Why is team development important to your business?

On every team, there are a variety of work styles, personality traits, preferences and communication methods. This diversity is essential to the team’s success, and ensuring your team members can work together closely despite their differences can help you avoid conflicts, keep projects on track and improve morale.

Teams rarely gel automatically. Building high-performance teams takes time commitment and dedicated leadership, but the rewards are substantial. Good team development can help your company achieve the following:

• Increase productivity. As your team goes through the stages of development, its members learn to work together more effectively by respecting each other’s opinions and understanding everyone’s mindset and approach. They become more comfortable working together, resulting in fewer conflicts and misunderstandings. Such a highly-developed team can get things done faster and deliver higher-quality work, leading to improved productivity.
• Improve collaboration. The members of a well-developed team know each other’s strengths, weaknesses and skill sets and are more confident in one another’s abilities. When team members trust each other to make the right choices, they can be more likely to collaborate closely to face challenges and develop solutions to problems.
• Strengthen communication. Team development enhances communication and helps members feel comfortable contributing their thoughts and opinions. When employees understand how their various communication styles work, they can be more respectful of different approaches and receptive to new ideas. This understanding can create an open environment where people communicate freely and work through disagreements quickly and effectively.
• Boost morale. Team development helps employees bond and unite around a common cause. When team members know they can depend on each other, they feel supported, resulting in a more positive work environment with better morale and increased employee satisfaction.

What are the 5 stages of team development?

In 1965, American psychologist Bruce Tuckman identified 4 necessary and inevitable stages that all teams go through as they grow, overcome challenges, tackle problems, find solutions and deliver results. These 4 stages are Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Tuckman, with doctoral student Mary Ann Jensen, added a 5th stage of Adjourning in 1977.

This model of the 5 stages of team development has since become the standard framework for studying and analyzing team development. The rest of this section explores these 5 stages in detail and examines their challenges and how team leaders can overcome them.

1. Forming. The forming phase occurs when a team meets and learns about its objectives. While team members may feel excited about the work ahead, they’re still unfamiliar with each other and the team issues. People are usually on their best behavior but focused on themselves at this stage. They tend to be more reserved as they learn more about each other’s skills, interests and backgrounds. This stage is when the leader shares the team goals, scope, timeline and each member’s roles and responsibilities. 
   Challenges: Because the team is new and just beginning to understand the work ahead, they may not yet know how to cooperate. 
   What leaders can do: In the forming stage, leaders must clearly communicate team objectives and expectations to set ground rules and work standards for every team member. To help build relationships among teammates, you can provide socializing opportunities, such as happy hours or team dinners.
2. Storming. This phase occurs when the team begins to work out its issues and build trust internally. Team members learn more about each other and disagree about the best way to tackle the project or approach specific challenges, mainly due to differences in personalities and work styles. People can become frustrated with their teammates, leading to clashes and arguments. 
   Challenges: Because team members are still getting to know each other, they may not fully trust each other’s abilities, recognize each other’s values or appreciate their differences. Conflicts, disagreements and competitions among team members can be frequent during this phase. 
   What leaders can do: Leaders should define rules for handling complaints and help team members resolve conflicts as early as possible, as there’ll likely be more disagreements even after the storming stage. To support their teams in overcoming issues and building trust, leaders can serve as referees to moderate disputes, clarify misunderstandings and manage competitions.
3. Norming. Team members have resolved most disagreements and personality clashes by this stage to form a culture of cooperation. Sharing a common goal and taking mutual responsibility for the team’s success, they recognize one another’s strengths, understand each other’s roles and become more comfortable working together. Teammates also accept others as they are and start to socialize more and feel more comfortable asking each other for advice and feedback. 
   Challenges: While norming is a positive phase, unresolved conflicts from the storming stage can lead to regressions. Additionally, too much focus on being agreeable and avoiding conflicts can reduce team members’ willingness to share dissenting opinions, leading to slower progress. 
   What leaders can do: Stay aware of employee interactions and ensure everyone is communicating respectfully. Encourage productive dissent and a diversity of opinions, and regularly ask for project updates to ensure the team stays on track.
4. Performing. Having established a common culture, built productive relationships and streamlined work processes in the previous stage, team members are now comfortable working together towards their shared goals. People are motivated and effective in this stage as the team reaches peak productivity and becomes autonomous without relying on supervision. Generally, team members are happy working together and appreciative of each other’s talents. 
   Challenges: Teams at the performing stage are typically self-sufficient and highly effective. However, conflicts can still arise to disrupt progress, causing teams to regress to earlier stages. 
   What leaders can do: During this phase, you should act as a coach or mentor and offer guidance to ensure the project meets all goals. Pay special attention to group dynamics to prevent your team from reverting to the earlier stages of team development.
5. Adjourning. The adjourning phase (also called the mourning phase) occurs when the team has completed the project and breaks up, and members must move on to other endeavors. While team members generally feel accomplished at the end of a mission, they may also feel disappointed that the experience is over—especially if they’ve developed close relationships with their colleagues. 
   Challenges: Team members may feel lost once a project finishes, especially if they’re resistant to change. 
   What leaders can do: Take a moment to recognize the team’s accomplishments and unite them one last time to celebrate their success together. The adjourning phase is not always applicable because some teams stay together permanently. However, your team may experience a version of the adjourning stage when an especially exciting or labor-intensive project ends or a team member leaves.

Tips to help improve team development

Here are a few things your organization can do to develop better teams: 

1. Select the right people for your team. Whether hiring new employees or choosing people for a specific project, bring in people with different backgrounds, skill sets and work styles. While it might seem easier to develop a team when everyone is similar, success often requires diverse approaches and ideas.
2. Ensure leaders understand their responsibility. Successful team development depends on effective leadership. Team leaders must understand what they need to do in each stage of team development and offer the right level of support for the team and each member, such as providing constructive feedback and keeping everyone motivated long-term.
3. Provide team members with the right resources. By equipping your team with the necessary training, you can help them resolve conflicts and handle disagreements effectively. With the right technology, information and other resources, your team has a higher chance of overcoming obstacles and achieving its goals. Moreover, team members are more likely to get along when they have the support they need to do their jobs.

Building high-performing teams can be challenging, especially as team members learn to work alongside people with different work styles. However, with the appropriate leadership and support, you can raise your team’s performance by getting it to rally around a common goal and collaborate effectively.

Frequently asked questions about team development

How do you motivate your team?

Focus on getting buy-in from your team members and offering opportunities for them to grow. Share your vision and set clear and measurable goals to align everyone’s focus. Communicate constantly to keep team members updated on team issues and to listen to their ideas and opinions. Recognize and reward their successes. Equip them with the information and resources they need to do their jobs and offer them opportunities to learn new skills and advance in their careers.

What skills are essential to teamwork?

Communication is the foundation of all teamwork. Good communication skills enable team members to exchange information and ideas effectively while resolving conflicts respectfully, leading to higher team productivity and better group cohesion. Another essential skill is problem-solving. All teams encounter problems, and strong problem-solving skills can help teammates overcome obstacles and progress toward their shared goals. Empathy is also critical. It aids team members in understanding each other’s feelings, resulting in stronger relationships and collaboration.