Describe the phases of team development

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Formation stage is usually experienced in the first few meetings. During this time, the team establishes its goals and objectives. It also determines the ground rules for team performance. For teams to work well, leadership must set clear goals that are aligned with the mission and strategic direction of the firm. When leadership sets the direction, the team is much more focused and tends not to get bogged down in the problem-selection process. The team must know the scope and boundaries it must work within. Leadership must communicate how the team's progress and performance will be measured.

During the stormy stage, the team gets acquainted with each others' idiosyncrasies and the demands of the project. The goals and scope of the team may be questioned. Since a team is composed of a group of individuals who are united by a common goal, the best teamwork will occur when the individuals focus on the team's objectives rather than personal motives. While working together, team members must understand and agree on the goals of the team. They must establish and adhere to team ground rules for behavior and performance expectations. To ensure harmony in the team, all members must participate and the responsibilities and duties must be fairly distributed. This means that each team member must understand what his/her role is in the completion of the project. Knowledge of how internal or external constraints affect the project is also helpful. Team members must possess a variety of skills, including problem-solving skills, planning skills, facilitation and communication skills, and feedback and conflict management skills.

The performing stage is when the team starts to work together smoothly. To be successful, teams need the appropriate skills in a supportive organizational culture and the authority to do the job that they have been asked to do. Leadership can do a lot to rid the team of the barriers that inhibit its performance. These barriers include: inadequate release time, territorial behavior from involved functional areas, lack of training, inadequate support systems, lack of guidance or direction, and lack of recognition. Senior leadership's sincere interest and support in the resolution of the problem is evidenced by their willingness to commit money and time for training in problem-solving and facilitation. In any case, senior leadership must monitor and encourage their teams to solve problems. The teams will quickly become unmotivated if the solutions they propose are consistently turned down or ignored. Leadership support will be obvious in management's visibility, diagnostic support, recognition, and limited interference.

The concluding stage occurs as the team finishes its project. During this phase, team members draw the project to its conclusion, verify the results, and disband the team. Several key events take place during this time. The team, having taken action, perhaps by implementing a solution to a problem, must verify that what they planned to do got done and what they did actually worked. Teams are not finished when they have proposed a plan of action, teamwork is finished when the plans have been acted on and the results judged effective. Until then, the team cannot be disbanded.