The initial stage is usually marked by a mixture of attitudes and feelings. Some members will be excited and optimistic about joining, while others will be anxious or perhaps skeptical about their roles. Meetings and other interactions will generally involve cautious attempts to get acquainted and discussions of big-picture concepts, as members determine norms and, in some cases, form cliques. During the Norming stage, members shift their energy to the team’s goals and show an increase in productivity, in both individual and collective work.

As the team begins to move towards its goals, members discover that the team can’t live up to all of their early excitement and expectations. Their focus may shift from the tasks at hand to feelings of frustration or anger with the team’s progress or process. Members may express concerns about being unable to meet the team’s goals. During the Storming stage, members are trying to see how the team will respond to differences and how it will handle conflict. Each stage of team development has its own recognizable feelings and behaviors; understanding why things are happening in certain ways on your team can be an important part of the self-evaluation process. Teams in the Forming stage require a lot of direction but, as they develop and progress through the four stages, the leader’s time and patience will be rewarded in the end.

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As the team continues to perform, it may even succeed in becoming a high-performing team. High-performing teams have optimized both task and people relationships—they are maximizing performance and team effectiveness. Katzenberg and Smith, in their study of teams, http://www.foot2day.ru/news/1702 have created a “team performance curve” that graphs the journey of a team from a working group to a high-performing team. The forming → storming → norming → performing model of group development was first proposed by psychological researcher Bruce Tuckman in 1965.

It is up to the leader to enable the team to take responsibility and ownership of their duties to allow them to evolve and, ultimately, bring more to the table. Instead of actively directing and almost spoon-feeding the members of the team, they are now assuming a coaching role and allowing their team, who have now formed a basic understanding of responsibilities, to learn and develop. During the Storming stage, compromises will have to be made as the group’s development continues. If they have reached the performing stage then there could be a sense of mourning if they have grown close. Double down on building personal connections among teammates.

Navigating the “norming” stage

Tolerance of each team member and their differences should be emphasized; without tolerance and patience the team will fail. This phase can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation if allowed to get out of control. Some teams will never develop past this stage; however, disagreements within the team can make members stronger, more versatile, and able to work more effectively together. Supervisors during this phase may be more accessible, but tend to remain directive in their guidance of decision-making and professional behaviour. The team members will therefore resolve their differences and members will be able to participate with one another more comfortably. The ideal is that they will not feel that they are being judged, and will therefore share their opinions and views.