The stages of team development

In one paragraph

Teams pass through predictable stages, and the difficult middle one is necessary rather than a sign of a bad hire.

This is the coaching-sheet version of a model covered in full at [Tuckman's stages of team development] — forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning when the team disbands.

The point worth repeating: a team that never storms has not resolved anything. It has agreed to be pleasant, and the disagreements resurface later as quiet non-cooperation.

Adding one person, changing the leader or changing the goal sends a team back a stage. That is normal and worth saying out loud when it happens, because otherwise it reads as failure.

How to actually use it

• Change your own style with the stage: clear direction at forming, facilitation through storming, stepping back at performing.
• When a settled team suddenly feels difficult, check what changed. It is nearly always a new member, a new leader or a new objective.

Where it breaks down

• Tidier than reality — teams loop and sit in two stages at once, and there is limited evidence the sequence is universal.

If you are being examined on it

See the full entry for the detail; examiners want the stage identified from evidence and the leadership response matched to it.

More on people & teams