Tuckman's Model for Sustainable Team Development

Developed by Dionysios Dasopoulos

Team development can be described as the process through which a group’s performance is boosted by improving team’s skills and communication. In order for a company to be successful and profitable, it is of vital importance to be capable of achieving teamwork of high standards and effective collaboration throughout the whole organizational structure. Although every team relies on different theories and strategies in order to continuously improve and develop, researchers have suggested approaches and models that can be implemented and explain how team behaviour and performance are connected and lead to fruitful development adding value across the company.

This article mainly investigates Tuckman’s model for team development by classifying the five stages through which teams can thrive, achieve goals and retain coherence over time. Each of the five stages of team development could be presented as a step on the team ladder. Understanding the concept behind the Tuckman's model implementation, boosts the successful project, program and portfolio management as well as the sustainable development of a company.

Model Description & Analysis

In an ideal business environment, it would be easy for the different teams across the company to perform efficiently and be really productive from the beginning of their collaboration. However, under real circumstances, it is an undoubted fact that team/group members have to be adapted separate business environments in order to perform at high standards achieving effectiveness, a process that requires time. Team efficiency is improved through continuous assessment of milestones aiming to attain targets and achieving project goals. Moreover, it is necessary for the team to breed creativity and keep the morale high especially when strict deadlines must be met and there is a lot of pressure.

The psychologist Bruce W. Tuckman investigated theories about the sustainable team development and he published the model he created regarding group development in 1965. His efforts mainly focused on the five process stages through which team members learn to collaborate with each other effectively avoiding conflicts and act professionally in order to boost company's performance. A thorough analysis of each stage is described below.

Forming

Forming is the initial stage that refers to the first contact of the team members, where an introduction meeting is held. Usually, the meeting agenda includes information about each individual's background, interests, and relative working experience. They also get an update about the project they will be responsible for, addressing potential objectives and goals while simultaneously considering their role in the project team and how they can combine their knowledge and work collaboratively in order to achieve more.

During this initial stage of team development, it is significant for the project manager to precisely present the team goals and provide clear guidance regarding the project implementation as the team is highly dependent on him as they consider him as a source of inspiration and motivation. In conclusion, this stage focuses more on the people than on the project perspective, thus the team probably won’t be able of performing at high standards.

Storming

As the team begins to work together, team members move into the Storming stage. This stage cannot be avoided as every team and especially a new one who has never worked together before, goes through this stage of growing and expanding its activities and area of responsibilities. In the particular stage, team members face challenges of competing with each other in order to gain respect and trust in their capabilities and ideas. It is a common fact that conflicts are often created as different opinions are around the table, regarding the actions that should be done and the optimal way of dealing with all the potential challenges.

As the team builds its skills through this phase, problem-solving and result-oriented strategies are developed under the supervision and contribution of the team leader. Roles and responsibilities are shared across the team while the participants work both independently and collaboratively for the overall team development and success. It is worth mentioning that the Storming stage requires an experienced team manager who is able of facilitating the procedures and organize the team coordination. It is important for him to identify team's strengths and weaknesses so as to combine both in a way that the team will benefit more. Team members should learn to cooperate with each other and listen to the manager's advice trying to create a friendly and well-operating working environment.

Summarizing, this stage process ends when all the aforementioned have been completed with success. Reaching that point, a well-established team collaboration and communication have been created and the team members are ready to take over tasks relative to decision making processes and act more independently. However, it is possible for a team to be incapable of dealing with the upcoming challenges of this stage and therefore group members perform at poor standards with a conflict domination to be obvious leading to difficulties meeting project deadlines and goals.

Norming

The Norming stage is defined as the phase where team development dominates aiming to create effective team performance. The current strategy focuses on team goals with the members working collaboratively in order to achieve high performance. A cooperative working culture has already been developed with mutual respect among all the members as the common goal for everyone is to add value to the team and to the company as well. In the norming stage, the team has established a way of internal communication defining the available resources and knowledge that will help to deal with the upcoming challenges. The team members trust each other and they are willing to provide any kind of help in order for the team to progress and grow. Moreover, project implementation is also improving as it is obvious that the whole team performance is also boosted.

In this stage, the team manager has the choice to be less engaged with the operational processes as the team has become more independent and has gain experience in taking over responsibilities. However, this does not mean that he must not be always updated and aligned with the project progress and the potential challenges that need to be addressed. The team leader must be available at any moment, during a project implementation, to provide advice and solutions to the rest team and achieve successful project as well as stakeholder management.

Performing

The Performing stage consists of team operation and performance at exceptionally high levels. The main focus area can be characterized by goals achievement as a team where strong trust relations exist among the team members.

Not every team makes it to this level of team growth; some teams stop at Stage 3: Norming. The highly performing team functions without oversight and the members have become interdependent. The team is highly motivated to get the job done. They can make decisions and problem solve quickly and effectively. When they disagree, the team members can work through it and come to consensus without interrupting the project’s progress. If there needs to be a change in team processes, the team will come to agreement on changing processes on their own without reliance on the team leader.

In this stage, the team leader is not involved in decision making, problem solving, or other such activities involving the day-to-day work of the team. The team members work effectively as a group and do not need the oversight that is required at the other stages. The team leader will continue to monitor the progress of the team and celebrate milestone achievements with the team to continue to build team camaraderie. The team leader will also serve as the gateway when decisions need to be reached at a higher level within the organization.

Even in this stage, there is a possibility that the team may revert back to another stage. For example, it is possible for the team to revert back to the “storming” stage if one of the members starts working independently. Or, the team could revert back to the “forming” stage if a new member joins the team. If there are significant changes that throw a wrench into the works, it is possible for the team to revert back to an earlier stage until they are able to manage through the change.

Adjourning

In the Adjourning stage the project is coming to an end and the team members are moving off into different directions. This stage looks at the team from the perspective of the well-being of the team rather than from the perspective of managing a team through the original four stages of team growth. The team leader should ensure that there is time for the team to celebrate the success of the project and capture best practices for future use. (Or, if it was not a successful project – to evaluate what happened and capture lessons learned for future projects.) This also provides the team the opportunity to say good-bye to each other and wish each other luck as they pursue their next endeavour.

Application

In progress

Limitations

In progress

References

In progress