essay about stages of group development

What are the Stages of Group Development? Deductive Essay

Working in a group can be fascinating and challenging. A group, just like human beings, passes through many stages of growth until it matures. Each of these stages shows different characteristics. Group leaders face many challenges as groups pass through these stages of growth as was explained by (Smith, 2005).

Several models show how the stages of growth determine the behavior of group members. One of these models is Tuchman’s model of group development. This model shows five stages through which a group passes in its growth. They include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Atherton, 2009).

Forming stage is where team members come together to build a group. At this stage, members are shy, they do not know one another, show some fear, are very uncertain, and concerns of maintenance are rooted in the newly created group (Smith, 2005). Issues that may cause conflict and hinder the coming together of group members are avoided as much as possible.

Leadership is not well defined. The main focus here is defining group roles where each member is assigned a role to play. However, not much is done by the team members because issues such as conflicts and criticism do not take place.

Unity of purpose is the main point to be stressed here. At this stage, team leaders take much control and give directions to team members on what to do and how. Members of the team are much involved in exchanging with one another and get to know each other by creating new friends. These characteristics exist until the group moves on to the next stage (Atherton, 2009).

The second stage of growth is the storming stage. Characteristics of the group at this stage are that team members come up with new ideas that at times conflict. There is competition on more important ideas and whose ideas gets attention and are valued. Here confrontations in presenting ideas may occur and the team searches for the best ideas and how to put them into practical use.

Moving from this stage to the next depends on how quickly team members become mature (Atherton, 2009). It is a very important stage in team development. The strength of the team and its future growth depends on this stage as it is where team members learn to tolerate one another.

Conflicts sometimes may cause some team members to leave the group as they may find it painful if others’ ideas and perspectives are regarded as more important than theirs. Leadership at this stage is very important as members may need mentorship to stay on. Once members at this stage have solved their differences, the team becomes more cohesive and members now work as a team to fulfill the team’s goals. Atherton (2009) says that the team emerges stronger and moves on to the next stage, norming.

At this stage, team members have resolved their differences, set rules, guidelines, and values to be followed. Team members have learned to trust one another and work as a team. Team members are responsible for their conduct and can make decisions independently. A sense of achievement prevails within the team, as each team member learns to appreciate views of other members. This stage gives rise to the next stage (Smith, 2005).

Performing stage is where team members show the characteristics of working smoothly to achieve the team’s goals. Atherton (2009) says that effectiveness of the team members is now a determining factor. Team members can make independent decisions, are more competent, and work for the benefit of the team they regard the team as their own and try to make it as beneficial to them as possible.

Many teams go through this stage again and again. Roles and responsibilities can change according to needs that may arise and experience of the team members. Members tend to identify themselves with the group and morale is very high. The group starts moving on to the next stage, adjourning (Neill, 2004).

Adjourning as the final stage group members disengage. Members are proud of what they have achieved and recount on their experiences. The task for which the group was set has been accomplished.

From the above discussion, the case indicates that the group was at stage two of its growth, the storming stage with the characteristics of conflict as is illustrated in the above case. Here, mentorship is very important for group members since conflicts are quite frequent.

Atherton, J. S. (2009). Learning and Teaching: Group Development. Web.

Neill, J. (2004). What are the Stages of Group Development? Web.

Smith, M. K. (2005). Bruce w. tuckman – forming, storming norming and performing in groups. Web.

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What are the stages of group development?

Have you ever wondered why it takes some time for a new team to hit peak performance? In this article, we discuss the different stages of team development and how leaders can guide their team through those stages to increase collaboration.

As a team leader, it's your goal to support and empower your team to help get their highest-impact work done. When your team members feel comfortable with each other, it’s easier to collaborate and work together. Alternatively, if your team is having challenges meshing, it may take them longer to get work done. To guide your team as it develops, it helps to understand the stages of group development.

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman was the first to document the different phases that teams go through as they develop. In this article, we discuss the different stages of group development and how you can guide your team through them to optimize collaboration.

The stages of group development were first described by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in his 1965 essay titled, "Developmental sequence in small groups." The paper discusses how team members start as strangers and flow through five different stages before they become a high-functioning team.

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Tuckman’s 5 stages of group development

The five stages of group development, according to Bruce Tuckman's model, are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. 

Stage 1: Forming stage

The first stage of group development is the forming stage. In this stage of group development, individual members are just getting to know each other and don’t have a group process yet. As a result, they're unsure of how they'll interact together. At this stage, the group isn’t very productive, as they're still getting acclimated and figuring out the role that each person will play on the team. 

Stage 2: Storming stage

The next stage of group development is the storming stage. In this stage, team members are in the process of learning how to work together. As team members begin collaborating, conflicts may arise, whether that’s from clashing personalities or opinions on how a project should progress. Without a clear understanding of what role each individual plays on the team, relationships can get tumultuous as team members struggle to find a role that’s right for them.

Establishing group collaboration early on can help reduce the impact of—or even prevent—this stage of group development. This doesn’t necessarily mean that conflicts won’t happen. In fact, disagreement is critical to effective team collaboration. So when conflicts do arise, it’s important to resolve them with effective problem-solving as they come instead of avoiding them. Having a team with already existing collaborative skills can help resolve conflicts more easily and faster.

Stage 3: Norming stage

This is the stage when things begin to settle down as your team finds their groove. As they grow more comfortable working together, team members are more comfortable asking for help completing a task or getting constructive feedback . Your team starts to increase their productivity at this stage as they become more familiar with their teammates and their working styles .

Stage 4: Performing stage

At this stage, your team has reached cohesion with team processes and team members are working together at their highest potential.Your team follows established workflows to achieve the team’s goals and group members feel as if they have a common goal to reach together. This is the ideal stage of group development. As a team lead, it’s your goal to get your team to this stage as quickly as possible. We discuss more about how to get your team to this point below.

Stage 5: Adjourning stage

The fifth stage of group development, also known as the mourning stage, is the final stage a team will go through. After a project is over or if a team is disbanded, team members who worked together will go into a small mourning period. Group members may have a hard time working with other groups as they had strong group dynamics with their previous team.

This is also the time in which teams can celebrate everything they have achieved together. Take the time to reflect on your achievements and remind your team why they’re doing what they do. This is also a great opportunity to recognize and praise the talents of specific team members.

How to help your team through the stages of group development

As you build a new team, keep the stages of team development in mind so you can help individual team members reach their full potential and collaborate together effectively. While there’s no one right way to support your team, try these four strategies to boost your team's cohesiveness. 

Establish your team's mission early

Whether you’re building a new team or working on a specific project with cross-functional partners , it’s important to establish your team’s mission early on. Setting a goal , even before you start working together, establishes some ground rules to focus on and ensures that everyone is on the same page and moving towards the same goal.

Depending on your team, set:

A general mission statement. For example, a content team’s mission statement might be, “To create content that engages and educates our target market.” 

A project goal. For smaller, cross-functional teams, use your main project objective for your team’s mission statement. For example, a cross-functional team between web development and marketing may have a project goal of decreasing page load time to 1.5 seconds. 

Team roles. For example, if you’re working cross-functionally , the individuals from one team are assigned the role of reporting back to their team what they’re working on. Another individual may be responsible for managing status updates. 

In addition to establishing your team’s mission or goal, it’s also important to set roles for individual team members. As you add people to the team, pay attention to what qualities and skills you’ll need to complete the project. As roles solidify, it’s important to make those responsibilities clear and distinct so that everyone knows who is doing what by when. If you haven’t already, consider creating a RACI chart to let each team member know who’s responsible, accountable, contributing, and informed for a specific initiative.

Clearly set expectations for communication

In the earlier stages of your team’s formation, establish a clear communication plan . A communication plan is an outline of how your team is going to communicate important information to key stakeholders. Clarity on the various avenues of communication allows team members to effectively get work done, understand their roles, and know where to find the information they need about work. Establishing a communication plan can help you do all of these things in a way that’s easy for your team to follow. 

Should a conflict ever arise, your team will also know what steps to take to get this conflict resolved. Strong communication skills are the backbone of conflict resolution. With a clear communication plan in place, your team will know how to discuss their issues with the rest of the team in a constructive manner. 

Play to your team members' strengths

The individual roles your team members play are incredibly important to team performance. These roles could be the official title they were hired to do, or the role they fit into naturally within the group dynamic.

As the team leader, delegate responsibilities and assign roles and responsibilities based on each team member’s strengths.Some people are natural leaders, while others may take a backseat on leadership but have strong ideas when it comes to strategy and project management. The individual strengths each member brings establishes a sense of teamwork, as everybody plays a part. If you notice a few team members not participating, the easiest thing to do is to prompt them for their thoughts and ideas. 

Confront conflict in a healthy manner

It can be tempting to avoid conflict, but doing so doesn't help team building. A team that works together to resolve issues will trust each other more. They can rely on each other to do the hard work they were hired to do, despite any differences that arise. 

Conflict resolution is a way to establish an honest and judgment-free workplace. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to set the standards for how your team will work together to resolve conflicts. An easy way to do this is to regularly give candid feedback in a 1:1 setting and offer suggestions on how team members can improve. If you need to address larger conflicts, make sure that the issue stays between as few people as possible to prevent gossip from spreading amongst the rest of the team.

