We have all worked in a group or team at some point in our careers. A team is brought together to achieve a common goal. The team needs to have members who have complementary skills and who are committed to a common purpose to achieve performance goals. However, teams don’t move immediately toward performing, but instead evolve over time. There are five stages of group and team development:
Forming: Getting oriented and getting acquainted. High degree of uncertainty as members as they try to figure out who is in charge.
Storming: Personalities start to emerge, along with roles and conflicts within the group.
Norming: In the third stage conflicts are resolved, relationships developed, harmony and unity surfaces.
Performing: The members concentrate on solving problems and completing the assigned task.
Adjourning: Members prepare to disband. Some members may be reassigned, terminated from the group or the group is resolved.
Think about a time when you joined a new group—it could be at work, in a family setting or with a social group.