Really Understand The 4 Stages Of Team Development To Get Unstuck

Today we want to share with you all the 4 stages of team! Teams are either a very effective way of solving a problem or are a cause for extreme headache and frustration. When groups are formed, we immediately form a vision in mind of our ideal team members and how we want to tackle the project or problem. Unfortunately, life isn’t always fair and in many cases, we are forced to work with members we may not work best with. This is common for most teams, and over time all teams tend to move through a similar set of stages.

What Are the 4 Stages of Group Development?

The 4 stages of group development are forming, storming, norming, and performing. Bruce Tuckman named them in 1965. A group meets and stays polite (forming), then argues openly about direction (storming), then settles on how it will work together (norming), and finally does the work it came together to do (performing). Most groups never reach the fourth stage on their own. They cycle between the first two for months.

For this article we will combine two different models. The first developed by Bruce Tuckman, and the second developed by Scott Peck.

TUCKMAN'S MODEL IDENTIFIES THE 4 STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT AS:

1. Forming 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing  

PECK’S COMMUNITY BUILDING MODEL IDENTIFIES THE 4 STAGES OF TEAM AS:

1. Pseudo-Community 2. Chaos 3. Emptiness 4. True Community

Stage 1. Forming/Pseudo Community

If lacking an outside facilitator, all groups spend a large amount of time in the Forming/Pseudo-Community stage. In this stage, members spend a large amount of time getting to know each other and being polite with one another. A lot of energy and time is wasted in this stage to discover how members appear in the eyes of others rather than being spent on the task at hand.

Stage 2. Storming/Chaos

In the Storming/Chaos stage the team disagrees with each other, and opposing opinions butt heads. This stage is where members truly express themselves and where they think the direction of the team should go. Members shout, blame, point, and become disengaged throughout this stage. As a result, the team then steps backwards into the Forming/Pseudo-Community stage to reconcile and avoid further conflict. The problem with the above is that it fuels a mediocre performance and result as groups move back and forth between the first two stages. Once a team is able to move past the Storming/Chaos stage, they move on to the Norming/Emptiness stage.

Stage 3. Norming/Emptiness

In Norming/Emptiness, team members recognize their own individual strengths and formulate a clear goal while relieving their stress from the previous stage. The group reconciles over what took place in the Storming/Chaos stage and begin to relieve their most inner thoughts and feelings about how the group should perform often by relating to previous personal experience.

Stage 4. Performing/True Community

Once the team is able to assign roles and has started to take on the project/problem, they reach the Performing/True Community stage. In the Performing/True Community stage team members are aligned to achieve a common goal and are able to make great achievements. With the end goal in sight, group members put aside or resolve personal differences in order to collaborate and focus on successfully completing the task at hand. Not every team goes through all the 4 stages mentioned above. Most teams either find themselves locked into one stage or moving between multiple stages and a great way of avoiding this is by implementing an outside facilitator. Consider how many groups you’ve been in the past where members resist sharing information between each other. There is usually another team member that you do not agree with, and as a result you become disengaged and frustrated. Although everything may appear normal on the surface, there is still tension and hostility underneath the surface of the group. In addition to that, you may discover processes or individuals that may slow the group down or divert focus yet doing nothing about it. This is attributed to a lack of effective communication and a fear of the group disbanding.

Why You Need an Outside Facilitator for Team Development

The above sounds all too familiar for most people because most teams tend to fluctuate between the Forming/Pseudo-Community stage and the Storming/Chaos stage. Group members are constantly conflicted between directing the team their way and not wanting to upset their peers. This is where an outside facilitator can help. If you want a choice of 3 powerful programs that can transform the team results, consider these from Learn2: 1. Inspire the Future - Align your team toward one common future as a real community. 2. Bridge the Gap - Allow your team to build the action steps to dissolve chaos and achieve their desired results. 3. Meetings that Produce Results - Generate team traction to achieve the organizational goals and leave chaos behind. With an outside facilitator, your team can express their ideas and opinions without feeling unable to disagree with other members. The facilitator is able to draw each individual’s opinion and ideas while encouraging and mediating discussion. Outside facilitators look at the group’s behaviours and processes objectively and ensure discussion stays on track, members remain engaged, and that results are produced. With an outside facilitator, members feel accomplished because time is utilized effectively rather than being wasted resulting in a cohesive team with improved collaboration skills.

Move a Team Through the Stages in One Immersive Experience

Reading about the stages is one thing, and living them in a few hours is another. In an award-winning immersive team building experience, participants take the helm as Senior Officers and rewrite history, moving from forming to real performing under pressure that feels earned. They feel what it takes to work as one team when decisions carry real weight, and the shift they make in the room is one they can name back at work. It is memorable and it changes behavior, and it is backed by Learn2's 15-plus industry awards.

Common Questions About the Stages of Group Development

What are the four stages of group development according to Tuckman?

Tuckman's four stages are forming, storming, norming, and performing. He published the model in 1965 after reviewing dozens of studies on how small groups behave over time. His point was that storming is not a sign the group is broken. It is the stage where a group works out whose voice counts and what it is really trying to do, and a group that never storms usually never performs either.

Are there 4 or 5 stages of group development?

Both numbers are Tuckman. He named four stages in 1965, then added a fifth, adjourning, in 1977 for the point where a group finishes and disbands. Most people work with the four, because those are the stages a group moves through while the work is still live. Peck's model runs alongside with four of its own, and it names the step the others skip: emptiness, where people set down the positions they walked in with.

With the help of an outside facilitator, groups are able to better move through the 4 stages of team development without trapping themselves in one or two stages. So, the next time you are a participant of a team-related problem or project and perhaps need a team intervention, book an outside facilitator to help drive results!

Not sure which experience fits the stage your team is stuck in? Start here and we will point you to the one that fits.