- Slide 1The Forming StageCurrent slide
- Slide 2The Forming Stage – cont.
- Slide 3The Storming Stage
- Slide 4The Storming Stage – cont.
- Slide 5The Norming Stage
- Slide 6The Norming Stage – cont.
- Slide 7The Performing Stage
- Slide 8The Performing Stage – cont.
- Slide 9The Adjourning Stage
- Slide 10The Adjourning Stage – cont.
Five Stages of Team Development
The Forming Stage
How do you know your team is in the forming stage?
Role Clarity: Low
Competence: Low
Cohesion: Low
Low Moderate High
Role clarity
Competence
Cohesion
“Every drop of rain creates the puddle anew…” —author unknown
Have you ever been at a party and there is a certain vibe to it, then someone new arrives and the mood of the party completely changes? The forming stage is a lot like that! In this stage, some major dynamic—a team member, a role, or a task—changes and has an impact on how the team behaves and performs. Savvy leaders acknowledge that any major change—even if it is limited to a single team member—forces the team back to the forming stage where the team needs to essentially re-acquaint itself.
Five Stages of Team Development
The Forming Stage – cont.
Structurally
Behaviorally
Emotionally
Role Clarity: Low
Competence: Low
Cohesion: Low
- The team is forming for the first time (a new department; an acquisition; drastic turnover; a new project with new players).
- Something about the team is “new”—a member leaves or is added, a member is promoted or demoted or asked to play a different role, the team is asked to work toward a different mission or vision.
- Team members are not fully themselves—they may be “on their best behavior” until they figure out what the new reality entails—who they will need to rely on and who will be relying on them.
- Until the “new normal” is defined, the team is likely not very productive.
Depending on what the change was that brought the group to the forming phase, the team might be excited or fearful. Think of the relational dynamics of a team like a rubber band that is being held by multiple people: if you remove or change a member—or some other team dynamic—you change the tension that is shared among the group. In the new dynamic some people may have to pull more, some may have to pull less. The initial instinct is for each member to figure out what the new normal means to them before connecting more deeply with the rest of the team.