The document is a comprehensive guide on team development and teambuilding, outlining various phases of organizational growth and the dynamics of team development as described by Bruce Tuckman's model. It emphasizes the importance of leadership in guiding teams through stages from forming to disbandment and highlights the characteristics and challenges of each development phase. The content is designed for trainers and learners to enhance skills applicable both in professional and personal contexts.

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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
Team Development
TEAMBUILDING

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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
One of the key distinctions between groups and teams is
that groups are static while teams are capable of growth
and change. A group is constrained by procedures. It is there
to carry out duties. A team, on the other hand, can take on a
life of its own. Although it may have the same members as
the group had, teamwork means that the members can
learn from each other. As they develop, so the team
develops. Team development is the key to transforming
poor teams into winning ones.

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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THE LIFE OF ORGANISATIONS
The study of organisations allows us to track the different
ways organisations evolve and grow. The process of
organisational growth has the following characteristics:
1. it is a natural process, which all organisations undergo if
they survive
2. there are three main development phases: a pioneer
phase; a specialist phase; and a differentiated phase
3. moving from one phase to the next is usually
precipitated by crisis
4. each phase requires different ways of managing.
This is why some organisations resist natural growth and
stay in one outdated phase
the development process requires leaders to lead change at
moments of crisis and managers to ensure survival during
each phase.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THE PIONEER PHASE
In the pioneer phase of an organisation's development,
teams are organised around a central figure, the pioneer.
There are few fixed roles: people do what has to be done
and respond to what the pioneer figure wants. This is a
phase when the team's priority is to survive.
How organised: no job titles; people do what is necessary;
chaotic; seat-of-the-pants
Communications: informal, direct, fast
Commitment: energised, high levels of loyalty, dedication
Management style: predominantly directive
Procedures: few formal procedures, everyone is flexible,
there is rule-bending if it suits the needs of the job.
Team image: the whole organisation see themselves as one
team under the personal command of the pioneer
Crisis occurs when...: the organisation grows too big for one
person to run.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THE SPECIALIST PHASE
Organisations move into the Specialist phase when they
grow too big to be under the control of just one person.
From being a one-team organisation, there are now many
teams split according to function and profession.
How organised: formalised, systematised, paper-based
procedures
Communications: a mix of formal and informal
Commitment: people are not emotionally bound to the
team. They may be more loyal to their profession.
Management style: veering towards the bureaucratic
Procedures: work and relationships are laid down to ensure
compliance and standardisation
Team image: the organisation is a power hierarchy with
functional teams defined by status
Crisis occurs when...: the organisation becomes too inward-
looking and inflexible to meet business needs.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THE DIFFERENTIATED PHASE
Organisations move into the Differentiated phase when the
organisation evolves into a collection of self-sufficient
teams. This is the highest state of team development.
How organised: a collection of self-managing teams
Communications: everyone is customer or supplier to
everyone else; there are no barriers.
Commitment: people are committed emotionally to their
own teams and to the needs of their customers
Management style: empowered, democratic, facilitative
Procedures: each team devises their own structures and
systems to suit their own and their customers' needs
Team image: the team manage themselves like project
teams, growing and re-forming as required
Crisis occurs when...: teams see no benefit in their links
with the organisation and so break free to start their own
individual existence.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THE NATURAL LIFE OF TEAMS
Bruce Tuckman's description of the stages of group
development, generally known as the "Norming, Storming,
Forming, Performing" model, is a useful way to understand
the processes that all groups and teams can move through.
Tuckman first described the four stages of group
development in 1965, soon after leaving Princeton
University where he worked as an educational psychologist.
He developed the model after looking at the research into
how people behaved in therapy groups. He realised that all
the groups tended to follow the same patterns as they
developed. Some groups failed to move much beyond their
formation stage while others were able to achieve a high
level of performance. As a result, Tuckman identified the
main stages of growth and the interventions that people
could use to help a group grow.
In 1977, Tuckman added a fifth stage in his model. He called
this last stage, Adjournment, and it is the final stage in the
life of the team.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
FORMING
These are the key features of the Forming, or initial, stage of
group development.
Individual behaviour: People meet for the first time
knowing they are to be members of the same group. They
are socially polite but are quietly anxious, wondering if they
are going to fit in.
Roles and responsibilities: Although each member of the
team may know their formal job role, they do not know how
they will fit in with the personalities of the other members.
Everyone therefore starts to quietly gather information and
impressions about everyone else. As a result, very little time
is spent on the task.
The job of the team leader: The job of the team leader
should be to get people through the forming stage as
quickly as possible. They should clarify basic rules of how
things are to work, and state the group's overall purpose.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
STORMING
These are the key features of the Storming, or problem-
solving, stage of group development.
Individual behaviour: At the forming stage, most people will
have worked out who they met and liked and who they
didn't. While people are initially "nice" to one another, this
cannot last for long once there is a need to sort out how the
group will work. Some people will bristle and be outwardly
hostile towards others; others will go quiet and try to stay in
the "niceness" state of the forming stage.
Roles and responsibilities: While some of the sorting out of
this stage is about who does what in the task roles, the real
sorting out is about the power dynamics in the group.
Serious conflicts may break out based on who is to get their
way. These conflicts, if left unresolved, can either continue
indefinitely or destroy the group.
The job of the team leader: The job of the team leader is
not to take sides whenever conflict breaks out but to steer
the group through the difficulties in a positive and
constructive way.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
NORMING
These are the key features of the Norming, or consensus,
stage of group development.
Individual behaviour: If conflict has been managed
successfully, the result will be that people in the group have
a better understanding of each other. While they may still
not like one another 100%, they come to see that nothing is
going to happen unless they appreciate what each other can
bring to the group. This tends to happen when individuals
are prepared to change their initial views about each other.
Roles and responsibilities: With a new-found respect for
each other, the group can now sort out what each person
will do in the group and how they relate to others. The
experience of the Storming stage can often be the spur to
success in clarifying the "rules of engagement", knowing
that failure will send everyone back into conflict.
The job of the team leader: The job of the team leader is to
allow the team to work out their own rules of working and
not lay these down for them. The role is empowering and
facilitating the group.

