Today, more than ever, all organisations are facing unique challenges. Some industries have gone to ‘pilot light’ mode, others have had to pivot to do things completely differently just in order to survive, while others have had to increase productivity and staffing.  It’s a rare workplace that hasn’t had to adapt in some way and the only certainty is that the nation’s working landscape will continue to change for years to come.

The ability to create effective change to meet these challenges is a foundation in an organisation’s survival. Building workplace relationships is emerging as an important asset in dealing with change, whether that be in a clinical team, organisational team or even your family.

Understanding team dynamics is an important part of managing change.  Tuckman’s (1965) model of Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing provides a helpful framework to support successful navigation when disruption or change occurs.  According to this model, all teams must go through all 4 stages if they are to reach a level of high or peak performance. Knowing that all groups go through these stages can take the uncertainty and uncomfortableness out of the process.

Let’s look into each stage and note the key aspects to assist you and your team members to be able to diagnose where the team is, in relation to achieving its potential and what they can do, along with the leader, to contribute to a high performing team environment

Forming

In Forming, people come together to work toward a common goal or output.  They have different skills and priorities and are learning “who does what around here” and how they fit in.  People tend to be polite and helpful in this stage as they start to gain confidence in what is expected of them and how the team will operate. There is high dependence on the leader for direction and as such there are lots of questions directed to them.

Forming, however, can be unproductive and you will notice the signs. Introductions amongst team members are not made or made with obvious favouritism. There is an unwelcoming feeling or resentment about who got what appointment. Unproductive Forming means that the team will be plunged too quickly into Storming and factions can build, trust lost, gossip is high, and fear is increased.

In a productive Forming the team members are given the opportunity to openly discuss their views on the change by their leader, they are introduced as people not just as task fillers, trust and respect are formed easily and when the team enters into Storming, there is a strong foundation for which to do so.  Factions may form but they are not exclusive, problems are addressed and while solutions may seem elusive the conversations are about how to solve problems not WHO is the problem.

Storming

With any change, inevitably some hiccups and conflicts of interest arise and since the team has yet to build confidence and trust, Storming occurs. Storming can be a great way to work out the kinks in a team or if managed poorly can break a team apart.  How we storm and how leaders manage storming has much to do with how well the team ultimately performs. This may last a long or short time. Here the leader ‘coaches’ their team to accept that Storming is natural and that it’s OK to disagree or have a conflict of priorities as long as there is a framework for discussion.

In unproductive Storming factions and cliques form, which further intensify the tension within the team.  Trust is low and critical information is hoarded.  In the worst cases people are set up to fail and team members take delight in others missteps or errors.  Bullying can occur or people can feel ostracised. The team may either break apart or move into an unproductive Norming stage.

Productive Storming occurs in cultures where the problem is the issue to be solved, not the person. Collaborative teams generally Storm more successfully than competitive teams.  Well managed Storming can breed great trust in a team to work collaboratively, feel confident that discussions are open and feedback about problems are welcomed and shared.   We can disagree and perhaps have open conflict, however, the overall health of the team pulls through the conflict, trusting that the good of the whole is greater than any disagreement.  The team learns that there is more at stake than individual ego and if the whole team achieves, then each person can feel pride in their effort and contribution.

Norming

In Norming the team begins to get into a rhythm. Consensus is reached more easily, and the team begin to share information and resources.  Time is spent finding out who can help and making links between what we are doing now and how we would like to improve.

If conflicts weren’t resolved during the Storming stage, then teams can normalise into unproductive teams.  Things don’t get completed because the team has normed into a, “that’s the way we do things around here” mindset.  A sense of helplessness exists, and contributions don’t seem welcome.  Unproductive Norming leads to stagnation amongst the team, the typical “time-card punching” mindset that is often spoken about where teams’ norm into working 9 to 5 to collect a paycheck.

Productive Norming, teams no longer infight and have begun to work through some low-level problems with success.  Teams begin to take small risks and find that ideas and offers of advice are welcome. Pride begins to develop and the norm around here is to work collaboratively and success is shared.

Performing

When high trust within the team is achieved and the teams’ goals are in harmony with the goals of each individual, we reach Performing. Here high performance is expected from each contributor and celebrated, trust is high within the team to drive excellence.  The leader can now delegate and oversee team members who are happy to go the extra mile, put in additional time and effort and share in the rewards or praise.

You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that to get from Forming to Performing might take weeks, months or even years.  The truth is, all groups experience these stages.

How to help a team navigate these stages.

  1. Share this knowledge with the team.  Tell them that they will experience these stages and that this is normal and every team or group experiences these stages in varying degrees.
  2. Get the team to diagnose where they are and to make a plan to help the team move from current state to desired state.
  3. Ensure that each team member has a level of responsibility for how they are contributing to the health and wellbeing of the team environment.
  4. Gain commitment from each person to acknowledge their contribution to ensure performance is met.

Understanding team dynamics is an important part of managing any organisation.  A well performing team is a fundamental part in achieving change management strategies. The power of the team group dynamics can be leveraged to improve the change effort, direction and adoption. Leaders ignore team dynamics at their peril. Critical to creating and maintaining agility, adaptability and growth organisations need to diagnose their current state to accurately prescribe methods of working specific to the teams needs. Understanding and welcoming the nuance of team dynamics is a powerful tool in a leader’s tool kit.

Dr Gaery Barbery is currently a lecturer of Health Services Management, within the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Griffith University. Gaery has experience in working with collaborative teams in implementing new practices and has published in a number of peer-reviewed journals in the areas of allied health, sports injury prevention, organisational behaviour change, high reliable organisations and NPT.

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