Help your team reach their goals with strong leadership

A strong team leader is the backbone of every high-performing team. Without strong leadership, teams may struggle reaching the performing stage. By developing your own leadership skills, you can model collaboration best practices and help your team reach their fullest potential. 

Read more about how you can become a strong leader with Asana's leadership resources .

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3.1.1: 5 Stages of Group Development

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Stages of Team Development

This process of learning to work together effectively is known as team development. Research has shown that teams go through definitive stages during development. Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, identified a five-stage development process that most teams follow to become high performing. He called the stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Team progress through the stages is shown in the following diagram.

Most high-performing teams go through five stages of team development.

Forming stage

The forming stage involves a period of orientation and getting acquainted. Uncertainty is high during this stage, and people are looking for leadership and authority. A member who asserts authority or is knowledgeable may be looked to take control. Team members are asking such questions as “What does the team offer me?” “What is expected of me?” “Will I fit in?” Most interactions are social as members get to know each other.

Storming stage

The storming stage is the most difficult and critical stage to pass through. It is a period marked by conflict and competition as individual personalities emerge. Team performance may actually decrease in this stage because energy is put into unproductive activities. Members may disagree on team goals, and subgroups and cliques may form around strong personalities or areas of agreement. To get through this stage, members must work to overcome obstacles, to accept individual differences, and to work through conflicting ideas on team tasks and goals. Teams can get bogged down in this stage. Failure to address conflicts may result in long-term problems.

Norming stage

If teams get through the storming stage, conflict is resolved and some degree of unity emerges. In the norming stage, consensus develops around who the leader or leaders are, and individual member’s roles. Interpersonal differences begin to be resolved, and a sense of cohesion and unity emerges. Team performance increases during this stage as members learn to cooperate and begin to focus on team goals. However, the harmony is precarious, and if disagreements re-emerge the team can slide back into storming.

Performing stage

In the performing stage, consensus and cooperation have been well-established and the team is mature, organized, and well-functioning. There is a clear and stable structure, and members are committed to the team’s mission. Problems and conflicts still emerge, but they are dealt with constructively. (We will discuss the role of conflict and conflict resolution in the next section). The team is focused on problem solving and meeting team goals.

Adjourning stage

In the adjourning stage, most of the team’s goals have been accomplished. The emphasis is on wrapping up final tasks and documenting the effort and results. As the work load is diminished, individual members may be reassigned to other teams, and the team disbands. There may be regret as the team ends, so a ceremonial acknowledgement of the work and success of the team can be helpful. If the team is a standing committee with ongoing responsibility, members may be replaced by new people and the team can go back to a forming or storming stage and repeat the development process.

Team Norms and Cohesiveness

When you have been on a team, how did you know how to act? How did you know what behaviors were acceptable or what level of performance was required? Teams usually develop  norms  that guide the activities of team members. Team norms set a standard for behavior, attitude, and performance that all team members are expected to follow. Norms are like rules but they are not written down. Instead, all the team members implicitly understand them. Norms are effective because team members want to support the team and preserve relationships in the team, and when norms are violated, there is peer pressure or sanctions to enforce compliance.

Norms result from the interaction of team members during the development process. Initially, during the forming and storming stages, norms focus on expectations for attendance and commitment. Later, during the norming and performing stages, norms focus on relationships and levels of performance. Performance norms are very important because they define the level of work effort and standards that determine the success of the team. As you might expect, leaders play an important part in establishing productive norms by acting as role models and by rewarding desired behaviors.

Norms are only effective in controlling behaviors when they are accepted by team members. The level of  cohesiveness  on the team primarily determines whether team members accept and conform to norms. Team cohesiveness is the extent that members are attracted to the team and are motivated to remain in the team. Members of highly cohesive teams value their membership, are committed to team activities, and gain satisfaction from team success. They try to conform to norms because they want to maintain their relationships in the team and they want to meet team expectations. Teams with strong performance norms and high cohesiveness are high performing.

For example, the seven-member executive team at Whole Foods spends time together outside of work. Its members frequently socialize and even take group vacations. According to co-CEO John Mackey, they have developed a high degree of trust that results in better communication and a willingness to work out problems and disagreements when they occur. [1]

• Jennifer Alsever, Jessi Hempel, Alex Taylor III, and Daniel Roberts, “6 Great Teams that Take Care of Business,” Fortune, April 10, 2014,  http://fortune.com/2014/04/10/6-great-teams-that-take-care-of-business/   ↵

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• Five Stages of Team Development.  Authored by : John/Lynn Bruton and Lumen Learning.  License :  CC BY: Attribution

The 5 Stages of Group Development

Table of Contents

No team is able to hit the ground running with a project at their first meeting. Instead, they go through a complex process that involves the 5 stages of group development , including:

• Forming, 
• Storming, 
• Norming, 
• Performing, and 
• Adjourning.

In fact, your team could consist of the best talent in the world. But, this means little if they don’t have a framework for working together — and that’s where the 5 stages of group development come into play.

In this blog post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about creating a high-performing team, including:

• What group development stages are,
• How this team development model increases cohesion,
• Which illustrative examples you can use every day, and more!

Without further ado, let’s get rolling!

What are the 5 stages of group development?

The stages of group development in organizational behavior and management comprise the theory of team development. In other words, it’s a group-forming model that consists of 5 distinct phases.

According to these stages of group development model, each group or team is likely to go through the following interconnected 5 phases during their joint work, including:

• The Forming Stage — characterized by team orientation,
• The Storming Stage — characterized by a power struggle,
• The Norming Stage — characterized by cooperation, integration, and unity,
• The Performing Stage — characterized by overall synergy, and
• The Adjourning Stage — characterized by a sense of closure.

Now, these 5 stages are vital to help you anticipate your team effectiveness . Simply put, that’s your ability to be efficient and productive with your work, both as individuals and as a group.

The diagram shows that the effectiveness of a team or group fluctuates over time. 

In other words, the energy levels reach their ultimate low in the Storming Stage because the struggle to find the leader and build some structure creates frustration and mood fluctuations. That’s why this stage is often called The Power Struggle Stage . 

In turn, the level of effectiveness reaches its peak in the Performing Stage, when team members use well-oiled workflows and communicate feedback effectively to make the project smooth sailing. This stage is sometimes dubbed The Synergy Stage .

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Who invented stages of group development?

The renowned Bruce W. Tuckman — a researcher at the American Psychological Association — established a 4-step model in 1965 in his landmark paper titled Developmental sequence in small groups .

In Tuckman’s words, the listed stages are obligatory for a team to:

• Grow and progress,
• Face challenges and problems,
• Find solutions for challenges and problems,
• Plan and tweak their individual and group workflows, and
• Reach their expected project goals.

Yet, this model was initially known as the “Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing Model.” Experts often refer to this original model as the 4 stages of group development .

In fact, Tuckman only added the fifth, Adjourning Stage, together with another expert, Mary Ann C. Jensen, in 1977. The newly crafted review paper was titled Stages of Small Group Development, Revisited — and it became what we today refer to as the Tuckman model of team development.

What industries benefit from Tuckman’s model

Anyone can harness the power of the 5 stages of group development in pretty much every scenario, including:

• Tech companies, 
• University projects, and
• Home refurbishment.

Interestingly, the 5 stages of group development model can even be useful in the theater. 

For example, a 2019 paper by an adjunct assistant professor at Queen’s University, Rebecca Stroud Stasel, found that some people feel a strong attachment to leadership . In fact, she argues that theater team members can “discover facets of themselves through leadership processes.”

Furthermore, Rebecca Stroud Stasel cites that people have natural, deeply seated tendencies for either leadership or following leaders.

In other words, any team setting that requires high performance can benefit from using this model.

As a result, we can conclude that the Tuckman model spans culture, politics, and any other social sphere of our lives. 

The stages of group development with examples, explained

By implementing the 5 stages of group development, teams can reap vast benefits due to the clear-cut structure and step-by-step approach.

In fact, each phase plays a critical role in the team’s progress — whether in short, medium, or long-term goals . That’s where Tuckman’s stages of group development yield immense results.

Here, I’ll provide plenty of helpful examples for each of the 5 stages of group development, including:

• Performing, and

Let’s get going with the Forming stage.

Stage #1 — The Forming Stage

The Forming Stage is about team orientation. 

Everyone is just getting to know one another. Likewise, they are overly polite to each other because they are looking to be accepted among this new group of people.

For the same reasons, they may also be a bit uncertain and anxious.

They are also overly positive about the project because it’s new — and new is always exciting.

At this initial stage, a glimpse of a future project leader may emerge. For illustration, the person with the largest knowledge about the project’s subject takes unofficial charge.

Yet, the position of this unofficial leader may also be occupied by the strongest authority figure in the team.

So, here are a few 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 ground rules about team management ,
• You’re laying down some ground rules about team workflow, and
• You’re discussing team time management and project timelines.

In fact, a 2022 article published in the International Journal of Technology and Design Education has uncovered a few interesting aspects that can help any team on their journey from the Forming Stage to the Performing Stage.

