Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development

In this section we will learn about team
lifecycle. How team life cycle works from setting up of the team and completion of
the project. So you have a Six Sigma project, which you want to initiate. You
get number of people from number of departments. These people work together
as a team and once the project is completed these people go back to their
own work so they get out of the team How things work from the beginning to
end this team life cycle which was developed by Tuckman it’s also called
as Tuckman’s model. This explains how team dynamic works. As per this theory
there are five stages of team. These stages are forming when you form the
team then storming during the storming people try to understand each other they
have disagreements with each other that is the storming phase of the team. So
you form the team you put people together people who are new not knowing
each other then they started having this agreement in the storming phase then
comes the norming stage when people start working as a team. In the norming
stage the rules are set up people know how to behave how to act in the team
once that stage is reached the next stage is performing this is the stage
when most of the work a big creative work is done when the team work as a
single team to achieve the common objective that is the Performing stage
of the team and once the team has achieved the objective then the last
stage is adjourning. Adjourning is when when the team is broken down breaking of
the team and going back to their own workplaces when the task is complete so
each team when formed goes through these five stages Let us talk about these five stages on
next few slides in little bit more detail. Starting with the first stage of
team formation this is forming this is when the team is formed people from
different groups are brought together to work as a team since people don’t know
each other there is a sort of apprehension. Here you
need a strong leader because the team depends on leader to tell them what to
do. Idea creations are simple because team doesn’t know each other so
everyone is being kept to himself are herself. Since people don’t know each
other they keep their ideas and thoughts to themselves only. There is a tendency
to avoid controversy because everyone is a stranger there and there’s no serious
topic discussion also and there’s a minimum feedback because the team is
just formed so what leader need to do at this time is leader needs to direct so
this is what i am putting here leader directs in the forming stage because
someone has to firmly tell team members what to do because team members
do not know each other they are apprehensive of the situation and this
is the time when leaders need to take a strong position and direct the team
towards the goal so this is the first stage of that team formation coming to
the next stage which is storming storming is the time when people start
expressing their views each one has their own strong view towards that goal
they have a strong position towards that the challenge each other’s idea because
this is the time when they want to dominate the group and want to show
their position the team will even challenged the leadership position or
authorities during this stage of the team formation some team member even
might withdraw because they don’t agree with other members so they might even want to
withdraw at this time there’s a lack of collaboration and there is a competition
for taking control of the team as a team leader your role at this time is to
coach coach and help people to move towards the goal coming to the next
stage of team formation which is normally once the storming has been done
once people have fought for their position once they have challenged the
situation now people slowly adjust to the situation and start to learn about
the team this is the stage which is known as
norming here people listen to each other people find a way to work together and
they are ready to change their views along with other team members they are
receptive to other team members ideas and actively participate in that team if
there’s any conflict that conflict is seen as a common problem not as
individual problem so every member looks at the problem as the group problem not
the individual problem and then there’s the open exchange of ideas so that was
the stage number three which is norming and the role of leader at this time is
to facilitate the team facilitate to help them take their own decisions so the team takes decision at this time
and the leader just helps them in taking those decisions coming to the fourth
stage of information which is performing this is the time that team is most
productive they are highly creative they have been together for some time the
disagreement which they had with each other have been resolved now during
storming and norming stage now they are in performing stage they have a strong
relationship they make bond with each other the personal bonding develops
during this time and the achievements are high at this time team is working in
full swing what leader needs to do at this time is
just delegate leave decision-making and everything to the team members and take it back side position so that
the role of leader at the stage of performing leader delegates, at this
stage coming to the last stage of team which is adjourning adjourning comes when
the project objective has been achieved when the project objectives have been
achieved now there’s a breakdown of team because
team members have to go back to their own places so team is breaking up at
this time they hope that they will meet next time on some other improvement
project or some other work together as a team this is the time team leader need to
recognize the efforts made by team members and many times people are
vulnerable at this time because they don’t know what will happen to them if
this was a project and they don’t have another project to go to so people are
apprehensive of that so this is the time that team little needs to communicate
communicate to reassure them recognize them and recommend them for the next
project if they have done a good job so that’s the role of leader at this stage
which is adjourning so these are the five stages which each team has to go through
understanding these five stages will definitely help you when you work as a
Six Sigma team leader you know that what stage your team is at and based on
that what sort of a strategy you need to take whether you need to delegate
whether you need to coach whether you need to facilitate whether you really
need to direct them so all that will depend on what stage your team is at

Written by Raul Dinwiddie

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