Stages of Team Development

Group Behaviors & Facilitative Moves

Stages of Team Development (Tuckman, 1965; Zuiebeck, 2012) is a framework for assessing team characteristics that can support facilitators to determine appropriate interventions to reach their teams’ shared goals.

Teams in the “I” stage need attention to group safety and stability. Teams in the “We” stage are ready to take more collective responsibility for their work together. The “Task” stage is where deeper work and collaboration takes place – this is where experimentation and designing transformative interventions can happen.

A continuum from Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing & Adjourning

In each stage, there are different ways that oppression and systemic barriers can negatively impact progress toward shared goals. Leaders and team facilitators can identify and use structures that intentionally mitigate those barriers within their own team in order to create inclusive experiences for all group members, and ultimately for the communities they serve.

The charts below detail both Group Behaviors and Facilitative Moves (both technical and relational) across the stages. In reviewing these, leaders can assess the ways in which power imbalances and exclusionary dynamics might be showing up within their group. In addition, it is important to attend to both technical and practical needs, as well as the relational and cultural dynamics of the group.

Group Behaviors

- Polite/watching others
- Hesitant participation
- Minimal trust, some suspicion
- Looking for sense of belonging
- Establishing individual identities
- Lack of clarity about group goals
- Complaints are common
- Tentative commitment to group mission
- People do not feel heard and a part of the decision making process
- Confusion about roles
- Resistant to structure
- Lack of decision making
- Lack of unity across difference
- Minimal collaboration across difference
- Frustration about individual vs. team responsibilities
- “One-upmanship”
- Vying for position and power
- Effective decision making
- Structures used to ensure balance of voices in decision making
- Visible collaboration across difference
- Shared commitment to group mission/goals
- Increased appreciation and trust across difference
- Group members begin to give and receive feedback productively
- Shared agreements on how the group will navigate conflict
- Shared understanding of roles and responsibilities
- Information readily shared
- Efficient and inclusive team operations and decision-making
- Pride in equity-focused accomplishments
- “We” vs. “I” orientation
- Team members give and receive feedback effectively to improve process and outcomes
- Team is learning and growth-focused
- High trust and openness across difference
- High appreciation and support across difference
- Shared sense of team identity and cohesiveness
- High confidence in the team

Facilitative Moves: Technical

- Use a structured process to develop and agree on community agreements
- Charter the team: clarify vision, purpose, short and long-term goals, procedural and meeting agreements, etc.
- Structure process for regular written feedback on meetings (anonymous at first)
- Adapt agendas and facilitation based on input from the group, communicating how and why changes are made
- Review/ revise community agreements
- Develop guidelines for giving and receiving feedback
- Agree on how to hold each other accountable for agreements/goals
- Decide on a process for resolving conflict among team members
- Initial attempts to use protocols to structure work
- Refine goals/strategies and theory of action for the year
- Begin to assess progress toward goals
- Review/ revise community agreements
- Request and encourage direct, productive feedback to each other
- Provide periodic team development opportunities (such as retreats, learning and social opportunities, team self-assessment of dynamics & needs)
- More consistent and productive use of protocols
- More rigorous analysis of progress and barriers to goals
- Engage the team to determine revisions to strategies to achieve goals
- Share leadership role (e.g. rotating facilitation)
- Encourage flexible roles
- Routine team development opportunities (such as retreats, learning and social opportunities, team self-assessment of dynamics & needs)
- Strategic and effective use of protocols
- Analyze successes

Facilitative Moves: Relational

- Meet 1:1 with members to build relationships
- Provide information and direction
- Build shared understanding about roles and responsibilities
- Help members get acquainted, share beliefs, perspectives and experiences across difference
- Build trust and safety across difference, offer structures to process emotions and experiences
- Be sensitive to member needs
- Encourage risk taking
- Actively engage and involve all members
- Work with the group to develop a shared purpose; ensure it is grounded in equitable outcomes for the community
- Begin to develop group goals in relation to historically underserved populations in the community
- Meet 1:1 with members to understand and address needs
- Provide necessary information, training, and resources based on needs
- Acknowledge conflict when it occurs; if there are patterns of power, name them to find ways to shift the dynamics
- Encourage differences of opinions, especially across difference
- Directly support conflict resolution among individuals as needed
- Acknowledge that different perspectives are helpful; celebrate different perspectives and use them to drive the work forward
- Acknowledge the emotional impact of conflict; structure productive emotional release
- Clarify / revise roles and responsibilities as needed
- Check-in with members 1:1 as needed
- Ensure effective information flow throughout the team
- Support others to facilitate conflict resolution
- Support others to facilitate meetings, use protocols, etc.
- Structure personal reflection on work and progress toward goals; attend to differing emotions and perspectives based on identities
- Encourage regular, open communication
- Encourage individual and team ownership of conflict resolution
- Acknowledge and celebrate shared leadership
- Encourage regular, reflection on the work (strategies, goals and team dynamics)