For example, the same article’s author — Pınar Kaygan from the Art Academy of Latvia — has found that positive social relations and humor can play a major role in team success during all stages of group development. 

Similarly, she has established that teams should use warm-up activities — like physical exercise and mind games — to ensure a smooth transition from the Forming Stage to the Norming Stage.

Now, let’s explore an example of a Forming Stage.

Example for Stage #1 — Forming 

To illustrate the 5 stages of team development, let’s look at the example of Daisy, Adam, Daniel, and Stella. The 4 comprise a group of marketing-savvy professionals assigned to tackle a content production project. They have to write, edit, optimize, and publish 10 long-form articles on the topics that matter to the company’s bottom line.

The deadline? 3 months! 

Daisy is an experienced SEO specialist, Adam and Daniel work as longtime writers, and Stella brings to the table her editing skills. 

The group — not yet a team — needs to work together to make their content rank high on the first page of Google. It’s part of an attempt to draw thousands of new readers to the company’s website. 

At the start, SEO specialist Daisy is unsure if she needs to ask editor Stella about the keywords she wants to suggest for the content. But Stella gives direct guidance about the direction the team needs to go — and she sticks to it.

Due to her rank as the editor, Stella takes the lead and suggests the outline for the content plan. Yet, writers Adam and Daniel think they should take a different angle. At this point, Adam and Daniel form a clique against Stella — although everyone’s excessive politeness makes it seem as though nothing’s wrong.

At the same time, SEO specialist Daisy takes the backseat as she thinks it’s unnecessary for her to get involved in this discussion.

Everybody on the team is all ears, and they exchange opinions — but do their best to avoid direct confrontation.

Overview of the Forming Stage 

To make things more tangible, here’s a brief overview of the behaviors, feelings, group needs, and leadership needs in the Forming Stage.

Stage #2 — The Storming Stage

The Storming Stage brings about a power struggle.

So, team orientation is over — and team members are likely to forgo the politeness they exercised in the first stage.

Instead, they adopt an open exchange of ideas and opinions and learn about what it’s like to work together. This can lead to conflict, disputes, and competition, depending on their:

• Expectations, 
• Workflows, 
• Ideas, and 

Sometimes, subgroups may form around particular opinions or authority figures. In fact, all these are clear signs that team cohesion has not happened yet. Unless the team is patient and tolerant of these differences, the team and project can’t succeed.

Now, here’s where you may wonder — well, if it’s such an unpleasant affair, can the Storming Stage of group development ever be avoided?

In all honesty, some teams may skip this step altogether, hoping to avoid unpleasant conflict and the clash of ideas.

However, you won’t get far with your project by sweeping vital questions and potential problems under the rug.

So, let’s list a few signs that suggest your team has entered the Storming stage:

• Dominant team members emerge,
• Less dominant team members find their way to the background,
• Questions about leadership and authority emerge,
• Concerns about rules, policies, and norms emerge, and
• Questions about evaluation and review emerge.

With that in mind, this is probably one of the most unstable of the 5 stages of group development.

To clarify how this step could develop, let’s explore a real-life example of the Storming Stage.

Example for Stage #2 — Storming

Now, this is where things get tense for Adam, Daisy, Daniel, and Stella as they set their plan into motion — and find their opinions and personalities are at odds with each other.

Writers Adam and Daniel confront the editor Stella head-on, expressing their frustration with the way she handled their ideas in the previous stage. Luckily, Stella sees she has taken unnecessary control over the process and tries to course-correct by establishing clearer expectations.

At this point, everyone agrees on the direction articles need to go to better resonate with a larger audience.

SEO specialist Daisy waits for the first drafts written by Adam and Daniel to check them against SEO rules. 

Once the first drafts arrive, problems arise once again.

Editor Stella expresses her frustration because she thinks the content is far from what the audience expects to read. The comments section of the first drafts gets lengthy, as Adam and Daniel get defensive because of some of Stella’s suggestions — they go back and forth a couple of rounds, leaving Daisy with nothing to do for a whole day.

Eventually, Adam and Daniel agree to accept most of Stella’s suggestions — and they continue writing.

Once the first articles are finished, the review process brings a couple of more disagreements. Daisy has a couple of notes on the sources and anchors used — this time, Adam agrees, but Daniel gets defensive again.

Finally, revisions are made, and Stella is happy with the first articles — she tells the writers to continue along similar lines in the future. Yet, she also asks them to try to be less witty as they are writing for a serious B2B audience.

Sure, moods ebb and flow, but everyone is slowly getting on the same page.

Overview of the Storming Stage

To make the story more concrete, here’s a brief overview of the behaviors, feelings, group needs, and leadership needs in the Storming Stage.

Stage #3 — The Norming Stage

The Norming Stage brings about a sense of cooperation, integration, and unity.

Of course, you can only move on to this more pleasant stage if you’ve addressed and answered all the vital questions from the previous, Storming Stage.

The team is already used to each other’s workflows, and most future disputes and conflicts generally become easier to overcome. The official (or unofficial) team leader takes a back seat much more than in the previous stages. As a result, the individual team members are given their chance to shine.

In some cases, the Norming Stage may often be intersected by the Storming Stage. It may even revert to it unless the team makes the effort to communicate problems — and then learn from these interactions.

Here are a few signs that show your team has entered the Norming stage:

• Group interaction becomes easier,
• The team becomes more cooperative on the whole, and
• Team productivity and group performance increase.

To facilitate the transition from the Storming Stage to the Norming Stage, I suggest incorporating team management software into your team workflow. Here’s a list of the best tools:

• 20+ Best Team Management Software

Example for Stage #3 — Norming

Adam, Daisy, Daniel, and Stella are now mostly satisfied with where things are headed.

The team — no longer just a group — learns about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, they realize how to harness their strengths and work arround their weaknesses.

Writers Adam and Daniel start to feel confident about their work and align well with Stella’s and Daisy’s guidelines for writing SEO-optimized content that resonates with their audience. In turn, the whole team is more open to:

• Feedback, 
• Criticism, 
• Opinions, and 
• Ideas. 

For example, Stella allows the rest of the team to suggest topics and angles for new articles more often. 

At the same time, strict team structure diminishes.

For example, when a few typos emerge, although it’s not her job, Daisy corrects them in WordPress without accusing the writers or the editor of the mistakes. 

Similar problems arise occasionally — but the way the team handles them creates an atmosphere of trust and confidence. It’s no longer a game of cat and mouse where team members try to catch each other’s errors and criticize them.

Everyone starts acting more amicably, as they are now used to each other’s work styles and points of view. 

Their routine now includes a team lunch every day at 2 p.m. During one lunch on an especially productive day, everyone even gets an adorable nickname – for example, Adam becomes the Godly Scribe, and Daisy becomes their SEO Wizard.  

On another occasion, Daniel invents the team’s anthem — which reflects everyone’s tendency to arrive to meetings 2 minutes after the agreed time and then apologize about it too much.

Everything seems to be going well — both with how the team members interact and what they manage to accomplish.

Overview of the Norming Stage

To provide a better summary of the behaviors, feelings, group needs, and leadership needs in the Norming Stage, check out the table below.

Stage #4 — The Performing Stage

The Performing Stage is what your team is after. In this stage, you and your team get to enjoy synergy — a state where work flows smoothly.

If your team has reached this level, you’re on a clear path to success. You have a mature, well-organized group now fully focused on reaching the project goals established in the Forming Stage.

So, team members have grown fully accustomed to each other’s workflows. They respect and acknowledge each other’s skills, talents, and experience. In fact, they trust that everyone involved will do their share of the work.

Bear in mind that not all teams reach this stage. Some may falter at the earlier stages, due to the inability to properly address differences between team members or address problems as they emerge.

Here are some signs that show 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
• The team has a tested, mature, and calm way of handling issues.

To get to the bottom of things, I sat down with Brian Townsend , a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who was in charge of supervising and overseeing large teams. He claims that psychological safety is the number 1 marker of a group of people who make great things happen: 

“A high-performing team is one where its members feel safe, can freely contribute, share opinions or concerns without judgment or fear of reprisal, can ask for help, report mistakes, and be themselves. Morale is higher, productivity is higher.”

With that said, let’s continue with our story.

Example for Stage #4 — Performing

With everything planned out, Daisy, Adam, Daniel, and Stella get to serious work.

At this stage, the 4-strong team makes things happen with plenty of empathy. 

Adam and Daniel edit each other’s articles, while Stella expresses her want to learn more about SEO best practices from Daisy.

In turn, Daisy helps with content ideas. Her ideas are sometimes different from Stella’s — to everyone’s delight, as this only helps when the writers reach a creative dead end.

Work starts to flow almost seamlessly. Sure, their opinions still clash from time to time, but they appreciate each other too much to let small disagreements get in the way.

Going forward, the team expands on their inside jokes, enjoys long sessions of deep work , and creates the perfect working environment.

Everyone’s pouring their heart and soul into the content production project. 

Yet, sometimes they have trouble tracking who does what — just because everybody is so involved.

At one point, Daisy, Adam, Daniel, and Stella make task tracking with an app an inseparable part of their workflow — they track the time they spend on separate tasks to see how better to organize their time on the project as they near its completion.

