Team development

Team development means deliberately working on a team’s collaboration, communication and effectiveness. The goal is for team members to better understand what is expected of them, how they can strengthen each other and how they can achieve better results together.

Team development includes topics such as:

• clear roles and responsibilities;
• trust and psychological safety;
• better communication;
• constructive feedback;
• handling conflict;
• shared goals;
• taking responsibility;
• learning and improving as a team.

A team development process may be needed for a new team, but also for existing teams. For example when collaboration is difficult, roles are unclear or a team wants to perform better.

Within organizations, team development often connects to feedback, development goals, performance reviews and leadership. A team can only grow when team members know where they stand, what can improve and how they can move forward together.

A well-known model for team development is Bruce Tuckman’s model. It describes how teams develop through different stages. It shows that teams do not collaborate optimally from day one, but first move through stages of getting to know each other, searching, aligning and performing.

The 5 stages of team development according to Tuckman are:

• Forming
  The team gets to know each other. Team members are often careful, polite and searching. They need clarity about goals, roles and expectations.
• Storming
  More discussion emerges. Team members speak up, sometimes clash over priorities or ways of working and look for their place in the team. This can be uncomfortable, but is often necessary to build real collaboration.
• Norming
  The team makes agreements about collaboration. Roles become clearer, trust grows and team members understand better how they want to work together.
• Performing
  The team functions effectively. Team members take responsibility, collaborate independently and focus on shared results.
• Adjourning
  The team completes a project, phase or collaboration. There is room to look back, celebrate successes and take lessons into the next collaboration.

Tuckman’s model is especially useful as a thinking framework. In practice, teams do not always move neatly from one stage to the next. A team can also fall back to an earlier stage, for example with a new manager, new team members, changing goals or a reorganization.

For team development it is therefore important to regularly check where the team stands and what it needs to keep growing.

Lencioni’s model looks at team development from another angle. While Tuckman mainly describes the stage a team is in, Lencioni shows which behaviors can hold teams back.

Lencioni describes five common dysfunctions in teams:

• absence of trust;
• fear of conflict;
• lack of commitment;
• avoidance of accountability;
• inattention to collective results.

This model is a valuable addition to Tuckman. A team may have clear agreements, for example, but still struggle to give honest feedback or address each other’s behavior.

For team development this means looking not only at processes and roles, but also at behavior. Do team members dare to speak up? Are difficult topics discussed? Is there clarity about decisions? Do team members hold each other accountable when agreements are not kept?

A strong team needs not only structure, but also trust, openness and accountability.

Psychological safety is an important foundation for team development. It means team members feel safe enough to ask questions, admit mistakes, give feedback and share different opinions.

Without psychological safety, many problems remain below the surface. Employees are less likely to say what they really think, avoid conflict or give socially desirable answers. As a result, collaboration may seem calm, but important improvement points are not discussed.

You can see psychological safety when team members:

• dare to discuss mistakes;
• give and receive feedback;
• ask questions when something is unclear;
• address behavior or agreements;
• share different perspectives;
• learn together from what goes well and less well.

For leaders this is an important focus point. Team development requires not only goals and processes, but also an environment in which people dare to be honest.

A leader can strengthen psychological safety by being open, listening actively, taking feedback seriously and making clear that mistakes are used for learning.

A team development process works best when it starts with a clear diagnosis and ends with concrete actions. It does not have to be large or complicated. More important is that the team understands why the process is needed and what it should deliver.

A practical step-by-step plan:

1. Define the reason
   Why do you want to start team development? Think of better collaboration, less conflict, higher engagement or better performance.
2. Map the current situation
   Collect input through conversations, feedback, team measurements or a short survey. Look at collaboration, communication, goals and trust.
3. Determine where the team stands
   Use Tuckman, for example, to understand the stage the team is in. Also look at behavior: is there trust, ownership and focus on shared results?
4. Choose one or two development points
   Do not make it too broad. Choose concrete themes such as communication, role clarity, feedback, decision-making or collaboration.
5. Make agreements as a team
   Agree on the behavior you want to see more often. For example, addressing each other earlier, documenting decisions more clearly or planning feedback moments.
6. Connect team development to goals
   Make clear how better collaboration contributes to team goals, customer results or organizational goals.
7. Plan fixed reflection moments
   Team development requires repetition. Regularly discuss what is improving, what is still difficult and which actions are needed.
8. Measure progress
   Use feedback, team conversations or short surveys to see whether collaboration is really improving.

The key is that team development should not stop at a workshop. A workshop can be a good starting point, but real development happens in daily work: during meetings, feedback moments, decision-making and collaboration.

With Learned you can support team development by recording goals, feedback, evaluations and development agreements in one place. This makes visible what teams are working on and which steps are being followed up.

The 5 stages of team building or team development according to Tuckman are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

In the forming stage, the team gets to know each other. In the storming stage, discussions or tensions arise. In the norming stage, the team makes agreements about collaboration. In the performing stage, the team works together effectively. In the adjourning stage, the team completes a project or collaboration.

These stages help you understand what a team needs. A new team mainly needs clarity. A team in the storming stage needs support with conflict, trust and agreements.

Good development points for a leader in team development are often focused on communication, trust and clarity.

Examples include:

• communicating expectations more clearly;
• listening better to signals from the team;
• strengthening psychological safety;
• giving constructive feedback;
• addressing conflicts earlier;
• giving team members more ownership;
• documenting decisions and agreements better.

A leader plays a major role in team development. Not by solving all problems themselves, but by helping the team have better conversations, take responsibility and learn together.

You can recognize the stage of team development by looking at behavior in the team. Every team shows signals that fit the stage it is in.

In the forming stage, team members are often careful and looking for clarity. In the storming stage, discussions, frustrations or uncertainty about roles arise. In the norming stage, the team makes better agreements and trust grows. In the performing stage, the team works independently and result-oriented. In the adjourning stage, the team completes something and looks back.

A few questions help identify the stage:

• Are goals and roles clear?
• Do team members dare to give honest feedback?
• Are conflicts discussed or avoided?
• Does the team keep agreements?
• Does the team work mainly reactively or independently?
• Are shared results more important than individual interests?

Teams can also fall back to an earlier stage. For example after growth, reorganization, new team members or a change of leader. That is why it is wise to discuss team development regularly, not only when problems occur.