Five Stages of Group Development

The terms we use for the stages of team development were developed by Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, who published his findings in a paper titled Developmental Sequence in Small Groups in 1965. His common belief of team development is that the stages are all necessary for a group to work together as effectively together as possible in order to see success. 

Each of the five stages of team development represents a step on the team-building ladder. As the group members climb the ladder, they morph from a random assembly of strangers into a high-performing team that can work toward a common goal (Masterclass Staff, 2021).

Figure 1: https://blog.infodiagram.com/2018/06/7-group-development-ppt-chart-ideas.html

Stages

1 Forming 

The first stage is forming, which is when the members within the team first come together to meet. It can be considered the period of orientation when everyone is getting to know one another and becoming acquainted. 

Most group members are overly polite and are still extremely excited about what their future may hold. Since the group dynamics and team roles aren’t yet established, the team leader will typically emerge and take charge and direct the individual members. 

New team members may discuss team goals, ground rules, and individual roles, but since this stage of development prioritizes people over the actual work, it’s unlikely the team will be high-performing at this time.

2 Storming

This stage is considered the most critical but also the most difficult to go through. It can be riddled with conflict as the individual personalities and work styles clash within the team. It’s also common for team performance to dip a bit in the storming stage as members can sometimes disagree on goals, strategy, responsibilities, and roles. Also, keep an eye out for subgroups or cliques that can begin to form during this stage.

3 Norming 

This stage is when the team moves past their previous quarrels and begins to recognize and value their teammates’ strengths.  Here, team members have figured out how to work together and there’s no more conflict or internal competition lingering. Even if a group slides back into old behavior, members’ new decision-making skills will make conflicts easier to resolve than they were during the initial storming phase.

4 Performing 

Next up is the performing stage, which tends to be where there is the most cohesive work environment, people are happy and excited, and team performance is at an all-time high.  This high-performance level means all team members are self-reliant and confident enough in their own problem-solving skills that they can function without oversight from the leaders.

5 Adjourning 

While Tuckman’s work started with only the first four stages, in 1977 Tuckman and his doctoral student Mary Ann Jensen added the fifth stage, adjourning, to indicate when a team has completed a project.

Sometimes also called the termination, mourning, or ending stage, most, if not all, of the goals of the team, have been accomplished. 

Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm

Conclusion

Teams are formed because they can achieve far more than their individual members can on their own, and while being part of a high-performing team can be fun, it can take patience and professionalism to get to that stage. Effective team leaders can accelerate that process and reduce the difficulties that team members experience by understanding what they need to do as their team moves through the stages from forming to storming, norming, and, finally, performing.

References

1.Masterclass Staff, 2021. MasterClass. [Online]
 Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-recognize-the-5-stages-of-group-      development

 [Accessed 11 Dec 2021].

 2.Challenge applications, 2021. challenge applications. [Online]

 Available at: https://www.challengeapplications.com/stages-of-team-development
 [Accessed 11 Dec 2021].