Finally, the team reaches the last 2 articles in the 10-piece series. 

The 3-month deadline is quickly approaching. 

The rest of the team gets feedback from SEO Wizard Daisy about the high performance of most articles, helping the company rank for the most relevant keywords. Everybody gets a bonus.

However, something’s not quite right, and everyone can sense it — unexpectedly, tension builds as the final stage looms large.

Overview of the Performing Stage

To make things more tangible, here’s a quick overview of the behaviors, feelings, group needs, and leadership needs in the Performing Stage.

Stage #5 — The Adjourning Stage

The Adjourning Stage triggers a sense of closure.

The project is completed, with most or all project goals reached.

And, it’s probably time for the team members to go their separate ways.

Now, if the team members have grown close and accustomed to working with each other, they may mourn that it’s now time to move on and work with other people.

In fact, they may even mourn the fact that the project is ending and that they need to move on to work on other projects.

The Adjourning Stage is usually associated with short-term projects, where team members are expected to disband over time. However, even “permanent” teams working on long-term projects may get gradually disbanded — as a result of a company’s organizational restructuring.

So, here are a few signs your team has entered the Adjourning stage:

• Workload slowly diminishes,
• Most of the project goals are completed,
• You’re working on leftover tasks, and
• Some team members are gradually allocated to different teams and projects.

Interestingly, a management lecturer at the University of Adelaide, Ankit Agarwal, published a 2022 paper on a phase that precedes the Forming Stage. But how does the Forming Stage relate to the Adjourning Stage?

In a nutshell, the author of the said paper argues that people often harbor negative or positive attitudes toward other group members before even a conversation has started group-wide. In fact, he asserts that the Adjourning Stage from a previous group plays an active role in the Forming Stage of a new group. 

That’s why, he says, managers or team leaders must discover sources of conflict or discomfort at the outset. 

With this interesting detail in mind, let’s continue our real-life example of the Adjourning Stage!

Example for Stage #5 — Adjourning

In this stage, the team feels a dip in productivity — because there isn’t much left to do. 

The 3-month content project is mostly done, and everyone’s focus dissolves. They recently published all 10 articles and received praise from upper management.

With little left to do, Daisy, Adam, Daniel, and Stella decide to throw a party for good times’ sake. They’re all radiantly happy — but also feel sad that their project is ending. 

They also grieve that they won’t get to see each other regularly — because they’ve grown quite close.

As luck would have it, Adam finds a senior writing job abroad, and Daisy’s manager gets her relocated to a different city. So, they both need to move on from their current office.

In the meantime, the team quickly makes a few edits that seem useful for ranking the articles even better. The project is officially completed.In the end, Stella, Adam, Daniel, and Daisy go their separate ways, capping off the project as a complete success in every way. It feels like the end of an era.

Learn more about how to analyze, estimate, and prepare for future projects with our guide on project management:

• Project Management: 31 best techniques, practices, and tools

Overview of the Adjourning Stage

To sum up, here’s a quick overview of the behaviors, feelings, group needs, and leadership needs in the Adjourning Stage.

Why are the 5 stages of group development important?

Now, what is the importance of group development we just talked about?

Well, Tuckman’s model teaches us that teams are:

• Ever-moving and vibrant, and 
• Governed by unspoken norms and a natural order of events.

At first, people are led by their natural desire to be liked by others and accepted among their peers. After all, when you have to cooperate with someone for a longer period, it’s easier to do it if you get along well — and that’s what the stages of group development get right every single time.

As time goes by, sub-groups form within a team, opinions, and personalities clash somewhat. In fact, some teams may even get stuck in the Storming Stage, unwilling to talk about their problems.

Get a handle on working with people with different personalities in our in-depth blog post:

• Productivity tips for 16 personality types based on MBTI  

But stagnation is always worse than conflict. Instead of maintaining a facade of politeness, the 5 stages of group development can help you: 

• Identify your problems, 
• Analyze your problems, and 
• Talk about your problems. 

In addition to handling conflicts, thanks to group development, you’ll need to determine workflows, follow them, and constantly tweak and improve them as you go.

As a natural consequence of it all, your project is bound to progress at a steady rate. In contrast, mismatched, uncompromising teams can only produce incomplete, confusing projects — if they produce anything at all.

Speaking of ends, the Adjourning Stage is the bittersweet cherry on top of each team and project, and it will happen whether you want it or not. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments and think about what you learned.

Powerful tips on how to facilitate proper group development

Now that you understand the “What?” and “Why?” behind the stages of group development, here’s the “How ?”  

I assembled a list of quick tips of my own and advice from experts that will help managers, leaders, and teams ensure that each stage plays out as it should. 

Forming Stage tips

Let’s start from the beginning! 

Here are a few powerful pieces of advice on how to approach the Forming Stage:

• Clarify the expected stages of group development right from the start. This approach helps you highlight that conflicts and problems throughout the project are normal — not a sign of failure.
• Set clear and attainable objectives for individuals, to help direct them towards their individual goals within a project.
• Establish clear and attainable objectives for the team, to help direct them towards their ultimate project goal.

In fact, the Chief Marketing Officer at SplitMetrics.com, Olga Noha , told me that navigating the 5 stages of group development can pose tremendous challenges. But she said that we should try to be open to whatever’s coming our way.

“Welcome the uncertain. It might be unsettling not to have a clear idea of how the team will evolve, but it’s equally a chance to try out diverse dynamics and roles.”

To learn how to best set and manage the right goals for your team, check out our previous blog posts:

• How to set SMART goals (+ examples and templates)
• Objectives and Key Results (OKR): everything you need to know

Storming Stage tips

As soon as you get the basics out of the way, you are entering the Storming Stage. To help you out on this bumpy road, here are some insightful tools to handle this stage:

• Address and resolve conflicts and problems as soon as they arise.
• Coach all team members to be assertive, and stand up for their ideas and opinions in a positive and calm way.
• Provide extra support and guidance to help team members — who are less secure about voicing their opinions and ideas — stand their ground.
• Build trust among team members, by encouraging honesty , transparency, and accountability.

Since the Storming Stage can be infused with power struggles, I sat down with a leadership coach, Alexis Haselberger , to dive deeper. She told me that we must do our best to name the problems and address them properly — especially at this point, where we risk getting stuck in this stage.

“It can be very helpful to simply call out what’s happening. What stage are we in? What does that mean for us? This places the blame for any friction on the stage and not on individuals.”

Norming Stage tips

Next up, the Norming Stage can be a tricky phase as your team could slide into the previous, Storming Stage. So, tread carefully!

On that note, let’s look at a few tried and tested tips to ease your way into the Norming Stage:

• Arrange at least 1 team-building activity per week or month (or whatever works best), to help people grow closer as a team.
• Encourage off-work get-togethers to inspire group cohesion.

The former DEA agent turned team development expert, Brian Townsend, had some nuggets of wisdom to share on this point as well. He said that nothing trumps accountability:

“Everyone should be encouraged to take personal responsibility and ownership — and openly address any concerns they have. By this time, the team leader should have developed this type of safe environment. If mistakes are made, members should be encouraged to report them so solutions can be developed and everyone can benefit from lessons learned.”

Speaking of accountability in teams, read our all-encompassing guide on this topic:

• How to create transparent and accountable teams

Performing Stage tips

The most productive of all, the Performing Stage yields immense benefits for the tasks and goals you established in the first 3 stages. 

In the Performing Stage, your team — well — performs at its optimum level, creating near-unshakable harmony and consistent teamwork.

Now, let’s explore a few tips to skyrocket your Performing Stage:

• Delegate tasks appropriately and in line with the skills, experience, and interests of individual team members.
• Track the time you spend on individual tasks to build daily and weekly reports of the time you spend on the project. You can then further analyze your reports to see how much time you need to finish individual project tasks and whether there is room for improvement in that time.

Surprisingly, leadership coach Alexis Haselberger told me that spending lots of time in this stage is, actually, not an issue.

”There’s no problem getting ‘stuck’ in this stage. If you’re here, that’s great!”

All stages of group development have their fair share of challenges, and the same applies to the Performing Stage. So, grab your chance to learn more about how to phrase and delegate assignments in our blog post:

• How to give assignments to team members

Adjourning Stage tips

Last but not least, the Adjourning Stage — often called the Mourning Stage for obvious reasons — ends the whole project cycle. Depending on the leader of the group, the Adjourning Stage can either be a leeway into future endeavors or it could impact future collaboration. 

In any case, it’s the saddest of all the 5 stages of group development.

With that in mind, here are a few time-tested tips on how to make the Mourning Stage less about mourning and more about optimism toward the future:

• Recognize and celebrate the team’s achievements to make sure your work as a team ends on a positive note. This is important considering that at least some of you may work together in the future once again.
• Share your thoughts and feelings with all team members to make sure no underlying issues remain unresolved. It’s critical to have everyone on the same page at the very end of the project.

To help make the transition from the Adjourning Stage to the next project’s Forming Stage painless, here are a few time management exercises you can try out:

• 40+ Best time management games & activities (2022)  

Use Clockify to create a team of high-performers

Working in a group of people is a complex, all-consuming task that takes plenty of effort, time, and patience.

