|
|
|
Working as a business coach in the Midlands and London, a lot of my work involves bringing people together, developing teams and making teams work better. This information tip sheet explains
about the various stages that a team or group of people go through when they are brought together, either formally or informally. Considerable research and anecdotal observation tells us that when you bring different people, strangers or people who know each other, we need to find a common level before they can be productive. This explains how it all happens..
After reading this you will:
- have greater understanding of the five stages involved when you bring people together
- realise that by our very nature, different people need to find a common bond and behaviour before trusting and working well together
- understand how your feelings, senses and behaviours, and those of your colleagues will go through various stages when you come together
- be able to fathom out why people seem so strange and what needs to happen before you can trust other
- realise how feelings, sensitivity, words and gestures mean different things to different people
Team Development
| Stage |
Facilitator's Job |
Forming/Pseudoteam
Individuals may be scared or nervous of joining and may seem separate or aloof. Those who know each other may be laughing or joking, rather than focusing on the agenda. This will make the new members even more unsettled.
|
Provide a clear structure for all members so that everyone can get to know each other and the facilitator. This gives a chance for the nervousness to be expressed by all members. |
Storming/Chaos
Members begin to share and to explore relationships, testing out if this group accepts them, if this acceptable to them and if their needs are likely to be met. This testing out can be quite exciting and possibly explosive – including aggression, suspicion, questioning rules, purpose, etc. |
To be accepting of the testing out, trying, experimentation, not to take things personally, maintain agreed boundaries so that members can feel safe as they work through the process. Support where necessary.
|
Norming/Emptiness
By exploring and testing out roles and questioning the aims of the group, members begin to develop a sense of what is required and what can be done. Internal rules and norms begin to be established – either by open agreement or implied understandings.
|
To allow the members to establish their own norms as appropriate, to introduce his/her norms e.g. ways of giving feedback, safety rules, punctuality, behaviour, etc. and to give information on how individuals are acting or being treated. |
Performing/Flowing
When members are co-operating on the team/group task, when there are clear aims and the group’s influence on all the members is high, the group can be said to be performing. |
To work with the team/group, facilitating task performance and meeting the needs of the team and the individual. |
Mourning/Remembering
Members may experience a sense of loss of valued support, feedback and personal fulfillment when a group ends. They may be unwilling to let go and try to maintain the group after it’s purpose has been achieved |
To make sure the ending is truly acknowledged by the group and to provide a structure where this happens. |
|
|
|
