Teams are increasingly being used in the corporate world nowadays to organize work. Teams have the ability to assemble, plan, move, and disperse right away. Teams, however, are a powerful instrument for employee motivation. It is crucial to take into account the fact that teams evolve and mature with time. By promoting cooperation, teamwork, interdependence, and trust among team members, team development fosters an alluring environment.
These are the four phases of team development:
Stage 1: Forming
Members of the group may become nervous and adopt a wait-and-see attitude during this phase. They will treat one another with formality. There wouldn’t be any defined expectations or goals. In addition, they might not know why they are there.
The team should now draught its own charter or mission statement and define its objectives. The most crucial factor in this situation is that goals require individual buy-in.
The team will be able to define expectations and set boundaries as a result of doing this. Through non-conflict provoking tasks, team members will get to know one another. As a result, the dedication to a bigger objective grows.
As a result, the team members are getting to know one another and becoming comfortable around one another during the team-forming stage.
Stage 2: Storming
Team members are excited to get started at this point. People frequently offer diverse ideas on how to achieve objectives, which can lead to conflict. They now focus more on the differences than the similarities. Some members eventually leave because of this, either physically or mentally.
Communication is crucial at this point. There will be more strife. Recognizing and declaring success in public so becomes crucial. Attending meetings becomes crucial, and diversity needs to be respected.
As a result, the team members start displaying their true styles during the storming stage. They start to lose patience. They irritate and frustrate each other by trying to encroach on one another’s space. Control becomes the main issue at this point.
Stage 3: Norming
At this point, people start to see similarities among one another. They understand that they are all involved in this. They consequently tend to become more gregarious and lose concentration in favour of enjoying themselves. If you can, now is the time to assist with training. It becomes crucial to support them so they feel at ease with one other and the systems. The group must also maintain its focus on its objective.
Thus, dispute resolution occurs throughout the norming stage. There is more team member involvement. The “we” feeling is stronger than the “I” feeling.
Stage 4: Performing
At this point, team members are skilled, capable, and capable of handling their own problem-solving. Now is the time to consider strategies for both challenging and developing them. The group is now mature. The team members are aware of their obligations. More input would be needed in the processes. The participants would be both self-motivated and self-trained. Thus, it is necessary to acknowledge their efforts. Growth needs to be promoted. This is achieved by presenting the team with fresh challenges.
Teams that are performing are therefore disciplined, realistic, devoted, and effective. Both production and performance are emphasised.
Creating a Successful Team
The general strategy for creating an effective work team is as follows. But not everyone will take the same actions as those mentioned above. Usually, completing all of the aforementioned processes is what determines success. We have a propensity to seek out like-minded individuals to associate with. Instead of assembling a pre-formed team if you get to choose one, you’ll seek out a group of individuals with a diversity of strengths. When a team is already in place, organising can be done in a more subtle manner. For instance, all the workgroups may be gathered to talk about the objectives you want to achieve and how everyone can contribute.
Additionally, you’ll discover that asking others to share their goals with you works far better than trying to force them to do so. But setting goals is a difficult task. Overly frequently, they wind up being unrealistic, too ambiguous, impossible to assess, or just going on forever with no end in sight.