Now, you can enhance your team cohesion and elevate productivity by using a time tracking software like Clockify. Wherever you are in your group development journey, you can use Clockify to set clear time estimates for your projects.

To set time estimates in Clockify, do the following:

• Check Time estimate under Project estimate in your project Settings, and
• Insert the number of hours per project manually if you have a specific number of hours in mind.

Similarly, Clockify lets you set time estimates per task if you find that more appealing rather than setting them for whole projects.

To set task-based time estimates, follow the process below:

• Visit your project, 
• Click on the Tasks bar, and
• Set estimates in the Time estimate column at the far right of your screen.

With this feature in Clockify, you can set clear benchmarks for your whole team. As a result, you get a laser-focused team of high-performers who know what you expect from them.

Start tracking, managing, and optimizing your work hours today.

Stefan Veljkovic is a work optimization aficionado who writes at the intersection of tech, self-help, and mindfulness. With a long-standing career in editing, writing, and translation, he thinks of himself as a word-lover. As a productivity author and researcher, Stefan has crafted countless articles on improving habits.

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Advancing stages of group development

2005, Groupwork

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Group Development and Team Effectiveness, Essay Example

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Introduction

The role of the principal, is becoming extremely important, as faculty and staff look towards being a leader throughout the field. Emerged in the 1980s the role of the instructional leader became a new concept to describe the role of the principal or school director. This was largely based on the information and research dedicated to stressing the significance of seeing principals in leadership positions. The role of the principle as a facilitative leaders is strictly within the confines of placing importance on the need for schools to be accountable in upholding the educational standards. The purpose of this report is to detail within this career setting the need for group development. Within any business setting, with the increase of technology, and a call for more accountability, there is a shift from the singular culture of yesterday, to the team culture of today, which has brown a new dynamic of innovation, development, and learning. In utilizing both Tuckman’s Theory and Group Theory, this paper will provide a plan for leadership utilizing groups for principals. This is important because being an instructional leader, or more specifically a principal in an educational setting, is not a lone task. It requires collaboration, cooperation, and team effort from a collective group to define goals and be productive.

The theory of group development for application in groups are defined variably by two stages: competence and membership. “A method for measuring developmental progress in task teams based on congruence in group cognitive representations of the team as it is, the ideal team, and the team as it out to be proposed.” (Bushe and Coetzer 184) More emphatically, there must be a developmental process in which we look at how groups are formed, and how tasks are delegated in their career-setting, and how it is measured for team effectiveness. Looking at Tuckman’s Theory, we see that the stages of group development are highlighted as: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. In looking at Tuckman’s Theory we see that in the elementary stages of forming groups there are certain stages that must be met in order to maintain and obtain goals for the group to properly function. In developing this plan to apply to the group, one must first give a background on why this will be fundamental in the career of the principal, or instructional leader.

Background of Principal As Instructional Leader

In being critically important to run an effective educational institution, a principal must be able to prioritize, as well as mobilize in order to be innovative in leading an institution. For a principal, they must take on the role as an instructional leader, administrator, and manager. Principals that convey instructional leadership must incorporate themselves to evaluate the teachers and staff, monitor the lesson plans, manage the curriculum, allocate resources to instruction, and set clear goals. As quoted by Flath (1989), and reiterated by the NAESP, “instructional leadership reflects those actions a principal takes to promote growth in student leaning; the instructional leader makes instructional quality the top priority of the school and attempts to bring that vision to realization.” (NAESP 35) The importance of group development within this career are surrounded by the expanded role that the principal plays in being the leader in both instructional and learning aspects. Principals are tasked with taking responsibility for what the students learn, reflect on their jobs, collaborate to solve problems, and discuss on a regular basis with staff member to leader the learning communities. The primary purpose of creating a plan for being a leader in utilizing groups is because of the increased importance that is placed by the community, as well as the students, on the essential role that principals and teachers play.

“The role of the principal has been in a state of transition, progressing from the principal as an instructional leader or master teacher, to the principal as a transactional leader and, most recently, to the role of transformational leader.” (Chell 1) Based on this definition of how the transformation of the principal’s role and responsibilities have changed, it gives more justification in why utilizing groups is imperative to team effectiveness. This group plan will be based on five outcomes:

• All group members will have a clear understanding of the state curriculum framework in the language and English language departments, which includes essential knowledge, essential sills, and standards.
• All group members will have a comprehension of the department for mathematics; which includes the essential knowledge, essential skills, and standards.
• The group members will collaborate on the curriculum planned for the processes in implementation and lesson development, narrative writing products, explanatory, and argumentative processes.
• The group members will also collaborate on the lesson implementation and lesson development for the mathematics state curriculum framework practices.
• Working as a cross-functional group, the members will develop and implement the necessary assessments used in applying the lessons that will best work for the teachers and the students.

Applying Group Theory

Among the first steps in applying, a plan for groups is to first define the goals that the group will strive to. This is to be conducted in the forming stage, as, according to Tuckman, dependence, testing, and orientation constitute forming. (Smith 2) This type of goal setting is by means of outlining the priority, setting timelines, determining resources, and evaluation. Principals are the facilitators of change, while teachers are the active participants, it is imperative that these two variables work together in order to provide legitimate feedback, as well as time for reflection on what works, and what doesn’t for the institution.

The core objectives that are needed within the groups’ goals are assessment, instruction, and curriculum. The group, as well as the principals need to be aware of the different models of instruction, changing concepts in curriculum, and the principals of student assessments. Both the teachers and the principal works as a collective team, or as a cross-functional team. This is defined as, “members from a combination of functional subunits (e.g. quality, production, sales, and maintenance) working together on projects that require join problem-solving skills.” (Sun 610)  If the group members are not familiar with the principal, the first stage in the plan is to explore the acceptable behaviors in the group, as well as delegating tasks to each member. Once this stage has been realized, then the group is able to move on to stage two in which, the teachers, staff, and the principal, will begin to more group interaction, interdependence, cohesiveness, and trusting each other’s motives. Otherwise considered the norming stage, While this stage is more difficult within the group, it involves, “Group members are confronted with the realization that the tasks to be undertaken are different and sometimes more difficult than they had anticipated.” (Burke, Preston, Quillen, Roe, and Strong 1) The plan for the groups is to begin brainstorming, what works in the classroom, what type of curriculum works best, and the type of policies that need to be implemented within the schools. The group of members that is made up of different focuses will use this stage to listen, not only to the principal as the instructional leader but also, to the other staff and faculty members, to be more team effective.

Following the next stage of forming, the group will focus on collaboration, in the different departments throughout the school setting. The practice will facilitate their leadership role in prioritizing the goals that need to be accomplished first. In schools, this can vary; much importance will be placed on the group to devise a set curriculum for the school year. The principal will lead the group, in which will be team focused in order to ensure that there is a common ground shared among the team members. The principal will get input from the English department, mathematics department, language department, Art department, and science departments. Each group member will spend sufficient time with the principal on a rotation schedule, that ensures full engagement, aimed at planning for the future in the norming stage. For the final stage of the group, the phase will be performing. This essential for the principal, in facilitating their instructional leadership. Effective instructional leaders have to be resource providers, instructional resources, communicators, and create a visible presence. (Jenkins 36) The performing stage, for Tuckman, in group theory is where “roles become flexible and functional, and group energy is channeled into the task. Structural issues have been resolved, and structure can now become supportive of task performance.” (Tuckman 78) In this plan, the four stages are crucial to utilizing group, because it is important in this career to work and perform as a team.  The group will work throughout the year on different activities, delegating tasks and activities, in settling on the required resources, as well as how they will be implemented, and how it will be ultimately assessed. This important within in any group development, as it will be the make or break for every solution.

The purpose of working within a group is to build team effectiveness. Not only is it imperative for the principal to be the instructional leader, but also be a transformational leader in which can be flexible in any environment, and dealing with any issue. The goals of devising this plan was to outline the expectation, goals, and contributions of the group. Nevertheless, more importantly to team build. The principal must support the group development, learn to be accountable and take responsibility, and learn to assess problems in order to find a clear solution. The principal must utilize their interpersonal skills in enhancing collegiality, giving empowerment, spurring motivation, and maintaining trust. The principal must have the trust of their fellow faculty and staff, in order to provide the community and the students with the best possible plan in delivering the academic standards needed. The principal must also have planning skills that clearly identify the vision and the goals, as well as how to apply throughout the year. In utilizing groups, the principal will act as an administrator in planning for the group, and creating an open space to communicate the message of the school. As the principal demonstrates their instructional observation skills, they must aim to provide the group with feedback they are able to use in improving or enhancing their skills. The principal will continue to be remain in the daily activities of the faculty and staff, and develop the necessary skills of evaluation and research that assess the instructional framework in to a plan of action.

This plan is practical, as well as beneficial for principals to be instructional leaders throughout their schools. This plan will provide an outline and a plan of action that will involve all members of the group to work towards a common goal of providing the best in academic standards that satisfies the needs of the students, parents, teachers, and the community. The principal must continue to be a leader and work towards developing effective teams.

