6 Summary

• Four main stages of development in a team or group have been identified. They are: forming, storming, norming and performing. A fifth possible stage is mourning.

• During 'forming' people join the team and find their place. When 'storming', they are trying to establish relationships; conflict may result. 'Norming' is the stage when team members are settling down and developing cohesiveness. As the name suggests, during 'performing' real progress is made. 'Mourning' occurs when the team is disbanded.

• Ideally, all task-related objectives will be SMART.

  • S pecific

  • M easurable

  • A chievable

  • R ealistic

  • T ime bound

• When plans are made to disband the team, it is a good idea to:

  • plan for the end as early as possible, as people like to have clear plans, and time to get used to the idea;

  • provide a formal opportunity for members to say what they have valued about each other as colleagues, and what they will miss - both on the personal level and the professional;

  • warn the team that they will feel sad;

  • hold a final dinner or lunch; a 'ritual' can help relieve feelings;

  • encourage team members to stay in touch as individuals.

• Personalities may be as important as skills, and thus team roles may be as significant as job-related roles.In the balanced team, every team has 'planners', 'doers', 'ideas people' and so on, in order that all the required roles are filled.

• The team roles