, the roles and responsibilities are other fragile areas that can trigger tension within teams in the storming stage. Some individuals may feel defeated and overwhelmed by their assigned duties, while others may overburden their colleagues by escaping their roles. However, they can engage in team-building activities, such as blindfolded challenges, trust falls, and escape rooms, to work through conflicts and establish trust among themselves. At this phase, leaders can organize conflict resolution workshops that encompass activities such as teaching members conflict resolution skills, such as negotiation, compromise, and active listening.
Norming Stage
Following the conflicts and frictions at the storming stage, the tension begins to cool at the norming phase. The members who initially disagreed on many areas now start to mend their differences and understand each other. The controversial issues that triggered the conflicts, such as working style, have been resolved (Cao et al., 2023). For example, the members begin to understand each other better and identify their working styles. As in the case of research-loving colleagues, their teammates can understand and respect their styles.
Similarly, those who do not favor research in their style can also be understood and respected by their fellows. Understanding and respect help to enhance harmony and reduce tension in the norming stage. Additionally, the norming stage is characterized by understanding the personalities and characters of the members. Those colleagues with contradicting values can compromise and respect one another while observing individual boundaries. For example, members with extreme ambitions can be understood by their fellows and tolerated.
Similarly, those individuals with an extreme religious subscription can be understood and their freedom respected (Aquino et al., 2022). For instance, some individuals highly subscribe to certain religious beliefs and thus may act differently during teamwork or demand to be treated differently. Therefore, in the storming stage, such lines shall have been drawn, and members shall have already understood one another better.
Furthermore, the norming stage provides the team leader with the opportunity to assert their authority and power by outlining the regulations, boundaries, and responsibilities. The leader can explain the purpose and goals of the team while instilling discipline among the members. The individuals challenging management are brought down to size by the team leader (Kaygan, 2023). In addition, the team manager can organize activities such as problem-solving, communication skills, and goal-setting workshops.
The team can engage in communication skills workshops through group activities. For instance, they might involve one person sharing their story while others listen without interruption. Goal-setting workshop activities and games, such as the vision board game and the SMART goals game, aid in setting clear goals and clarifying individual responsibilities and tasks that may cause confusion. As a result, the members will feel comfortable with the management, enabling them to ask for help and offer constructive feedback.
Performing Stage
It is the stage that influences the outcome and team result. At this stage, the members execute their purpose, with every individual focusing on their duties to produce the research result. The team leader outlines a clear work structure and motivates the members (Aquino et al., 2022). Even though teams always have common goals, most leaders prefer to assign individual targets to every member that they are required to meet, and all that is done is performed during the execution stage.
Motivation is another important factor in the performing stage, as management must look into ways to improve the team’s spirit and morale. The leader can employ various motivational strategies, depending on the nature of the research project and the composition of the team members. For example, the team leader can introduce financial incentives, such as tokens, to motivate the best-performing members.
Since most teams are diverse in terms of abilities and skills, their diversity is utilized for the benefit of the team (Krausman et al., 2022). The diverse team members coordinate and cooperate to enhance the team’s performance in achieving the common goal. As in the case of a business team, the diversity among its members can be leveraged to benefit the team’s performance. The skills can be united for a common purpose to achieve the team’s goal.
It is worth noting that the performing stage is dependent on the team leader and how they organize their members. A team performs well under a structured process and when they are sufficiently motivated. A good leader will lay down proper strategies, mobilize the members behind the plan, and engage the team in continuous learning activities such as training and conferences.
Additionally, the manager must ensure the team is motivated and fully focused on the task at hand. The team can engage in activities such as group lunches or parties to celebrate success and motivate themselves. According to Srivastava and Pinto (2022), teams generally are expected to have a common goal. The performance during this development stage will determine the fate of the team’s goal and purpose, whether they are met or not.
Adjourning Stage
This forms the last phase in the team development model. As the name suggests, this occurs in the last period of the project. The adjournment is characterized by the meeting of the team’s objective, thus signaling the end of the project. Since the team was created for a specific purpose, such as conducting research, the adjournment period typically marks the end of the study when the results have been obtained (Krausman et al., 2022).
In some cases, the adjournment may come as a surprise, especially when the project is canceled. For example, when a team was casting a movie, and then it got canceled, the project ended abruptly. At the adjournment stage, the team leader relieves every member of their duty and disbands the group. The leader can encourage members to reflect on the team’s journey by narrating experiences on the ups and downs encountered. If success has been achieved, the team might engage in activities such as parties or organize trips to celebrate.
Conclusion
Tuckman’s development model outlines the stages and paths that new teams should follow to achieve effectiveness and enhance performance. The stages begin with forming, where new members create the team. The second stage is storming, characterized by conflicts and tension as new members interact with one another.
The third phase is norming, where the team understands each other and works together effectively. Following that, the performing stage takes place, where responsibilities are executed, and actual work is completed. The development model concludes with the adjourning stage, which marks the end of the project, at which point the team is disbanded.
References
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Cao, Q., Duan, G., Mi, G., Zeng, L., Yang, S., Mi, R., Guo, J., Zhang, Z., & He, X. (2023). Research on project team building and talent development based on Tuckman Model. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 6(6).
Kaygan, P. (2023). From forming to performing: Team development for enhancing interdisciplinary collaboration between design and engineering students using design thinking. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 33(2), 457-478.
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