Embark on a journey through the highs and lows of team development with Dr. Carrie Hepburn as she navigates the critical stages that can make or break collaborative success. From the initial excitement of the 'forming' phase to the inevitable emotional rollercoaster of 'storming,' Dr. Hepburn dissects the importance of leadership in establishing clear goals and nurturing trust. Witness how a leader's adept handling of conflicts can steer the team away from chaos and toward productivity, a lesson invaluable for new and experienced leaders.
Embark on a journey through the highs and lows of team development with Dr. Carrie Hepburn as she navigates the critical stages that can make or break collaborative success. From the initial excitement of the 'forming' phase to the inevitable emotional rollercoaster of 'storming,' Dr. Hepburn dissects the importance of leadership in establishing clear goals and nurturing trust. Witness how a leader's adept handling of conflicts can steer the team away from chaos and toward productivity, a lesson invaluable for new and experienced leaders.
Hello, hello, hello. Dr Keri Hepburn here from Compass PD. Today it's just going to be me. I'm really excited to join you on this spring-like day. In the Midwest, the sun's shining and the birds are singing like crazy. This week alone, we've navigated temperature swings of 50 degrees in a single day, like literally during the day it was 80 degrees and it was 30 by that night. I'm thinking we're going through some major mood swings with the weather right now. It's actually perfect because today I'm going to talk with you about forming teams.
Speaker 1:Forming teams can definitely have its ups and its downs Mostly ups, not as many downs but all of this is necessary in the work that we do as leaders. Today I'm going to share information regarding the stages of team development. I am using research that started back in the mid-1960s from Bruce Tuckman. He shares with us the five phases teams go through as they develop and grow together. I really think this information is valuable right now because some of you are forming curriculum writing teams and others are forming teams to execute goals, maybe determined by your strategic plan. Some of you may be seeing changes in your staff this year still, and next there's going to be things like new department teams, administrative teams and our PLC is our professional learning community teams. This is going to be a podcast that you can refer to again and again, if nothing else as a reminder that what you're seeing with your teams is normal and, as a leader, you need to be prepared to help the teams move through the less productive phase to a more productive phase. This is going to be the kind of episode that you're really going to want to take notes on and share with a colleague. Let's get started. So Bruce Tuckman formed the stages of team development. They are five phases, and that first phase of team development is the forming phase.
Speaker 1:In the forming phase, team members are usually full of excitement, like they appreciate being chosen to be included in the special learning or a new position, or being part of, just like this exclusive team. Most members have positive expectations, but they might be a little anxious about how they'll fit in and if they're going to be able to measure up. I want you to take just a minute to think about a time that you've been invited to be part of a team. Recently, my neighbor asked me to join our town council and I felt so honored, yet completely unprepared. You're going to notice in this forming phase, that your team members are going to have lots of questions. That's always the hardest part for me as a leader. I'm a big picture person and oftentimes the questions feel like they're what if this happens? Or like the details of things that I feel like we can address as needed when we arrive at them. Sometimes they feel like okay, that's probably not going to happen, like why is this bothering you so much? But what I've learned is that lots of questions reflect the members' excitement and their anxiety. I have to go slow and answer and take the time through these questions so that I can help them move through this some of these concerns quickly. So my job as a leader right now in this forming phase, is to create opportunities to define clear structures, goals, the direction and the roles of the team so the members can build trust with me and amongst one another. So you want to spend a lot of your energy defining the team in this, in this forming phase. You want to define the team by helping them know who are we and why is this work important. If you've done any work with me, you know that I'm a really big proponent of the NOSTER model, the second order change model. So a lot of this time when I'm forming a team, I talk about the why and the vision of the work.
Speaker 1:Now moving from the phase one, the forming phase, into the phase two, which is the storming phase. Not gonna lie, this phase is difficult, but it is necessary. It's oftentimes the phase that we detest because it's especially hard. It's important to keep in mind that this is a natural part of the progression and if you, as a leader, can help team members move through it and not stay stuck in the storming phase, the storming phase is exactly what it sounds like like a lot of emotions.