Works Cited

Burke Jr., Lewis, Nancy Preston, Mike Quillen, Richard Roe, and Ella Strong. “Stages of Group Development: From Strangers to Partners.” Southern Regional Council on Educational Administration . October 2009. Print.

Bushe, Gervase R., Coetzer, Graeme H. “Group Development and Team Effectiveness.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 43 No 2. June 2007. Web. 11 December 2014. http://209.34.253.86/upload/Group%20Development%20and%20Team%20Effectiveness.pdf

Chell, Jan. “Introducing Principals to the Role Of Instructional Leadership.” SSTA Research Centre Report #95. N.d. Web. 12 December 2014. http://www.saskschoolboards.ca/research/leadership/95-14.htm#c9-4

Jenkins, Billy. “What It Takes To Be An Instructional Leader.” NAESP . January/Feburary 2009. Web. 11 December 2014. http://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Principal/2009/J-F_p34.pdf

Sun, Jun, Hurt, Kevin J. “How Different Leadership Styles Work For Different Workgroups- An Empirical Study on Adaptive Leadership. University of Texas-Pan American . 2005 Web. 11 December 2014. http://www.swdsi.org/swdsi08/paper/SWDSI%20Proceedings%20Paper%20S500.pdf

Tuckman, Bruce W. “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing in Groups.” InFed. 2007. Web. 11 December 2014. http://humanresources.tennessee.edu/leadership/docs/tuckman.pdf

Tuckman, Bruce, Jensen, Mary Ann C. “Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited.” Group Facilitation: A Research & Applications Journal. 10 November 2010. Print.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Teamwork — Overview Of Tuckman’s Stages Of Group Development

Overview of Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development

• Categories: Teamwork

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Published: Jul 15, 2020

Words: 399 | Page: 1 | 2 min read

• Forming – Initial stage where team members get to know each other and are polite and cautious. Some may be excited, others nervous, while most are uncertain about their role and responsibility.
• Storming – The most difficult phase of team building. This is where members begin to push against some of the established norms. There can be a conflict of working styles, dissatisfaction with the designated role, lack of clear-cut responsibility, or just inability to cope with the allotted task. This is where the team is the most likely to fall apart and reassurance of team members is essential as experiencing stress at this stage is commonplace.
• Norming – After storming, the team resolves their differences and is able to work more cohesively. Team members feel committed towards a common goal and progress towards achieving it is rapidly sped up. There can occasionally be an overlap between the storming and norming phase when there is a change in a team member or designated role, leading to a return to the storming phase.
• Performing – At this stage, the team effort finally leads to achieving the desired objectives. This is considered the easiest phase as the team performance remains relatively constant, irrespective of old members leaving or new ones joining.
• Adjourning – The final stage where the team disbands, particularly if it was set up to achieve a goal or for a fixed period. It can even be possible to disband permanent teams through corporate restructuring.

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Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing

Tuckman's Model for Nurturing a Team to High Performance

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Key Takeaways

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman originated the "Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing" model, which is designed to help make a new team become effective – faster.

The four stages are:

Forming when people get to know each other and their roles.

Storming when conflict and friction can arise as people's true characters start to emerge and they start to push against boundaries.

Norming where people start to resolve their differences, appreciate one another's strengths, and respect your authority as a leader.

Performing when your team is in flow and performing to its full potential.

Tuckman later added a fifth stage, "adjourning" (also known as "mourning") to mark the end of a team's journey.

The model provides guidance to enable managers to lead their team through all five stages.

You can't just switch on teamwork. It takes time for a new team to "gel" and work to its full potential. What's more, team members go through stages as they move from strangers to co-workers.

Bruce Tuckman's Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing model describes these stages. When you understand Tuckman's model, you'll know how to help your new team to become effective – faster. Let's look at how.

Where Does Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing Come From?

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman came up with the memorable phrase "forming, storming, norming, and performing" in his 1965 paper, "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups." [1] It describes the path that teams follow on their way to high performance. Later, he added a fifth stage, "adjourning" (also known as "mourning") to mark the end of a team's journey.

What Happens at Tuckman's Forming Stage?

In the beginning, when a new team forms, individuals will be unsure of the team's purpose, how they fit in, and whether they'll work well with one another. They may be anxious, curious, or excited to get going. However they feel, they'll be looking to the team leader for direction.

This may take some time, as people get to know their new colleagues and one another's ways of working.

What Did Tuckman Mean by Storming?

In the storming stage, people start to push against the established boundaries. Conflict or friction can also arise between team members as their true characters – and their preferred ways of working – surface and clash with other people's.

At this stage team members may challenge your authority or management style, or even the team's mission. Left unchecked, this can lead to face-to-face confrontations or simmering online tensions.

If roles and responsibilities aren't yet clear, individuals might begin to feel overwhelmed by their workload or frustrated at a lack of progress.

How Do I Recognize the Norming Stage?

Gradually, the team moves into the norming stage. People start to resolve their differences, appreciate one another's strengths, and respect your authority as a leader.

Now that they know one another better, your team members will feel more comfortable asking for help and offering constructive feedback. They'll share a stronger commitment to the team's goals, and they should make good progress toward it.

What Does the Performing Stage Look Like?

Now your team is in flow and performing to its full potential. With hard work and structured processes, the team is likely to achieve its goals efficiently.

Judith Stein, from MIT's HR department, says of this stage, "Roles on the team may have become more fluid, with members taking on various roles and responsibilities as needed. Differences among members are appreciated and used to enhance the team's performance." [2]

What About Tuckman's Adjourning (or Mourning) Stage?

Many teams reach this stage naturally. For example, projects come to an end, or permanent teams are disbanded and people redeployed.

People who like routine, or who have developed close working relationships with colleagues, may find this time difficult.

Quick Tips for Using the Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing Tool

Follow the steps below to ensure that you're doing the right thing at the right time:

• Identify the stage that your team is at from the descriptions above.
• Consider what you need to do to move on to the next stage.
• Schedule regular reviews of where your team is at, and adjust your behavior and leadership approach accordingly.

Tuckman's model isn't a one-way street – teams may go back and forth between stages. When you hit the performing stage, keep observing your team's progress in case it slips back. For example, a new team member can disrupt the group dynamic, or a new business direction might mean you have to reevaluate your team roles and goals.

Leading Through the Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing Stages

Forming to storming.

To establish clear objectives for the group at this first stage, create a team charter . And help team members to set personal goals so that they can see how their work will fit with the bigger picture.

The forming stage is also about people getting to know one another. If you're working remotely, try virtual onboarding exercises to forge a group bond and establish buy-in to your vision.

Storming to Norming

Storming can make or break a team, so it's essential that you establish processes to track the progress and success of tasks.

The group must also feel safe putting forward ideas. To build team trust , try asking for help on tasks. That way you'll encourage people to reflect on what they can offer and what they need from other team members.

Don't leave team conflict unchecked, but remember that a little friction can be a good thing – it might reveal inefficiencies for the group to fix together and, ultimately, lead to innovation.

But you may have to help quieter team members to have their say. To avoid louder individuals dominating face-to-face or virtual team meetings , ask for, and hear, everyone's point of view.

Norming to Performing

Get your team to bond further with face-to-face or virtual team-building exercises . These social connections are especially important right now, as more of us work from home. So, keep them up through the norming period and beyond.

Use your regular one-on-ones to encourage individuals to step back, review their goals, and take responsibility for them.

Performing to Adjourning

When the team has settled into the performing stage, you can focus on other goals and new areas to benefit the business. Free up more time for yourself – and boost team engagement – by delegating tasks and projects.

You should also make time for the group's personal development. Discuss with your team what opportunities and resources are available to them.

Adjourning (or Mourning)

Take the time to celebrate the team's achievements – having positive shared experiences will make it easier if you work with some of the same people again in the future.

If any team members feel uncertain about what's ahead, boost their confidence and career prospects by praising them at company meetings. And offer to provide LinkedIn recommendations and references if they're moving on.

You can also ask the group for 360-degree feedback to reflect, learn, and better manage future teams.

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman described how teams move through stages known as forming, storming, norming, and performing, and adjourning (or mourning).

You can use Tuckman's model to help your team to perform better. First, identify the stage your team is at, then use our tips to move them through the stages.

Remember, teams can slip back a stage, too. Use Tuckman's model to continually review where you team is at – and make any necessary changes to get back on course.

[1] Tuckman, B.W. (1965). 'Developmental Sequence in Small Groups,' Psychological Bulletin , 63(6). Available here .

[2] Stein, J. Using the Stages of Team Development  [online]. Available here . [Accessed 30 October 2020]

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Six strategies for growth outperformance

Growth is the lifeblood of any successful business, but achieving growth that is both profitable and sustainable has proved especially difficult in recent years. Business leaders need a strategic approach that combines courage, innovation, and a willingness to make bold moves. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, McKinsey partners Rebecca Doherty and Kate Siegel and senior partner Jill Zucker share their insights on how companies can grow faster and more consistently than their peers. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length. For more discussions on the strategy issues that matter, follow the series on your preferred podcast platform .

Sean Brown: This may seem like a naive question, but why does growth matter?

