Trying to build a cohesive team can feel like a puzzle sometimes. You have the pieces – a goal, the time frame, the people, and maybe even the idea of a plan. But how do you, as a leader, put them all together to create the whole picture: a group that works effectively together to achieve objectives?
According to Bruce Tuckman’s model of team development, teams become cohesive in four stages:
- Forming: Team members are selected, and the mission is outlined.
- Storming: Friction or conflict arise as people get to know one another and push against boundaries and expectations.
- Norming: Members start to resolve their differences and cooperate more effectively.
- Performing: The team becomes a functional unit, major issues have been resolved, and the team manages problems and solutions together.
This is the ideal progress of a small group, leading to the successful achievement of a goal, but it doesn’t happen on its own. Without strong leadership, a team could get stuck in the early phases and never make it to Performing. There can be imbalances, inefficiencies, setbacks, and derailments. You, the leader, are vital to facilitating your group through the phases – without taking over – and helping them become a cohesive, self-sufficient team.
Steps to helping your team succeed:
1. Outline The Mission
In the earliest phases of team development, you need people to understand their purpose and mission. What are they doing here and what do you expect from them? While the plan might not be specific in the beginning, the goal needs to be. Make sure you are clear from the start about expectations, timelines, and what’s at stake – the benefits of success to the individual/team.
2. Build Trust
Trust is essential for leading your team. They are going to need your time and resources the most in the beginning stages. They need to know that you’ll be there, you’ll follow through on your promises, and their concerns are a priority to you. Not following through here not only hampers trust, but it models untrustworthiness. What they see is what you’ll get.
3. Communicate
Communication – being clear, listening, and responding with specific information is key during all phases of team building. Say it out loud, and back it up in writing. Make sure they understand what you’re saying. Make sure you understand what they’re saying. You’re busy, for sure, but being available to hear people’s questions and concerns is critical. Most problems are caused by a lack of communication.
4. Facilitate Collaboration
Effective collaboration doesn’t really start until the Norming and Performing stages. Individual group members are focused on themselves in the beginning – making sure they’re treated fairly, not being expected to do more than others, or not being relegated to the background. Each team member needs to understand the importance of all the roles, not just their own. Your own role at this point is to help everyone shine, to help build trust among the team members.
5. Empower
Once people are collaborating (Norming and Performing), you need to empower them by stepping back. Consider yourself a resource to the team. Each member should now be able to solve problems and work through conflicts and challenges on their own. Be available to offer information but avoid stepping in to fix things. Encourage self-sufficiency.
6. Be willing to flex
It’s important to have a plan when undertaking any new project, team initiative or goal; otherwise, you’re just going to be spinning your wheels. The plans need to be flexible, though. Resources, guidelines, liabilities, and abilities are going to change as the team starts performing. Everyone will need to accept that adjustments are going to be needed. Knowing what is critical to complete as you go along will help your team regroup when plans change. Make a priority checklist and follow up on it.
7. Hold everyone accountable
The larger the team or the longer term the goal, the more likely it is for some people to take on too much and others to fade into the background. You might have team members who notice when someone else has dropped the ball and pick it up. Some of that is great, especially if it’s reciprocated. If it happens too often, though, and it’s always the same one or two people picking up the ball, resentment can build, and performance can stall.
There needs to be accountability both for individual and team accomplishments. At meetings, confirm the promised steps were taken. If not, find out why not. Keep an ear out for discussions that need to be held one on one with the team member. Calling someone out in public is not the same as accountability. Get an agreement to make up the lost time or missing part. Accountability helps everyone.
Bonus Step: Self-knowledge
No one leader is going to be comfortable with each of these stages. If you’re the type of person who excels at building consensus and creating team harmony, you might not love dealing with accountability and conflict. If you’re great at seeing the big picture, you might not always consider all the necessary details to get started. If you are a detailed planner, letting go so the team can perform independently might make you nervous. You’re human; some things are going to be harder than others. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t need a team – you’d need clones!
Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses can help you move through these team building steps. Just because something isn’t easy for you, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Omnia can help! We have Leadership Reports designed specifically for helping you leverage your strengths and minimize challenge areas for you personally. We can help you understand the specific needs of each of your team members, with the (professional development reports? Or is there a better option?) If you want to take a deeper dive into how your team can excel in the long run, we offer Professional Development Reports. These reports analyze the behavioral traits of each team member and compare how they communicate and work together as well as how you, as a leader, can leverage strengths and mitigate difficulties.
When you put all these pieces together, you will build a successfully performing team. You can do it, and your Omnia Client Success team is on hand to help!
