Category: Forming

REFLECTION: FOR STUDENTS:  When institutions mandate team learning, were you provided proper project management skills or were you thrown to the wolves to meet administrative requirements? Teamwork should be a holistic process, and if team learning is mandated, then the proper training should be provided for all teams to begin learning on an equal footing (a few freshmen out of high school may be in the same class as project managers). You are a customer! Do not fear the administration and use your Voice as a Customer to demand proper teaching methods be provided.

FOR ACADEMICS: I have heard horror stories of the teams that never move beyond forming during mandated team projects, and then the entire team is penalized no matter how hard they worked or how much they learned. In real life, an obstinate member of a team would be kicked out by the sponsor or team leader (or even fired from their job) before that member was allowed to impede the goal of the team (after some serious coaching). Still, academia frequently masks that aspect of the private sector from students. Have you integrated yourself as the “sponsor” to allow the team leader or team to appeal directly to you to resolve unresolvable conflict issues, perhaps making it part of the grade (based upon the team’s presentation and documentation of any issues)?

FOR PROFESSIONALS/PRACTITIONERS: Do you consider likely team dynamics and personal histories that might be significant distractions or believe the project will blind the team members to personal biases? If you believe the goal will overcome personal biases, I would say it can, but usually only under duress. Adding extra factors for a team to overcome is like adding additional factors to a DOE. It takes many more runs before they are sure they have it right, so if you know of conflict factors that can be eliminated, the time to do it would be when the team is chosen, though sometimes there are not enough resources for that level of filtering.

Common Types of Teams

Teams can manifest as required to achieve the goal, and it is essential to remember that the configuration of the team will be a significant contributor to how the team functions, so be sure your team is configured with the end goal in mind.

• Process Improvement Teams
• Self-Managed Teams
• Temporary/ad hoc teams
• Work groups
• Cellular teams
• Special Project Teams
• Virtual Teams
• Combinations of two or more of the above types

Team Selection

Management should select the team leader to ensure 100% management support for the team’s goal.
Team members may be selected by management or the leader. Still, I would suggest empowering a leader to choose the best team when a team leader chooses his/her team, using the five primary areas of competence known as the KESAA factors to analyze the fit of the candidates for the needs of the project.

Stages of Team Development

Stage 1: Forming

• Proud to be selected
• Anxious
• New team experience
• Forming team structure

Individuals come together and merge, each with their perceptions and priorities. This forming helps the team to move closer to a single entity and to define and clarify the team’s purpose, goals, and roles and rules for acceptable behavior within the group (norms).

Stage 2: Storming

• Individualistic thinking
• Struggle between external loyalties and devotion to team goals
• Fluctuating attitudes
• Confrontations
• The team’s task is understood

At this point is when individual goals conflict with team needs and objectives, and initial decisions are based upon old paradigms or perhaps just old emotions and conflicts. 

Current information relative to the task and goal must be pooled and utilized. Then the team has to begin to shape itself by overcoming major conflicts and focusing on the proper behavior required to succeed for the next step in the team’s evolution.

Stage 3: Norming

• Team coalesces
• Cooperation
• Individuals willing to dialogue
• Conflicts reduced
• Focus is on team objective

At this stage, the individual members of the team overcome their personal biases and previous conflicts, coalescing into a team. The team finds itself shifting the full focus of the team’s efforts to meeting team-related challenges rather than individual concerns. Discussion of differences for the sake of the team becomes the Norm, resulting in a standard of team cooperation and constructive dialogue. 

True Diversity of Thought emerges. Note: from my experience- (if the Norm fails to be achieved, the Performing level usually will not be optimal, though it can still succeed).

Stage 4: Performing

• Team has matured
• Smooth, cohesive unit
• Focus on process and goal
• Feelings of satisfaction
• Achieving goals

The team members have a good understanding of one another’s strengths and weaknesses, and how they contribute to the end goal and are effectively able to resolve conflict and appreciate the team as an individual entity. This is the stage where the real strides toward achievement are occurring.

Adjourning

Tuckman’s original model ended at the performing stage, but a final stage is now standard- the Adjourning stage. The reason this phase is so critical is that though the stages represent the normal logical procession of team development, team dynamics can influence the actual flow of progress. Forcing teams to regress to earlier stages to overcome previous assumptions about one another, decisions made upon inaccurate information, or to welcome new team members is a real possibility. Some teams never progress beyond a certain point of development due to outside forces combined with inner team dynamics. 

Limited project duration and poor group dynamics can be significant issues.

Anytime a team successfully achieves a Performing level, and the team’s mission has been successful, the post-project stage of Adjourning should be performed to capture lessons learned, what was accomplished, complete, and assign documentation, celebrate, and formally disband.

(Russell T. Westcott, 2014)(CSSBB Primer, 2014)(Kubiak, 2017)

Conclusion

Team Dynamics are often overlooked during critical projects for the data, but important decisions are often made based upon how the individual members of the team work together as a team. Never underestimate the importance of a leader and facilitator with excellent soft management skills.

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Bibliography

CSSBB Primer. (2014). West Terre Haute , Indiana: Quality Council of Indiana.

Kubiak, T. a. (2017). The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook Third Edition. Milwaukee: ASQ Quality Press.

Russell T. Westcott. (2014). The Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press.