Jill Zucker: Growth drives performance. It drives culture. It drives employee satisfaction. It helps you retain the best talent. And it fosters innovation in the marketplace. But it’s important to grow profitably. Top-line-only growth tends to catch up with you over time. And while most organizations aspire to grow, we find that growth is quite hard to achieve. Only 25 percent of companies grow sustainably over time. But if you can achieve it, that growth is rewarded, with sustainable growth outperformers generating seven percentage points more annual total shareholder returns than their peers.

Sean Brown: What does it take to be a growth outperformer?

Jill Zucker: We studied what drives growth at more than 4,000 companies around the globe, and we found a set of ingredients that are true across industries. We recognize the challenges that companies are facing today because of the global economy, so our research spans a period of ebbs and flows in the economy.

The first thing that we found is that it’s important to wake up in the morning and actively choose growth. We meet many executives who say they want their companies to grow, but they don’t allocate resources to support that growth over time.

You also need the courage to make bold moves, even in a time of economic uncertainty. In previous decades, you could choose not to pursue growth in a temporarily challenging environment. These challenging events, however, have become so pervasive that we need to have a through-cycle growth mindset. During the financial crisis, the gap between those companies that chose growth and those that stuck to maintaining the core business was reasonably narrow, but as the economy settled, that gap significantly widened. You saw a much steeper growth curve among those that had made bold bets during the downturn.

Sean Brown: How do you ensure that the pathways you choose lead you to the intended destination?

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Jill Zucker: You need to lay the foundation for more dynamic resource allocation, by which we mean both capital and talent. It means being careful in your culture to shut off projects without shutting off the talent. Just because a talented executive pursued a good experiment that didn’t work out doesn’t mean the executive should leave. Talent remains scarce in many business areas, so it’s important to allocate it to growth projects. It also means allocating resources to areas you are convinced will grow and eliminating the hobbies.

Secondly, you need to think about inorganic opportunities—both acquisitions and divestitures. The third part of the foundation is building functional capabilities, whether it’s marketing or digital or innovation.

Sean Brown: What strategies do you find growth outperformers pursue?

Rebecca Doherty: We looked at what companies have done both during the uncertainty over the past five years as well as over the longer term and found six differentiating strategies. One of the timeless approaches is to continue innovating in the core. Eighty percent of growth comes from maximizing the value of your core [exhibit]. But that’s not enough to put you in the echelon of companies that achieve growth on a sustained basis. To achieve that remaining 20 percent, you need to move into adjacencies in your value stream, such as new geographies, and build breakout businesses.

The third timeless element is putting people at the heart of what you do, whether it’s day-to-day growth or a broader transformation. Having your core people involved in growth initiatives with an ownership mindset is critical.

The three strategies that have emerged in more recent years include building an innovation culture , using sustainability as an accelerant to growth, and portfolio reallocation, including what we call shrinking to grow. The bold moves you make could include divesting assets where you may not be the best owner and then reallocating those resources toward growth opportunities.

Sean Brown: You talked about the timeless growth strategies. What makes them timeless?

Rebecca Doherty: The ratio of growth that comes from the core versus adjacencies or breakout business is pretty consistent over time. We’ve also found that companies that grow in all directions over a ten-year period have double the chance of outperforming their peers.

Sean Brown: How do the strongest growers embed an innovation culture?

Rebecca Doherty: We ran an executive survey of more than 1,000 companies, and I was surprised, frankly, to see how important innovation is across all the growth paths. Historically, people think of innovation as a way to turbocharge the core business. But leading growers look just as much at innovating new offerings and permeating that mindset through the company.

Sean Brown: Many companies still see sustainability more as a cost than a growth generator. How do you envision it accelerating growth?

About QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Rebecca Doherty: We’ve found that if you already have growth and profitability in place, sustainability can be that extra punch  that gives you a lift over your competitors. Sustainable growth is not a substitute for profitability, but companies that have been able to embed sustainability in their businesses have been rewarded. Perhaps intuitively, those that deliver growth and profits show a five-percentage-point outperformance in TSR. If you add ESG [environmental, social, and governance] into the mix—and this isn’t dabbling but integrating ESG priorities into your strategy and sharing the messages with investors—you see seven points of outperformance. In some sectors such as retail, you have brands that have brought sustainability into the core and have done strings of acquisitions over the years to drive impact.

Sean Brown: How do you balance the bets on breakout or adjacent growth against building up the core? If 80 percent of the growth comes from the core, should that much of your investment go there as well?

Rebecca Doherty: It depends in part on the maturity of the business and where you are on the growth curve. If it’s early, you should focus on propelling that core growth strategy. If it’s a mature business and you’re only making incremental gains, maybe you look to invest beyond the core. How much you invest does matter, though. Companies sometimes simply take last year’s budget and tweak it by a few percent. For a breakout business, sometimes you need to invest more—and not just more money. I worked with one company that put its chief technology officer into the new business to help grow it. The initial investment in dollars wasn’t large but the investment in talent was.

You should also think about the investment in stage gates. Some bets may require a large up-front investment, and you will not see much revenue for a while. Others, you could start with smaller investments, and the funding could grow proportionately with revenue. Different profiles can work, but it’s important to have a sound business plan, understand the operational and financial milestones, and be willing to pull the plug if it’s not panning out—which is a bold move in itself.

Sean Brown: Reallocation of resources includes both people and capital, but people tend to have incentives. How do you maintain incentives when you’re moving somebody from a stable business into a riskier growth project?

Rebecca Doherty: It ties to what Jill said earlier: a failed business doesn’t mean a failed executive. The culture needs to reward risk taking, and management has to accept that you won’t have 100 percent success. In terms of incentives, you can align an individual’s incentives to delivering the project, but also implement incentives that reward thinking about what is best for the broader company.

Jill Zucker: We see some management teams reward managers uniformly on EPS [earnings-per-share] growth of the business or total shareholder return, and therefore whether you’re innovating or you’re maximizing the core, you are rewarded equally. It’s not about giving more money to one person or another but about what will grow the total shareholder return. This encourages managers to give up some capital for innovation if they believe that doing so will improve the company’s growth.

Sean Brown: Can you elaborate on how companies should pursue growth through adjacencies?

Kate Siegel: Finding growth outside your core business is challenging, so we looked at how growth outperformers approach adjacencies. Our sample was about 250 companies that had announced significant adjacency moves over the past 20 years. We found four types of rationales, or approaches, that underpinned these moves. The first was based on customer relationships and the knowledge of customers’ pain points. The second was capabilities, where companies could use their existing assets, people, or processes in new markets. Expansion into the value chain—going upstream or downstream to capture various synergies—was another rationale. The last one was finding opportunities for disruption and business model innovation. What’s interesting is that the more approaches they used, the higher the reward, and that included both outperformers and other companies.

Sean Brown: How do companies identify those adjacencies? Is it based on experience and team discussions, or do they use tools?

Kate Siegel: There is a variety of data you can scan on trends, technologies, changes in preferences. You can also consider similarities of your offerings to certain businesses and capabilities. For example, we recently helped a software company that was struggling with high competition find diversification opportunities. We used AI to scan unstructured online data to identify more than 500 growth ideas based on the value creation approaches . Another set of AI analyses helped prioritize the opportunities based on trends, news mentions, momentum, and patent intensity to give the management team a short list of ideas. The company then considered which were the best fit, what talent they would need, or whether the market was big enough. One of these ideas was one they hadn’t talked about before. AI is a powerful tool for challenging orthodoxies.

Sean Brown: One strategy we haven’t yet touched on is shrinking to grow. What does that mean?

Kate Siegel: We know only about 10 percent of companies are able to maintain positive growth rates across a decade. But suppose you don’t have this consistent growth engine. The next-best strategy is to periodically prune back your portfolio and then grow healthily from a new base. You divest parts of the business one or two years out of the decade, but in every other year, you grow from that new base. We’ve seen that work in some conglomerates, where they regularly look at their portfolio to see if there are less attractive assets they could divest and then reinvest the proceeds into ones that could be better platforms.

Sean Brown: What if the businesses you want to prune have some star performers? How are companies thinking about that talent dimension?

Kate Siegel: Divestitures typically have key-member clauses to ensure business continuity, but you can take steps to understand which talent you would like to retain. The worst thing you can do is not think about talent when you sell a business, because it could have the best technology officer for a new growth entity you plan to reinvest in.

Rebecca Doherty: When we consider an acquisition, we often think about it as one plus one equals more than two. Likewise, when we think about divestitures or spinouts, it’s usually not two minus one equals one, because you’re not the best owner of the business, and someone else might be, or it might flourish on its own. Separations might not only give you proceeds to reinvest but also help the other entity perform better.

Sean Brown: Once you have laid out the various growth paths and developed strategies, you need to execute them well. What does excellence look like for execution?

Kate Siegel: People are at the heart of a successful transformation. Transformations that activate the full organization are eight times more likely to succeed. In addition, those in which more than 20 percent of employees owned transformation initiatives saw nearly twice the excess shareholder return than their peers did. Once you have the right aspiration mindsets and culture, with clarity on the growth pathways, the most important thing is to involve as many people as possible in the growth effort. That includes getting everyone aligned on the growth aspiration, building the skills they need, having leaders consistently talk about the growth targets, and implementing processes to verify whether the bets are working.

