Team Building Strategy

Team Strategy

A well-functioning team is always working on two objectives simultaneously: completing tasks and managing processes. Stepping back more than forty years ago to 1965, a valuable model for group development was introduced by a psychology researcher in group dynamics, Bruce Tuckman(Famous Models). Tuckman's model- forming, storming, norming, and performing highlight the growth stages of a group or team. In order to become a high performing team, a group of people must go through these four stages of development.

Forming is the beginning or the initiation of a team. In most cases, a charter is drafted and formal authority is given to a leader. The idea is that in the Forming stage the team comes together, gets to know each other, and begins to work together. When people are brought together as a team for the first time, they are typically very polite and tentative with their communication. Trust is on a "wait and see" basis as people try to figure out exactly what is expected. This stage usually lasts about 1-3 months depending on how often the team meets(Famous Models). Someone looking at the team from an outside perspective may think that this is a real team because of how agreeable people are, but in actuality it isn't; the behavior is superficial. The coach of a Forming stage needs to be directive, teaching the team about what to expect, providing them with the draft of its team charter, helping the team develop its protocols, and requiring them to run their own meetings and rotate star point roles. The foundation of the forming stage is inextricably linked to process management which will lead to task completion. First: a team charter usually has a goal that specifies the reason why the team was formed. Ad hock teams come into existence for a specified duration, complete their work and then disband (Headridge). Standing teams can go on indefinitely. Either way, team management is crucial to producing results.

To help lay the foundation for a high performing team it is useful to: develop ground rules that the team will abide by. This is best done by the team itself at the beginning of its formation. These rules would be written out and brought to each meeting. They would include such things as time, place, and duration of the meetings, acceptable behaviors (one person speaking at a time, etc). Expectations need to be clear and agreed to. Although a team is formed with a goal in mind, it is very good to have the team create a team vision at to outset. A vision statement helps the team focus on a desired future state. Vision statements need to be in the present tense, positive, and move in the direction of the desired future and not away from something that is not wanted. Teams do get stuck and having ground rules and a vision come in very handy at those times. Every team meeting should have an agenda. The agenda should be distributed in advance of the meetings. Minutes should be kept that describe discussion, decisions made and action to be taken along with who is responsible, and time frames to complete those actions (Headridge). In addition to the team's expertise' subject matter experts can be brought in as needed to facilitate the team's work.

As team members begin to take on new responsibilities, the differences in styles and approaches start to emerge. Members may question each other's usefulness to the team and form cliques with team members they like. This is the Storming stage which can last from 3-5 months to forever. The coach for this stage must address two things: the team's