Understand team dynamics

- The people who work on your project, may be working with each other for the first time. You know how it goes when people are getting to know one another. Work progresses in fits and starts while folks learn how to work together. To get high quality results and more productivity from your people, you have to help them develop into a finely-tuned machine. Like individuals, teams grow up through several stages, before they're truly productive.

Bruce Tuckman's Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing, Is one model that describes the typical phases that teams go through. The first team stage is called, Forming, because the individuals are just starting to form into a team. They aren't sure of their goal as a team and they don't know who does what. During the Forming stage you have to clearly define the team's goals and give them direction.

Like other youngsters, teams in the Forming stage tend to resist and challenge authority. So be prepared to answer their questions and earn their respect. The second stage is called Storming, because things with teams usually get worse before they get better. As team members start to work out their relationships with each other, power struggles often occur. Storming teams have difficulty making decisions, because of the disagreements.

The good news though, is that those disagreements lead to communication, which helps members grow as a team. When a team is Storming, you have to help the team members stay focused on their goals and help them make decisions. After the storm is over, you finally have a team. Teams don't always reach the Performing stage, but if they do, it's pretty impressive. They know what they're supposed to accomplish, who's supposed to do what, and they often get things done very quickly.

All without any help from you. You only have to step in if the team asks. Helping your people develop as a team, will help your project run smoothly and deliver quality results.