Phases of a Team

Luthien reminded me of this. We get training on this every once in a while in our careers and I'd like to share this here in an effort to maybe bring some more thought to the situations we've had lately.

When a team forms, they always go through the same stages. Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Forming is the stage where the team comes together either as a whole new element, or an individual or two get added. Normally this is where the rules are laid out about what the team is for, who will be a part of it, and the rules of engagement. The length of this phase depends on how much the team members know each other, their experiences working together, the length of time the team is to be together and the task at hand.

The second phase of a team is Storming. This is a period of heightened stress and unrest as the team is trying to figure each other out at the same time as figuring out the duties and how to work together. This phase can be shortened with clear communication between the leadership and team members, and between the team members.

Norming is where the team is starting to come together. They've mostly figured out how to communicate with each other, the personality differences have been smoothed out, and the job is clear.

Performing is what it sounds like. The team is at or near its best productivity levels. Things are getting done, there's much less bickering, communication is less delicate and more understandable. The team is finally working their task. Usually little to no work gets done until this stage is hit.

Adjourning is the final stage. When someone leaves the team, the task is done, or the team is otherwise no longer needed. There tends to be a period of mourning here.

This is very interesting, Kit.

How do you figure it works with our community, where people are coming and going in a more accelerated process than in most companies?

I love this "phases of a team" concept...it is so true in every team environment we find ourselves in.

I learned this intimately through GoRuck. This is a company started by former special forces members of the US military, and they produce gear and operate SF influenced events of varying lengths. During their "Tough" challenge (usually about 12-14 hours in length, overnight, covering 20+ miles, with a group between 10-40 people, and various weight requirements and extra "gear/coupons" to carry), you experience an abbreviated version of these phases...the "storming" portion being the most obvious...but towards the end of the event everything starts clicking and the team starts performing.

Its quite the experience and a good reference to bring back to the home or work environment where you can see similar things happening as teams are changed/altered/etc.

Thanks Kit!

Manu wrote: This is very interesting, Kit.

How do you figure it works with our community, where people are coming and going in a more accelerated process than in most companies?

Most of the Temple is a group, rather than a team. A group is just a gaggle of individual people with individual goals. We tend to have common ideals but we aren't required to work together if we don't want to. Teams have a task and a purpose. So here, you're looking at the Council, the IP Team, the Advisory Council, the newsletter team, and even the relationships between Training Master and Apprentice.

We have a few particular difficulties in being limited mostly by a text environment. So the forming and storming stages tend to take longer because of the added effort and experience needed to be clear in text and the ease of misunderstanding.

SamThift wrote: I love this "phases of a team" concept...it is so true in every team environment we find ourselves in.

I learned this intimately through GoRuck. This is a company started by former special forces members of the US military, and they produce gear and operate SF influenced events of varying lengths. During their "Tough" challenge (usually about 12-14 hours in length, overnight, covering 20+ miles, with a group between 10-40 people, and various weight requirements and extra "gear/coupons" to carry), you experience an abbreviated version of these phases...the "storming" portion being the most obvious...but towards the end of the event everything starts clicking and the team starts performing.

Its quite the experience and a good reference to bring back to the home or work environment where you can see similar things happening as teams are changed/altered/etc.

Thanks Kit!

Sounds like an event out of Team Week