Teamwork. Everyone talks about it, not very many people do it very well. Why? Because it is hard. Because it takes work. Because it requires us to look outside of ourselves.
(example of a high functioning team… in certain ways.)
There are generally 4 stages of a team. Forming, storming and norming, performing.
I am currently part of a team for a class. We are working on helping students feel connected to each other and looking outside themselves. We are in the middle of the forming/storming stage. The definition for forming comes from Tuckerman's Team theory.
Forming – The individual's behavior is driven by a desire to be accepted by the others, and avoid controversy or conflict. Serious issues and feelings are avoided, and people focus on being busy with routines, such as team organization, who does what, when to meet, etc. But individuals are also gathering information and impressions – about each other, and about the scope of the task and how to approach it. This is a comfortable stage to be in, but the avoidance of conflict and threat means that not much actually gets done.
This is us to a T. We are setting up when to met. I introduced everyone to GroupMe to keep in contact. (If you don't use GroupMe for teams, start now. Seriously) We all tend to agree on what we should do and everything seems like it is going to be just peachy.
However we are also seeing some stages of storming. Tuckerman defines storming as…
Every group will next enter the storming stage in which different ideas compete for consideration. The team addresses issues such as what problems they are really supposed to solve, how they will function independently and together and what leadership model they will accept. Team members open up to each other and confront each other's ideas and perspectives. In some cases storming can be resolved quickly. In others, the team never leaves this stage. The maturity of some team members usually determines whether the team will ever move out of this stage. Some team members will focus on minutiae to evade real issues.
We can see this. We are handing out assignments but some disagree how to best do it. I can foresee us getting through the storming stage very quickly and moving on to smooth sailing.
I can see the light ahead because all of my team members chose to be in this class. The project that we chose is exciting and has a definite potential. We like each other and just need to work out how to work with each other.
I recently attended a lecture about the 5 Dysfunctions of Teams. (Yes this is an affiliate link. I am trying it out. Let me know what you think.)
I loved it, because it opened my eyes to man a team problem that I have seen in the past. It gave these problems a name. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team are:
- Absence of trust—unwilling to be vulnerable within the group
- Fear of conflict—seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate
- Lack of commitment—feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization
- Avoidance of accountability—ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior sets low standards
- Inattention to results—focusing on personal success, status and ego before team success
Right now my team is feeling an absence of trust. We don't know what we are each capable of. You might have the best escape driver ever, but you have never seen him drive a semi truck. I know that we have a great team but we need more time to understand each others strengths and what assignment we should trust each person with. One final way that the speaker mentioned was a great way to build trust was to give small assignments and follow up with them. Be here at this time… done. Trust goes up. Can you send this email? Done, and trust goes up. I feel that as we build block by block a solid foundation for a high performing team will emerge.
Soon we will be pulling heist after heist, er I mean, we will be completing project after project, in perfect unison and teamwork.
