What is it? Individuals come together to complete a goal (as a group or a team) and follow a common path. They form, storm, norm, and perform. They also adjourn.
Team formation usually follows easily recognizable stages, known as "forming, storming, norming, and performing." Psychologist Bruce Tuckman, later added a fifth stage, "adjourning" or "mourning."
Tuckman's model can be used as a diagnostic tool to help teams become high performing as quickly as possible.
Learn to identify the stage of development that a team is at. Then, use strategies to move the team through to the next stage in the team formation process.
The Tuckman Model
Bruce Tuckman published his Forming Storming Norming Performing model in 1965. The Forming Storming Norming Performing theory remains a good explanation of team development and behavior. Similarities can be seen with other models, such as Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Paul Hersey's Situational Leadership® model developed about the same time.
As the team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish, and the leader changes leadership style. Beginning with a directing style, moving through coaching, then participating, finishing delegating and almost detached. At this point the team may produce a successor leader and the previous leader can move on to develop a new team. This progression of team behavior and leadership style can be seen clearly in the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum - the authority and freedom extended by the leader to the team increases while the control of the leader reduces. In Tuckman's Forming Storming Norming Performing model, Hersey's Situational Leadership® model and in Tannenbaum and Schmidt's Continuum, we see the same effect, represented in three ways.
Forming
v High dependence on leader for guidance and direction.
v Little agreement on team aims other than info received from leader. Leader directs.
v Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear.
v Leader must be prepared to answer lots of questions about the team's purpose, objectives and external relationships.
v Processes are often ignored. Members test tolerance of system and leader.
Storming
v Decisions don't come easily within group.
v Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader, who might receive challenges from team members.
v Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of uncertainties persist. Cliques and factions form and there may be power struggles.
v The team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues.
v Compromises may be required to enable progress.
v Leader facilitates and enables.
Norming
v Agreement and consensus is prevalent; team members respond well to facilitation by leader.
v Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted.
v Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within group.
v Commitment and unity is strong. The team may engage in fun and social activities.
v The team discusses and develops its processes and working style.
v There is general respect for the leader and some leadership is delegated to the team.
v Leader facilitates and enables
Performing
v The team is more strategically aware; the team knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing. The team has a shared vision and is able to stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader.
v There is a focus on over-achieving goals, and the team makes most of the decisions against criteria agreed with the leader. The team has a high degree of autonomy.
v Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively; the team makes necessary changes to processes and structure.
v The team is able to work towards achieving the goal, and also to attend to relationship, style and process issues along the way.
v Team members look after each other. The team requires delegated tasks and projects from the leader.
v The team does not need to be instructed or assisted. Team members might ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development.
v Leader delegates and overseeseams exist for only a fixed period, and even permanent teams may be disbanded through organizational restructuring.
Team members who like routine, or who have developed close working relationships with colleagues, may find this stage difficult, particularly if their future now looks uncertain.
References: Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384-399.