Five Stages Model of Group Development: Forming

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Five Stages Model of Group Development
Stage 1: Forming
The “forming” stage takes place when the team first meets each other.
In this first meeting, team members are introduced to each other. They
share information about their backgrounds, interests, and experience
and form first impressions of each other. They learn about the project
they will be working on, discuss the project’s objectives/goals (with a
project charter) and start to think about what role they will play on the
project team. They are not yet working on the project. They are
effectively “feeling each other out” and finding their way around how
they might work together.
During this initial stage of team growth, it is important for the team
leader to be very clear about team goals and provide clear direction
regarding the project. The team leader should ensure that all of the
members are involved in determining team roles and responsibilities
and should work with the team to help them establish how they will
work together (“team norms”.) The team is dependent on the team
leader to guide them.
Signs your team has entered the Forming stage:

 you understand the purpose of the group
 you understand the project goals
 you’re talking about team members’ skills
 you’re assigning tasks, responsibilities, and individual roles
 you’re laying down some ground rules about team management
 you’re laying down some ground rules about team workflow
 you’re discussing the team time management and expected
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Project timeline.
Stage 2: Storming
As the team begins to work together, they move into the “storming”
stage. This stage is not avoidable; every team – most especially a new
team who has never worked together before – goes through this part
of developing as a team. In this stage, the team members compete
with each other for status and acceptance of their ideas. They have
different opinions on what should be done and how it should be done
– which causes conflict within the team. As they progress through this
stage, with the guidance of the team leader, they learn how to solve
problems together, function both independently and together as a
team, and settle into roles and responsibilities on the team. For team
members who do not like conflict, this is a difficult stage to go
through.
The team leader needs to be adept at facilitating the team through this
stage – ensuring the team members learn to listen to each other and
respect their differences and ideas. This includes not allowing any one
team member to control all conversations and facilitate contributions
from all members of the team. The team leader will need to coach
some team members to be more assertive and other team members on
how to be more effective listeners.
This stage will come to a close when the team becomes more
accepting of each other and learns how to work together for the good
of the project. At this point, the team leader should start transitioning
some decision making to the team to allow them more independence
but still stay involved to resolve any conflicts as quickly as possible.
Some teams, however, do not move beyond this stage, and the entire
project is spent in conflict and low morale and motivation, making it
difficult to get the project completed. Usually teams comprised of
members who are professionally immature will have a difficult time
getting past this stage.
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Signs your team has entered the Storming stage:

 the dominant team members emerge
 the less dominant team members find their way to the
background
 questions about leadership and authority emerge (and should be
answered)
 questions about rules, policies, and norms emerge (and should
be answered)
 questions about evaluation and review emerge (and should be
answered)
Stage 3: Norming
When the team moves into the “norming” stage, they are beginning to
work more effectively as a team. They are no longer focused on their
individual goals, but rather are focused on developing a way of
working together (processes and procedures). They respect each
other’s opinions and value their differences. They begin to see the
value in those differences on the team. Working together as a team
seems more natural. In this stage, the team has agreed on their team
rules for working together, how they will share information and
resolve team conflict, and what tools and processes they will use to
get the job done. The team members begin to trust each other and
actively seek each other out for assistance and input. Rather than
compete against each other, they are now helping each other to work
toward a common goal. The team members also start to make
significant progress on the project as they begin working together
more effectively.
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In this stage, the team leader may not be as involved in decision

making and problem solving since the team members are working
better together and can take on more responsibility. The team has
greater self-direction and is able to resolve issues and conflict as a
group. On occasion, however, the team leader may step in to move
things along if the team gets stuck. The team leader should always
ensure that the team members are working collaboratively and may
begin to function as a coach to the members of the team
Signs your team has entered the Storming stage:

 group interaction becomes easier
 the team becomes more cooperative on the whole
 team productivity increases
 team performance increases
Stage 4: Performing
In the “performing” stage, teams are functioning at a very high level.
The focus is on reaching the goal as a group. The team members have
gotten to know each other, and they trust and rely on each other.
Not every team makes it to this level of team growth; some teams stop
at Stage 3: Norming. The highly performing team functions without
oversight and the members have become interdependent. The team is
highly motivated to get the job done. They can make decisions and
problem solve quickly and effectively. When they disagree, the team
members can work through it and come to consensus without
interrupting the project’s progress. If there needs to be a change in
team processes, the team will come to agreement on changing
processes on their own without reliance on the team leader.
In this stage, the team leader is not involved in decision making,
problem solving, or other such activities involving the day-to-day
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work of the team. The team members work effectively as a group and
do not need the oversight that is required at the other stages. The team
leader will continue to monitor the progress of the team and celebrate
milestone achievements with the team to continue to build team
camaraderie. The team leader will also serve as the gateway when
decisions need to be reached at a higher level within the organization.
Even in this stage, there is a possibility that the team may revert back
to another stage. For example, it is possible for the team to revert back
to the “storming” stage if one of the members starts working
independently. Or, the team could revert back to the “forming” stage
if a new member joins the team. If there are significant changes that
throw a wrench into the works, it is possible for the team to revert
back to an earlier stage until they are able to manage through the
change.
Signs your team has entered the Performing Stage:

 the organization in your team is now well-established
 the structure of roles and responsibilities is clear and
straightforward
 the team has a tested, mature, and calm way of handling issues
Stage 5: Adjourning
In the “adjourning” stage the project is coming to an end and the team
members are moving off into different directions. This stage looks at
the team from the perspective of the well-being of the team rather
than from the perspective of managing a team through the original
four stages of team growth. The team leader should ensure that there
is time for the team to celebrate the success of the project and capture
best practices for future use. (Or, if it was not a successful project – to
evaluate what happened and capture lessons learned for future
projects.) This also provides the team the opportunity to say good-bye
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to each other and wish each other luck as they pursue their next
endeavor. It is likely that any group that reached Stage 4: Performing
will keep in touch with each other as they have become a very close
knit group, and there will be sadness at separating and moving on to
other projects independently.
Signs your team has entered the Adjourning stage:

 the workload slowly diminishes
 most of the project goals are completed
 you’re working on leftover tasks
 some team members are gradually allocated to different teams
and projects

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Five Stages Model of Group Development

Signs your team has entered the Forming stage:

Signs your team has entered the Storming stage:

In this stage, the team leader may not be as involved in decision

Signs your team has entered the Storming stage:

Signs your team has entered the Performing Stage:

Signs your team has entered the Adjourning stage:

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