Understanding a Team’s Natural Development Process: The Tuckman Team Development Model

Have you heard of the Tuckman Team Development Model? It’s been around for decades, and in our work training leaders, we’ve found it’s the model of group development folks are most likely to have come across before. The model’s longevity is at least partly due to the easy-to-remember mnemonic device built into the stage names. More importantly, it provides a simple but effective mental model to help leaders and team members understand the journey a group will tend to go through as it seeks to accomplish its purpose over time. <h2>Breaking Down the Five Stages</h2> Bruce Tuckman published his research on group development in 1965. In his original model, he identified four stages that working groups move through as they organize around a shared task: forming, storming, norming, and performing. A few years later, Tuckman published additional research that posited a fifth stage in the group life cycle that acknowledged the normalcy of endings — adjourning. The stages are characterized as follows: Forming: Team members are in a process of orienting themselves to the shared task. Most discussion will <a href="https://medium.com/reboot-leadership-resiliency/i-we-it-a-framework-to-have-one-conversation-at-a-time-1b8b11d3cbd8" rel="noopener">focus on the “IT</a>” of the task (scope, strategy, etc). During this stage, leaders can help by establishing some basic structural boundaries (team mission and vision, ground rules, and the beginnings of roles and responsibilities). Typically folks will be on their best behavior as they feel out the group and find their place. They may engage (consciously or not) in status management to stay safe and find approval from the group. In order to move beyond this stage, group members must be willing to move beyond their comfort zone and risk some conflict as they lean into becoming a higher-performing team. <a href="https://medium.com/reboot-leadership-resiliency/understanding-a-teams-natural-development-process-the-tuckman-team-development-model-89de6164d7ac">Visit Now</a>