Sean Brown: Are you optimistic that companies can revive growth?

Jill Zucker: There is not a single company I can point to that’s not focused on growth today, despite the economic backdrop. When I think back to other periods of economic uncertainty, the hunkering down, the fixation on the core, the focus on efficiency were much more at the forefront. Now, growth remains a priority.

Jill Zucker   is a senior partner in  McKinsey’s New York office,  Kate Siegel  is a partner in the Detroit office, and  Rebecca Doherty is a partner in the Bay Area office.  Sean Brown is global director of communications for the Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice and is based in the Boston office.

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The Influence of Mesopotamian Religion on Early Societal Structures

This essay about Mesopotamian religion explores its role as a foundational element in the societal, legal, and ethical structures of early civilizations along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It highlights how the beliefs and rituals influenced governance through divine kingship and legal codes like the Code of Hammurabi. The text also describes the architectural embodiments of religious devotion through temples and ziggurats, and how these practices fostered community unity and moral conduct, shaping the societal dynamics of ancient Mesopotamia.

How it works

In the early stages of human civilization, nestled along the meandering Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Mesopotamia blossomed as a beacon of human innovation and cultural development. Its fertile lands and thriving urban centers wove a complex web of beliefs, rituals, and divine tales into the rich mosaic of Mesopotamian religion—a force that shaped not only spiritual existence but also had a significant impact on societal structures.

Mesopotamian religion, far from being a simple collection of myths or ancient superstitions, acted as the cornerstone for societal organization, governance, and ethical behavior.

Its array of gods and goddesses represented not merely celestial entities but also symbols of natural forces, human emotions, and communal complexities.

At the core of Mesopotamian religious thought was a deep-seated respect for cosmic order, where deities and humans each played vital roles in maintaining the universe’s equilibrium. From Enlil, who controlled the storms with his mighty voice, to Inanna, whose fervent emotions reflected the human condition, each god or goddess embodied an aspect of life, guiding people in their comprehension of the cosmos and their role within it.

The idea of divine kingship was fundamental to ancient Mesopotamian society. This sacred relationship between the earthly monarch and celestial entities dictated that the king was the chosen liaison with the gods, tasked with ensuring the land’s prosperity, fairness, and cosmic balance. Kings engaged in complex rituals and ceremonies, like the holy union with a divine consort, to affirm their power and solicit heavenly blessings for their people.

Religious principles deeply infused Mesopotamian legal and ethical codes, granting them divine legitimacy and universal importance. The celebrated Code of Hammurabi, inscribed on stone and said to be a gift from the sun god Shamash, exemplified the integration of religious belief with legal authority. Its statutes, designed to mirror values of justice and fairness, functioned as both societal regulations and affirmations of the divine insight guiding human interactions.

In Mesopotamia’s dynamic urban landscapes, religious expression was evident in its temples and the iconic ziggurats that reached skyward, symbolizing humanity’s aspiration to connect the earthly and the divine. These immense structures, built by the labor of many, stood as tangible representations of divine engagement and communal religious devotion, acting as focal points of hope and worship in a constantly evolving society.

Furthermore, Mesopotamian religion addressed the subtle nuances of daily life. Principles like mutual exchange, hospitality, and family obligation, embedded within myths and ethical teachings, influenced personal interactions, promoting a sense of community and unity that extended beyond tribal and urban lines.

Ultimately, the impact of Mesopotamian religion on early social structures was as deep as it was lasting, leaving a legacy that resonates through time, demonstrating the enduring influence of spiritual beliefs in shaping human destiny and guiding us towards a more equitable and harmonious society.

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Development and validation of the new HER2DX assay for predicting pathological response and survival outcome in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer

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• Other Affiliation: Translational Genomics and Targeted Therapies in Solid Tumors, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
• Other Affiliation: SOLTI cooperative group, Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Translational Genomics and Targeted Therapies in Solid Tumors, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS)Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Reveal Genomics, Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Department of Pathology, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Institute of Oncology (IOB)-Quiron, Madrid, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, Valencia, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Translational Genomics and Targeted Therapies in Solid Tumors, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Molecular Biology CORE laboratory, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Centro de Diagnóstico Biomédico, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Vall d´Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO)Barcelona, Spain
• Other Affiliation: Life Edit Therapeutics, North Carolina, United States
• Affiliation: N.C. Cancer Hospital, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Background: Both clinical and genomic data independently predict survival and treatment response in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. Here we present the development and validation of a new HER2DX risk score, and a new HER2DX pathological complete response (pCR) score, both based on a 27-gene expression plus clinical feature-based classifier. Methods: HER2DX is a supervised learning algorithm incorporating tumour size, nodal staging, and 4 gene expression signatures tracking immune infiltration, tumour cell proliferation, luminal differentiation, and the expression of the HER2 amplicon, into a single score. 434 HER2-positive tumours from the Short-HER trial were used to train a prognostic risk model; 268 cases from an independent cohort were used to verify the accuracy of the HER2DX risk score. In addition, 116 cases treated with neoadjuvant anti-HER2-based chemotherapy were used to train a predictive model of pathological complete response (pCR); two independent cohorts of 91 and 67 cases were used to verify the accuracy of the HER2DX pCR likelihood score. Five publicly available independent datasets with >1,000 patients with early-stage HER2-positive disease were also analysed. Findings: In Short-HER, HER2DX variables were associated with good risk outcomes (i.e., immune, and luminal) and poor risk outcomes (i.e., proliferation, and tumour and nodal staging). In an independent cohort, continuous HER2DX risk score was significantly associated with disease-free survival (DFS) (p=0·002); the 5-year DFS in the low-risk group was 97·4% (94·4-100·0%). For the neoadjuvant pCR predictor training cohort, HER2DX variables were associated with pCR (i.e., immune, proliferation and HER2 amplicon) and non-pCR (i.e., luminal, and tumour and nodal staging). In both independent test set cohorts, continuous HER2DX pCR likelihood score was significantly associated with pCR (p<0·0001). A weak negative correlation was found between the HER2DX risk score versus the pCR score (correlation coefficient -0·19). Interpretation: The two HER2DX tests provide accurate estimates of the risk of recurrence, and the likelihood to achieve a pCR, in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. Funding: This study received funding from Reveal Genomics, IDIBAPS and the University of Padova.
• Gene expression
• Neoadjuvant
• HER2-positive breast cancer
• De-escalation
• Risk of relapse
• Pathological complete response
• https://doi.org/10.17615/cm3h-sb23
• https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103801
• In Copyright
• Attribution 4.0 International
• eBioMedicine
• Gilead Sciences
• Elsevier B.V.

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Manitoba premier, Winnipeg mayor share stage, vision for city's economic development

1st time premier, mayor addressed economic development winnipeg together.

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Manitoba's premier and Winnipeg's mayor signalled to the city's business community they have committed to working together to boost the city's economy.

Premier Wab Kinew and Mayor Scott Gillingham shared the stage at Economic Development Winnipeg's annual general meeting on Thursday, the first time a mayor and premier have addressed the group together. 

One of their key priorities is making downtown Winnipeg safer.

"For me, success is if you're proud to come downtown," Kinew told the audience at the RBC Convention Centre.

"It's a very simple test. Are you proud to bring an investor, a client, a potential business partner to downtown Winnipeg?"

Key to that goal is addressing underlying issues like homelessness and mental health, the two leaders agreed. 

City funding for the Community Connections space in the Millennium Library is set to run out at the end of this year, and members of city council have called on the province to step in to fund it.

"A lot of times the services that people need in that space are services that the province provides and not the city," Gillingham told reporters.

"I think this is an opportunity for us to be working in collaboration, the city and the province, to make sure people get the help they need."

Kinew says the perception of safety in the city is a priority, and they are working to get people the supports they need.

"Over this past winter, we were able to move about 200 people out of bus shacks and from sleeping outdoors into hotels," he said.

"Now the plan is, as we keep moving people out of bus shacks and out of tents into temporary accommodation, how do we move those folks into social housing?"

• 'We are bouncing back,' but Winnipeg's downtown recovery still a work in progress, report suggests
• Gas bar slated to become first business at Naawi-Oodena, 2 decades after Kapyong Barracks closure

The premier and mayor also spoke about the importance of collaboration around economic reconciliation with Indigenous people.

The city and province have worked with the Treaty One Development Corporation on developing Naawi-Oodena at the site of the former Kapyong Barracks on Kenaston. 

Economic Development Winnipeg executive director Ryan Kuffner hinted more could soon be coming to the site.

"Not just creating jobs and investing capital for the benefit of Winnipeggers, Manitobans, but also creating a completely new understanding of what economic reconciliation and Indigenous economic development can look like. Because it's going to change the face of our city."

A gas bar was announced last year as the first business planned for the site.

In an email, Kathleen Bluesky, CEO for Treaty One Development Corporation, said locations have been selected for a new hotel and convention centre, which are in the conceptual stage.

"We are optimistic that this development will become a key attraction for conference visitors to Winnipeg, enhancing the city's appeal as a prime destination for both business and leisure," she said.

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