The 5 Stages of Team Development

You may think of yourself as fairly independent, but there will come a time when you need to assemble a dynamite team to accomplish a goal.

Maybe you need to prepare your company for an email migration, or you’re moving apartments and you can’t lift that couch on your own. Either way, it’s important that you take the time to prepare your team efficiently.

There are five critical stages of team development, which we’ve listed below.

Follow them and you’ll be on your way to achieving team success!

Forming

A group of people isn’t necessarily a team. Make an effort to get everyone comfortable with each other through icebreakers and introductions.

Next, establish the ground rules for your project and determine decision making methods. Is there a chain of command? Make sure everyone is on board to follow the processes you’ve set up.

Storming

As the group begins to contribute their individual ideas, conflict may arise as people bring different suggestions to the table.

Enforce the ground rules you’ve established by maintaining control of the process. Conflict can be healthy, but only when it isn’t halting productivity.

Norming

Be observant of emerging group behaviors and encourage the team to express their differences positively.

Help the team to stay focused on their objectives.

Performing

At this point, the team should be fully engaged with one another and working to effectively accomplish goals.

It is your job to ensure that individual ideas are considered.

Avoid intervening in the process unless the group becomes stuck.

Adjourning

As the project begins to wind down, look for and encourage continued contribution and productivity.

Celebrate each individual’s participation and silently give yourself kudos as well!

You’ve realized your need for outside help and successfully led a competent team.

To become an even better team leader, develop your skills even more through project management training, where you’ll gain valuable insights on how to further ensure the success of your project.

Enroll in 360training.com’s Project Management courses today!