Stages of Team Development

Teams can often be seen to progress through four stages. This model should not be applied slavishly and there is no particular timescale for the stages, but members of Ministry Teams and Core Groups should be alert to the signs of these stages emerging, in order to be able to address them.

STAGE ONE    Initial Awareness

General characteristics of this stage are

Feelings, weaknesses and mistakes tend to be  covered up
People conform to the established line or ‘safe’ way of proceeding
There is little concern to explore and understand each others’ views
There is no shared understanding yet of what needs to be done

If the group does not develop as a team beyond this stage there is likely to be

Increased bureaucracy and paperwork (i.e. the group operates more like a committee)
People confining themselves to their defined jobs
A more autocratic style on the leader’s part

If the leader has the time, wisdom and energy to make all the decisions the team may appear to work well enough in implementing them, but this is not real  teamwork.


STAGE TWO   Sorting out Process

When teams want to face problems more openly, to  improve their performance, they move on to this second stage, where:

More risky personal issues are opened up
The group becomes more inward looking
There is more concern for the views and problems of colleagues

The team becomes more open but may lack the capacity to act in a unified, economic and effective way.


STAGE THREE         Self-organization

The team now has the confidence and trust to look at how it is operating. A more systematic, open approach leads to clearer and more methodical ways of working.

Decisions are made by consensus by:

Clarifying the purpose
Establishing objectives
Collecting information
Considering options
Detailed planning
Reviewing to improve

Having worked through its personal issues the team has now established its regular rules of operation.




STAGE FOUR         Mature Team

After Stage Three there is now the basis for a really mature team.

Flexibility becomes the keynote
Leadership is decided by situation, not protocol
Everyone’s energies are utilised for the team
The team considers basic principles and the wider social aspects of the organisation’s decisions

As team membership changes over time and the context requires the team’s role to evolve, the team may experience earlier stages over again. There is no guarantee that Stage Four will be permanent without regular attention to Team Maintenance and Review!

And finally…

Some versions of this model for Team Development use the following summary of the four stages:


STAGE ONE          FORMING

STAGE TWO         STORMING

STAGE THREE      NORMING

STAGE FOUR        PERFORMING


So if your Team goes through a stormy patch after the first few months of getting started...don’t worry: get through it, settle down into a regular pattern of working, and be ready to perform!