Is Your Team Forming, Storming, or Performing? Here’s Why Leaders Need to Know…

It’s a grim statistic. According to the Kotter Institute and others, only 30% of major change initiatives are successful and deliver the desired value.

Want to Be with the 70% that Fail – or the 30% that Succeed….?

Before we look at how your organization can change this, let’s review why 70% of change initiatives typically fail.

The two major reasons that result in low success rates for major change initiatives are:

  1. The change process doesn’t start early enough and isn’t well managed when it’s implemented
  2. The individuals who are impacted by the change are not effectively guided through their personal transitions to adopt and sustain the change

Many organizations focus on the first reason and totally ignore the second. Those who want to be counted in the successful 30% must become aware of how change impacts their people on various levels – first, as an individual – and, just as importantly, as part of a team/group and also as part of the whole organization. Then the organization must implement proven best practices to modify their culture, which will facilitate the adoption and sustainment of the change initiative.

Sounds easy, right? The good news is, it can be made easier by using the right management tools and there are many tools that leaders can use to help with organizational change management. Here is one…

The Five Stages of Tuckman’s Model of Team Development
Tuckman’s Model of Team Development is a key framework that enables leaders to steer their teams successfully through change by focusing attention on team dynamics so that the right leadership approach can be applied. For example, if your team is ‘storming,’  there is a different situational leadership approach that should be used when your team is ‘forming’ or ‘performing’:

  1. Forming: In the forming stage, the team is an immature group that is dependent upon the team leader. The team will likely have many questions about its primary purpose, what their role is, and how they will work together. The characteristics of this stage include confusion, uncertainty, assessing the situation, unclear roles, setting rules, and defining goals.
  2. Storming: Here, the team is a fractional group where the team leader will need to address personal conflict. Members will learn to voice their opinions and concerns and may test the assumptions already made about the team’s purpose and even the role of the team leader. The characteristics of this stage include competition, tension, clique formation, hostility, and differences of opinion.
  3. Norming: In this stage, the team is a sharing group that is becoming more cohesive. They may seesaw back and forth between storming and norming until common goals are agreed upon and greater collaboration is achieved. The characteristics of this stage are consensus, cooperation, trust being established, standards being set, and new stable roles.
  4. Performing:  At this level, the team has a sense of unity and effectively works with a high degree of autonomy. The team leader is not as involved, and the team has developed a capacity to change and continuously improve. The characteristics of this stage are a shared vision, flexible task roles, openness, helpfulness, and successful performance.
  5. Adjourning: In this final stage, the team’s purpose and work is complete, so it disbands – with members often experiencing an emotional response that can be compared to mourning. The characteristics of this stage are disengagement, sadness, a sense of loss, separation anxiety, and a positive feeling toward the leader. 1

What are the dynamics of your team? It is important for leaders who are going through major change to know!   

How to Become an Organization that Achieves Successful Change Initiatives
The Tuckman model is one of the many relevant academic theories, models, and concepts that leaders need to know about to guide individuals, groups, and their organization through the process of change. Pink Elephant’s two-day Organizational Change Management Essentials  provides participants with a fundamental understanding of numerous models. Participants will discover the core concepts and practices intrinsic to successful organizational change management, as well as how to overcome resistance and gain employee commitment. In addition, you will be given techniques proven to inspire and lead staff to embrace change and sustain it, so your organization can keep moving in the right direction.

Find Out More
Register today for our upcoming Organizational Change Management Essentials (OCE) certification course. You can also attend our webinar on Tuesday, August 24thUsing Pink’s 20/20 Model to Lead Successful Organizational Change – delivered by Senior IT Management Consultant Robin Hysick, a leading expert in organizational change management.

Stay in the Loop
Keep up to date on Organizational Change Management – as well as ITSM news, special offers, and educational articles/webinars – by simply signing up for our e-newsletter.

 

 

1Cameron, Esther and Mike Green. Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models, Tools, and Techniques of Organizational Change, 5th Edition. New York, NY: Kogan Page Limited, 2019, 78-83.

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