The Stages of Team Development

A Team Develops in Stages

Forming a team is great way to get a big project off the ground.When forming a team, there will be several stages of development. Every stage has its challenges. Understanding these stages before starting a team, can give leaders insight to develop a strong team.

Forming the team is always the first phase. As members are chosen and gathered for the first meetings, the members are discovering each other. During this stage, the leaders will discover the talents the members bring to the team and how best to employ them. The leaders will coach members to utilize individual skills. Introductory communication will assist leaders to discovering what each members strengths are. The team leadership should guide the team to unite and begin to work together.

With good leadership, in second stage of team development, the group discover what their duties will be. The team begins to work together. Each member has his specific job to perform. Members may change roles as skills are better evaluated. Brain storming sessions will become more productive. This is the time when teams can break apart and accomplish nothing, or go gang busters and get every project planned to perfection. An accomplished team leader will have the ability to guide any team to success. This stage is also the "make or break" stage. Many teams fall apart during this stage. Communication and dedication often fall apart and nothing is accomplished. Without strong leadership, a team may not get passed the action phase.

When a team passes into stage 3 the group will have made a commitment to get the job done. Tasks are performed successfully. Once stage 3 is obtained, the team will work well together and the assignments run like clock work. The members embrace the diversity of each other and work together as one. New members are not always a welcome addition when the team is functioning smoothly.

The final stage will take a few months to get to. By this stage the team is working like a well oiled machine. The entire team is seeing the fruits of the effort that all are putting into the project or process. The individual members have learned how to work together and use the talents of the entire group to work as one. During this stage, the leaders can step back and need only offer advise when asked.

If a new member enters the group, the entire team will regress to the beginning phase. They should reorganize quickly and get back on track.