Tuckman's stages

of group
development

The formingstorming
normingperforming model of
group development was rst
proposed by Bruce Tuckman in
1965,[1] who said that these
phases are all necessary and
inevitable in order for the team
to grow, face up to challenges,
tackle problems, nd solutions,
plan work, and deliver results.

Group Development

Forming

The team meets and learns

about the opportunities and
challenges, and then agrees on
goals and begins to tackle the
tasks. Team members tend to
behave quite independently.
They may be motivated but are
usually relatively uninformed of
the issues and objectives of
the team. Team members are
usually on their best behavior
but very focused on
themselves. Mature team
members begin to model
appropriate behavior even at
this early phase. The meeting
environment also plays an
important role to model the
initial behaviors of each
individual. The major task
functions also concern
orientation. Members attempt
to become oriented to the
tasks as well as to one another.
Discussion centers around
dening the scope of the task,
how to approach it, and similar
concerns. To grow from this
stage to the next, each
member must relinquish the
comfort of non-threatening
topics and risk the possibility
of conict.

Storming

In this stage "...participants

form opinions about the
character and integrity of the
other participants and feel
compelled to voice these
opinions if they nd someone
shirking responsibility or
attempting to dominate.
Sometimes participants
question the actions or
decision of the leader as the
expedition grows harder...".[2]
Disagreements and personality
clashes must be resolved
before the team can progress
out of this stage, and so some
teams may never emerge from
"storming"[3] or re-enter that
phase if new challenges or
disputes arise.[4] In Tuckman's
1965 paper, only 50% of the
studies identied a stage of
intragroup conict, and some
of the remaining studies
jumped directly from stage 1
to stage 3.[5] Some groups
may avoid the phase
altogether, but for those who
don't, the duration, intensity
and destructiveness of the
"storms" can be varied.
Tolerance of each team
member and their dierences
should be emphasized; without
tolerance and patience the
team will fail. This phase can
become destructive to the
team and will lower motivation
if allowed to get out of control.
Some teams will never develop
past this stage; however,
disagreements within the team
can make members stronger,
more versatile, and able to
work more eectively as a
team. Supervisors of the team
during this phase may be more
accessible, but tend to remain
directive in their guidance of
decision-making and
professional behaviour. The
team members will therefore
resolve their dierences and
members will be able to
participate with one another
more comfortably. The ideal is
that they will not feel that they
are being judged, and will
therefore share their opinions
and views. Normally tension,
struggle and sometimes
arguments occur. This stage
can also be upsetting.

Norming

"Resolved disagreements and

personality clashes result in
greater intimacy, and a spirit of
co-operation emerges." [2] This
happens when the team is
aware of competition and they
share a common goal. In this
stage, all team members take
the responsibility and have the
ambition to work for the
success of the team's goals.
They start tolerating the whims
and fancies of the other team
members. They accept others
as they are and make an eort
to move on. The danger here is
that members may be so
focused on preventing conict
that they are reluctant to share
controversial ideas.

Performing

"With group norms and roles

established, group members
focus on achieving common
goals, often reaching an
unexpectedly high level of
success."[6] By this time, they
are motivated and
knowledgeable. The team
members are now competent,
autonomous and able to
handle the decision-making
process without supervision.
Dissent is expected and
allowed as long as it is
channelled through means
acceptable to the team.

Supervisors of the team during

this phase are almost always
participating. The team will
make most of the necessary
decisions. Even the most high-
performing teams will revert to
earlier stages in certain
circumstances. Many long-
standing teams go through
these cycles many times as
they react to changing
circumstances. For example, a
change in leadership may
cause the team to revert to
storming as the new people
challenge the existing norms
and dynamics of the team.

Further developments
Adjourning,
transforming and
mourning

In 1977, Tuckman, jointly with

Mary Ann Jensen, added a fth
stage to the four stages:
adjourning,[7] that involves
completing the task and
breaking up the team (in some
texts referred to as Mourning).

Norming and re-

norming

Timothy Biggs suggested that

an additional stage be added
of Norming after Forming and
renaming the traditional
Norming stage Re-Norming.
This addition is designed to
reect that there is a period
after Forming where the
performance of a team
gradually improves and the
interference of a leader
content with that level of
performance will prevent a
team progressing through the
Storming stage to true
performance. This puts the
emphasis back on the team
and leader as the Storming
stage must be actively
engaged in order to succeed
too many 'diplomats' or
'peacemakers,' especially in a
leadership role, may prevent
the team from reaching their
full potential.

