The New Why Teams Don't Work

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chapter 29 Moving Teams through Stages toward Success

Way back in the 1970s, psychologist B.W. Tuckman identified four stages of team development that he felt all teams had to pass through in order to be successful. They are:

• Forming. When a group is just learning to deal with one another; time in which minimal work gets accomplished.
• Storming. A time of stressful negotiation of the terms under which the team will work together; a trial by fire.
• Norming. A time in which roles are accepted, team feeling develops, and information is freely shared.
• Performing. When optimal levels are finally realized—in productivity, quality, decision making, allocation of resources, and interpersonal interdependence.

With or without tests or team-building ...