Speaker 1:During the storming phase, team members realize they can't live up to all of the early expectations and excitement. So you're going to notice a shift in the team focus on the task at hand to a focus on feelings of frustration and anger. Some team members may begin expressing their inability to reach the goal. I see this a lot on curriculum writing teams. They argue over like the simplest use of a word or how a standard looks or a type of lesson would look with their kids, like their kids could or couldn't do it, or how it just doesn't make sense. Sometimes what you're seeing is about being right, but a lot of times, what you're seeing in this is a lack of knowledge, and nobody wants to be the person who doesn't understand it or get it. There's a lot of learning that's happening in this phase, so, understandably, when we're uncomfortable, there's going to be a lot of emotion During this phase. People are gonna be less polite to one another, sometimes downright mean, so you're going to notice disagreements and frustrations about goals, expectations and the roles people play. The frustration will be directed oftentimes toward one another.
Speaker 1:So, first of all, as a leader, you have to address any unsafe situations. You cannot tolerate or handle when people are mean to each other. Now, I am a fan of doing things in private as much as possible, so and letting people then address the situation privately and then let them handle it as adults and professionals. Being the leader, it requires us to be vulnerable and model being vulnerable so our team can be vulnerable. Modeling during this phase. Being vulnerable like asking lots of questions because you don't know the answer or you don't understand. It is important Be quick to apologize when you mess up, so that people can see that you are going to mess up and you know they're going to mess up, but we're going to apologize when we overreact and move on and be sure not to engage in any negative conversations outside of the team. I think of and some people may or may not like this I think of like the mafia movies that they say what happens in the family stays in the family. I think, as a leader, it's really important for you to protect your team and try to keep these things within the team. Don't let it get out and be like talked about outside of that. We're going to take care of it in our team so that we can create that safe space. A couple of things that will be helpful for you when you're thinking about this storming phase is take a break.
Speaker 1:Once I had a curriculum writing team that was working on a curriculum writing project an entire year. Literally, they were working nights, they were working after school, they were working weekends, they were working all breaks. Honestly, the task was ginormous and it was completely unfair. So I would do silly things because they would just get so tired and so frustrated with the process that we would come back to this phase often. So one time I showed up one day. It was after school, so they had already done a long day of teaching and I showed up one day with happy lamp you know, like one of those lamps that you use in the wintertime, that like it's supposed to give you the sunlight so that you feel energized Almond, dark chocolate and like cold, energizing waters, like a whole cooler full of them. And I explained to them that, like I had done all this research on how to get re-energized and focused, and so based on this research that I had found, I had found a few things like a happy lamp, almonds, dark chocolate and energizing water could help motivate and energize and refocus us, I brought all those things for them to try to help get us revamped for the task at hand. Now, these weren't district approved or purchased with district funds. I appreciated it so much. We laughed about that for like six months.
Speaker 1:When times are tough and hard, call Carrie, because she'll bring the happy lamp, the almonds, the dark chocolate and the energizing water. So sometimes it's little things like that that can help reenergize, can be a little break that can get them, you know, focused again. Other times you have to think about breaking down that big goal into smaller steps, smaller tasks. So think about what you know about backwards design and developing a plan backwards with your team that way and, honestly, probably the most critical thing is that you might, during this storming phase, need to develop skills within your team. Some skills may be for doing the work, like increasing their knowledge and their ability on what is necessary in order to do the work at the high levels, but other skills could be on managing conflict. So you're not going to regret taking a breath and developing the skills of the not their knowledge skills and their conflict management skills, because that's going to be something that's going to be necessary to get you out of this phase and into and through other phases. So let's leave that storming phase, phase two, and move into that norming phase.
Speaker 1:Leaving, I know, the storming phase is always a welcome relief. You're going to know that you're in the norming phase when you notice the team is resolving their discrepancies on their own. When your team is in the norming phase, they set flexible and inclusive norms. They set expectations. You're going to notice that your team is more comfortable expressing their feelings with one another. I know when my team members want to push back on something I've said, they'll just flat out say it now. They'll say, carrie, I want to push back on you regarding what you just said, because, whatever their reason is, and as team members learn more and more about each other, they'll learn the language that's needed to ensure they're being heard and that the information is being taken the correct way, not incorrectly.
Speaker 1:In the norming phase, criticism becomes constructive and it's welcome. I know, as a leader, I always welcome feedback that makes something better. So this phase, the norming phase, is really critical. You're also going to notice in this phase your team is making a conscious effort to resolve their problems and achieve group harmony. There will be an increased willingness to share ideas and tasks and ask one another for help. Team members will focus on revisiting ground rules and practices or revising them as they need to. The team has kind of their own language and then they start doing private jokes and that develops a more cohesive family kind of feeling. The energy during this phase is shifted more towards production. It really is an exciting time for the team because they're seeing the purpose and the importance of the work and as they start to lead this phase three, this norming phase, they're going to move into phase four, which is the performing phase. And here's the deal. We really all want to be in the performing phase, right.
Speaker 1:Some teams navigate through the storming phase faster than others, but it takes a conscious effort on your part to help your teams move from the storming phase to the norming phase into this performing phase. I need you to know, though, that each phase is important because it teaches us something. In this performing phase, your team members start to feel the satisfaction in the group's progress. They are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and that of their team members. The team feels attached to one another as if their goals are for the greater good. There's a confidence in their abilities and of their team members' abilities. You will notice more of a can-do attitude. The team members jump in willingly and assist one another. Their roles become more fluid, based on their strengths and weaknesses, and the team just really appreciates each other and the gifts and talents that they bring to the organization as a whole. Your role is to celebrate what's happening and what you're seeing, continue developing your team as needed, but highlight the good and use those challenges that you come upon as opportunities to grow the team. It's really important for you to know that you still have to develop the team as changes come to the group, with people coming and going Sometimes changes of people coming and going can push a team to an earlier phase. Within this stages of team development, some will stay in the performing phase and then others might cycle back based on different situations, but you're able to push them through quicker because you know your team better. The final phase is phase five, which is the termination or ending phase.
Speaker 1:Some teams come to an end, not always, but many like our curriculum writing teams, our strategic goal teams, maybe PLC change teams, your leadership teams. There's all kinds of changes in teams. There's often times a sense of sadness or loss during this time because the team senses the change in the relationship coming. I know I worked in the curriculum department and when I worked there my colleagues were some of the smartest people I've ever known, like they literally lived, breathed curriculum, instruction, professional development and assessment. And we had the most amazing leader in Dr Chris Grainer he joins our podcast from time to time. When he put in his resignation because he got an assistant superintendent job at another district, our team literally cried.
Speaker 1:When you have a trust, a vision, a camaraderie and a strong belief in the work that you're doing, the ending, the loss, the termination of a team can be a time of loss, of grief, and that's exactly what my team was feeling. We knew what we had was special and likely. We would never have it again. Now there are other emotions that can happen when it comes to the ending of a team. There can be a satisfaction that the job will have done I've experienced that a lot with curriculum writing teams or trained the trainer, professional development models but know that you're going to go through like lots of different emotions of happiness and sad, missing those that you've grown so close to, and an excitement, though, at the idea of people seeing our work.
Speaker 1:During this time of ending and the termination phase of your team, what you will notice is productivity is going to drop. It's really hard to stay focused. So your job as a leader is really going to be to motivate the team so they're able to really complete the deliverables and provide a sense of closure to the work as a team, evaluate the process, think of the lessons that are learned and, after all that, take time to celebrate. I've had teams go out for dinner. We've celebrated other ways where I've brought in like fun party items, like horns and hats, and cupcakes and stickers to have like a little party. Most importantly, celebration of one another and the incredible work that your team has produced.
Speaker 1:A final reminder the five phases of team development are absolutely normal. As a leader, it's important for you to recognize which stage your team is and provide ways to help them navigate their feelings, their behaviors and the tasks at hand. So I want to kind of wrap this up because I know that was a lot. I do want to encourage you to look up Bruce Tuckman and his five stages of team development. There are so many resources out there that can be beneficial to you and I really hope that this is something that you will bookmark and share with a colleague. Take care and stay inspired. Compass PD community. A great day, peace.