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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
PERFORMING
These are the key features of the Performing, or
achievement, stage of group development.
Individual behaviour: Once the group has worked through
its rules of engagement, tested them, and fully accepted
them, there is nothing stopping them working together to
do what they exist for. A group at this stage eagerly accepts
challenging tasks because it allows them to enjoy working as
a single unit.
Roles and responsibilities: When a team is performing
together, enjoying it, and getting feedback from others that
they are hitting all their targets, there is a high level of
morale. People no longer define themselves by their job
role and are prepared to do anything that is required, no
questions asked.
The job of the team leader: In the performing stage, the job
of the team leader is to stand back and let things happen. If
anything, they may need to prune things back if the team is
over-exuberant.

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Team Development
Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
DISBANDMENT
These are the key features of the Disbandment, or
adjourning, stage of group development.
Individual behaviour: Some people in a high-performing
group might look on the end of the group's life with sorrow
and try to resist its end. Others might realise that "good
things can't last for ever" and be willing to let go.
Roles and responsibilities: The Disbandment stage of group
development is a time for celebrating the work of the group
but focusing on the future without being part of the group.
There are often strong emotions present in this stage.
The job of the team leader: The job of the team leader in
the Disbandment stage is to help the group manage the
change from the familiarity and comfort of the successful
group to an unknown and uncertain future without friends
and colleagues.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
HELPING TEAMS GROW
The real purpose of teambuilding, whether by individuals in
the team or by those who have brought the team into
existence, is for it to perform. Performance benefits both
individuals, organisation, and customers or clients.
However, the process is not straightforward because teams
are people and in constant states of change. A team that
reaches a performing stage might be returned overnight to a
storming stage if someone leaves or someone new arrives.
That's why leaders are crucial in facilitating the process. A
leader can stand back above the fray and see what is
happening in the group. Not only can they help move a
stable team through its natural stages to reach
performance, but they can also intervene when change
happens and performance declines.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
INTERDEPENDENCE
We can measure a team's development by how far it has
progressed towards interdependence, an outer focus and
achievement of its task.
There are three stages a developing team passes on its way
to interdependence:
1. dependence, in which the team relies on the leader for
its direction as in the pioneer stage of organisational
growth. The team are like young children.
2. independence, in which the team see themselves as a
distinct unit, having broken away from reliance on the
leader. They have energy, sometimes aggression and
isolation. The team are like teenagers.
3. interdependence, in which the team see their role as
interacting with others for their benefit. They are now
mature, confident and wise, like adults.

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
AN OUTER FOCUS
In the early stages of development, teams focus on their
own needs:
1. they weigh up whether they want to be in the team,
what they have to give up if they do, what the pay-offs
will be.
2. they spend time on political manoeuvrings to move the
team in the direction they want;
3. they develop relationships in the team.
In the later stages of development, when teams have largely
resolved their inner turmoil, the focus can shift towards
how the team can meet the needs of their customers and
sponsors.
"When a blind man carries a lame man, both go forward."
(Joseph Stalin)

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
TOWARDS SUCCESS
In the early stages of teamwork, success, in terms of
performing at a consistently high level of meeting the
standards you want, is likely to be in short supply.
Achievement may still be confined to individuals performing
on behalf of the team.
If the team develops cohesively with the right mix of people
and skills and is able to learn its way through difficult times,
team failures will eventually give way to team successes.
This process is not a hit-and-miss one but an inevitable one
of team development. The only variable is the time it takes
to get there.
"When spiders unite, they can tie down a lion." (African
proverb)

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Teambuilding
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn