A Note on Team Dynamics

The Trigger

Many people don’t like to work in teams because their teams are dysfunctional. Their teams have gotten stuck in “storming.” Plateauing at this level of Tuckman’s Model of Group Development with your team often creates the dislike of working in teams.

The other day, I was in a mat Pilates class and my instructor remarked, “No one has a bad arm or a bad leg. They just have an arm or a leg that has a different story than the other one. It may have sustained an injury or been mistreated. Each arm or leg on your body has a separate history. And that’s okay.”

This idea can be applied to so many things. No two people have the same history. No two organizations started from the same place. Everyone and everything travels a different road to get to where they are. Teams are no different. Teams go through the stages Tuckman identifies in his model at different rates. When they get stuck in one stage, it’s because they aren’t taking the time or creating the space to move into a new stage. And that could be for a lot of different reasons. They aren’t a bad team; they just have a different story.

Tuckman's Model of Group Development via
https://ns4business.com.br/tuckmans-stages-of-group-development/

Relatable Story

I work with an organization that recently experienced a plateau of this sort. One day, I went in for a meeting with two leaders that each oversee a different area within the organization and their facilitator (aka two product owners and a scrum master). Their two teams collaborate often and are very connected. In the meeting, the four of us sat down to put together a Project Vision document for a new project they were kicking off. The scrum master was there to record the information so they could go off and do this on their own again and again.

In the meeting, we were working through a goal that had been given to them as part of a larger vision by their organization’s board to stay competitive in the marketplace. The goal involved integrating best practices into the entire division.  A very large goal!

Unfortunately, when these two teams worked together to form one BIG team, there was disfunction and it was keeping them in the “storming” phase. Each group viewed themselves and operated as an individual team within the organization vs. part of the larger organizational team.  They now had a directive from senior leadership that was essentially giving them the time and space to make it to the next level...to learn to work together.  

I said, “You are all one team. Even though you are two different sub-teams, when you come together all your team members should feel like one team and realize that they can achieve more if they accept viewpoints from everyone.”

We had to figure out what would get them to “norming” (and eventually “performing”).

To do this they created epics (areas of focus) that were called Team Dynamics and Change Management.

Questions to Ask

What is the PEOPLE side of this problem? How do we get people from point a to point b? How can we support them and give them what they need to feel seen, heard and get their needs met?

How can we get every member of this team on board? And if they’re unwilling, how do we help them move on?

These are questions we had to ask to form our success criteria and get the team on the road to “performing.”

Tips

I have helped many teams like the one in the example above and I’ve learned a few things over the years about creating the trust needed to move forward. If you feel like your team is stuck in “storming,” try incorporating these tips –

1.       Even if team members have individual goals on the project, everyone should have one over-arching common goal they’re working towards.

2.       Make sure team members are communicating in a respectful and healthy way by establishing team norms/ground rules around communication.

3.       Eliminate silos by encouraging every team member to communicate and collaborate with each other and frequently share what they’re working on.

4.       Arguments happen. When they do, try not to think of them as one side against another side where one wins, and one loses. Instead, how can you address the “why” behind the arguments of BOTH parties.

5.       Create the space for everyone to share their ideas and thoughts that feels safe and free from judgement.

Remember, whether teams are together for a week or ten years, there is no predictable pattern for how long they’ll be in each phase of Tuckman’s model. All you can do once your team is formed, is to continue to allow for the time and space to move forward!