Rickards and Moger proposed

a similar extension to the
Tuckman model when a group
breaks out of its norms
through a process of creative
problem-solving.[8][9]

John Fairhurst TPR

model

Alasdair A. K. White together

with his colleague, John
Fairhurst, examined Tuckman's
development sequence when
developing the White-Fairhurst
TPR Model. They simplify the
sequence and group the
Forming-Storming-Norming
stages together as the
Transforming phase, which
they equate with the initial
performance level. This is then
followed by a Performing phase
that leads to a new
performance level which they
call the Reforming phase. Their
work was developed further by
White in his essay "From
Comfort Zone to Performance
Management"[10] in which he
demonstrates the linkage
between Tuckman's work with
that of Colin Carnall's "coping
cycle" and the Comfort Zone
Theory.

Leadership
strategies to
facilitate successful
team development

A healthcare research study

"Maximizing Team
Performance: The Critical Role
of the Nurse Leader"[11]
examined the role of nursing
leaders in facilitating the
development of high
performing Change teams
using the Tuckman Model of
Group Development as a
guiding framework. Using
qualitative research
techniques, these authors
linked the team development
stages to leadership strategies,
as well as identied keys to
leader success. Below are
some examples from the
article:
 Leadership
Team Development Stage Keys to success
Strategies

- Purposefully picking
the team

- Facilitate team to
Forming (Setting the Coordinating identify goals
stage)[11] Behaviors
- Ensure the team
development of a
shared mental model

- Act as a resource
person to the team

Storming (Resolving conict Coaching - Develop mutual trust

and tension)[11] Behaviors
- Calm the work
environment

- Get feedback from

sta

- Allow for the

Norming & Performing
Empowering transfer of leadership
(Successfully implementing
Behaviors
and sustaining projects)[11] - Set aside time for
planning and
engaging the team

- Allow for exibility in

team roles

- Assist in the timing

Outperforming & Adjourning
and selection of new
(Expanding initiative and Supporting
member
integrating new Behaviors
members)[11] - Create future
leadership
opportunities
See also
Group development
Group dynamics
High-performance teams

References
1. Tuckman, Bruce W (1965).
"Developmental sequence in
small groups". Psychological
Bulletin. 63 (6): 384399.
PMID 14314073 .
doi:10.1037/h0022100 .
2. Leadership the Outward
Bound Way: Becoming a Better
Leader in the Workplace By
Outward Bound USA, Rob
Chateld
ISBN 9781594850332
3. http://study.com/academy
/lesson/stages-of-group-
development-forming-
storming-forming-performing-
adjourning.html
4.
https://www.mindtools.com
/pages/article
/newLDR_86.htm
5. Tuckman, Bruce (Spring
2001). "Developmental
Sequence in Small Groups' "
(PDF). Group Facilitation: A
Research and Applications
Journal: 7172. Retrieved 2
December 2015.
6. Leadership the Outw Bound
Way: Becoming a Better Leader
in the Workplace By Outward
Bound USA, Rob Chateld
ISBN 9781594850332
7. The Five Stages of Project
Team Development , Gina
Abudi Retrieved May 18th
2010
8. Rickards, T., & Moger, S.T.,
(1999) Handbook for creative
team leaders, Aldershot, Hants:
Gower
9. Rickards, T., & Moger, S.,
(2000) Creative leadership
processes in project team
development: An alternative to
Tuckmans stage model, British
Journal of Management, Part 4,
pp273-283
10. White A, From Comfort
Zone to Performance
Management, 2009, White &
MacLean Publishing
11. Manges, Kirstin; Scott-
Cawiezell, Jill; Ward, Marcia M.
(2017-01-01). "Maximizing
Team Performance: The
Critical Role of the Nurse
Leader" . Nursing Forum. 52
(1): 2129. ISSN 1744-6198 .
doi:10.1111/nuf.12161 .

Further reading
Tuckman, Bruce (1965).
"Developmental sequence in
small groups" . Psychological
Bulletin. 63 (6): 38499.
PMID 14314073 .
doi:10.1037/h0022100 .
Retrieved 2008-11-10.
Reprinted with permission in
Group Facilitation, Spring
2001
White, Alasdair A. K. "From
Comfort Zone to Performance
Management" 2009 White &
MacLean Publishing
ISBN 978-2-930583-01-3 [1]
Blanchard, Ken and Parisi-
Carew, Eunice, The One Minute
Manager Builds High
Performing Teams, William
Morrow, 2009.'
Manges, K., ScottCawiezell,
J., & Ward, M. M. (2016, May).
Maximizing Team Performance:
The Critical Role of the Nurse
Leader. In Nursing forum.

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