Building a high-performing team isn’t impossible. But nurturing a team that enjoys working together, navigates conflict in a healthy way, and offers constructive can be a sizeable challenge.
Before a team solidifies itself as a ‘dream team’, it’s likely to encounter roadblocks, challenges, and friction. This stage, referred to as the ‘Storming Stage of Team Development,’ acts as a stepping stone to a well-rounded team.
This blog discusses how team leads can manage conflict in the storming stage and the best practices they can follow to overcome it.
Let’s help your team emerge stronger from the ‘storm’. 💪 But before that, here’s a quick look at Tuckman’s group development model and its five stages of team development.
How to Effectively Manage Conflicts During the Storming Stage
Summarize this article for me pleaseUnderstanding Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development
Dr. Bruce Wayne Tuckman, a psychological researcher of group dynamics theory, published the Four Stages of Group Development Model for newly formed teams—Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing—in his article ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’ in 1965.
Later, in the 1970s, he added one more stage to the model—Adjourning.
Tuckman’s model explains team dynamics. It shows how groups develop and become more effective. Let’s briefly discuss the five stages of team development:
Stage #1: Forming
In the forming stage, group members start to get to know each other. They focus on the team’s mission, build a clear structure, and set goals.
Since this is the first stage, the team isn’t too productive as they figure out how to process tasks and who plays what roles. Usually, they rely on an emergent leader to set agendas for the first few group meetings.
If your team members take time to open up, you can use ClickUp’s Emotions Wheel Icebreaker Template to get them talking.
This template helps team members quickly introduce each other and get comfortable. It provides insights into one’s feelings and how they affect performance.
Using the Emotions Wheel Icebreaker Template by ClickUp, you can break down communication barriers, encourage team members to practice active listening, and create an environment of empathy and understanding.
Stage #2: Storming
The storming phase of team development is where things get a little ‘stormy.’ It involves team collaboration and conflicts.
At this stage, team members interact and voice their opinions on how the project should progress. They discuss their roles and responsibilities and act more as individuals than as a cohesive group. Hence, project conflicts are common in the storming phase.
Stage #3: Norming
Things start settling down at this team development stage, and team members gear up to work towards the end goal. They become more comfortable working as a group and seek each other’s input on tasks. In the norming stage, members make conscious efforts to resolve conflicts and focus on being more productive.
As a team leader, your goal is to help your team quickly cross over the storming stage and reach the norming stage to work harmoniously.
Stage #4: Performing
The performing stage is the phase where productivity is at its highest. The team works cohesively, following established processes, team norms, and workflows. As teams develop, at this stage, members feel attached, committed, and satisfied as they work together to achieve a common goal. They celebrate small wins and recognize each other’s potential.
Stage #5: Adjourning
The fifth stage of team development, also known as the mourning stage, is characterized by conclusion and separation. At this stage, the project’s over, and team members feel satisfied yet sad. They focus on the transition and future projects and often have a hard time adjusting to other groups. This stage also includes celebrating achievements and reflecting on areas for improvement.
While all teams go through the five team development stages, the team’s performance and future depend on making it through one critical stage—the storming stage. How you handle the storming stage decides whether or not your team achieves the end goal successfully.
So, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of the storming phase of group development.
Summarize this article for me pleaseChallenges in the Storming Stage
In the storming stage of team development, individual personalities (sometimes conflicting) show up. Team members disagree, and there’s confusion and a lack of trust, which makes the storming stage challenging.
Here are a few storming stage challenges:
Conflicts and disagreements
Margaret Heffernan, an entrepreneur and former CEO of five companies, talked about embracing conflicts in a TED talk. She highlights the benefits of conflicts.
Though conflicts are challenging, there’s no other way to lead than working through them (‘through‘ being the keyword here).
As each team member brings in a unique perspective, disagreements are bound to arise. Conflicts can also be due to overlapping roles in later stages of a project, personal belief systems, limited resources, cut-throat competition, structural changes, and more.
But as a team leader, you must intervene, listen to all the team members involved, and work out a solution.
There are different conflict management styles you can use to resolve conflicts. But before that, it’s important to determine the conflict stage correctly. Which one of these 5 stages—latent, perceived, felt, manifest, or aftermath—does your conflict fall into?
👉 Read More: Explore conflict stages in The 5 Stages of Organizational Conflict.
How to overcome this challenge?
To resolve conflicts, identify the problem first.
Try not to form judgments and instead gain a better perspective on the root of the issue. Then, implement appropriate communication and meditation strategies.
You can discuss the root cause and possible solutions with the involved parties using internal communication software like ClickUp.
ClickUp Chat lets teams work collaboratively and interact in real time. It allows you to share updates, and resolve issues, promoting team growth opportunities. You can also add anyone to the conversation with @mentions to seek advice on situations or to speed up progress on action items.
Role ambiguity
Role ambiguity occurs when team members don’t know what’s expected of them. They lack clarity about their responsibilities, which eventually leads to role conflicts.
According to research, role ambiguity impacts team performance negatively. It creates unnecessary tension within the team and confuses members regarding task completion.
How to overcome this challenge?
Setting clear team roles and expectations at the start is crucial. You must consider it the most fundamental step before engaging the team in work.
To overcome role ambiguity, define roles for each team member.
Use ClickUp Docs to create a detailed team charter. Define your team goals, objectives, and responsibilities and help everyone stay on the same page. You can also tag specific team members and add their profiles to avoid confusion.
Plus, you can set communication channels and establish clear rules of engagement to immediately address role conflicts, if any.
Low team morale
Low team morale is common in the storming stage of team development due to conflicts, disagreements, and frustrations. As team members get caught up in clashes of opinions and interpersonal conflicts, their productivity and morale decrease.
In fact, Zipdo’s Education Report 2024 suggests that workplace conflicts can result in a 30% decrease in employee morale and a 50% drop in employee performance.
How to overcome this challenge?
To manage low team morale in the storming stage, communicate consistently and transparently with team members.
Here are some tips to manage low team morale:
- Listen to team members and their issues attentively
- Pay attention to any warning signs like burnout or fatigue
- Offer a safe and confidential space for employees to share their concerns
- If helpful, organize an informal team-building activity
- Recognize good ideas and appreciate members’ efforts.
Further, you can use the ClickUp Project Management tool to foster real-time collaboration and transparency.
For instance, ClickUp Docs and Chat can help you collaborate and discuss tasks. You can use ClickUp Dashboards to keep a check on the project timeline and get insights into your team’s progress.
Now that you’re aware of the challenges of the storming stage, let’s discuss a few best practices you can implement to tackle the dysfunctions of a team.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest Practices to Strengthen Team Dynamics During the Storming Stage
While every musical instrument in an orchestra has its distinct sound and purpose, only when they work together in harmony do we get a masterpiece like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. 🎵
Likewise, every team member has their personalities and perspectives, but it is by coming together that they can achieve a successful outcome.
So, it’s on you, as a manager or leader, to implement these best practices to strengthen your team’s dynamics during the storming stage of team development.
Facilitate constructive feedback
Constructive feedback is positive, and it highlights areas for improvement among your team members in a healthy and objective way. It means you appreciate their strengths and nudge them to improve on their weaknesses.
Here’s an example:
Hey Alex, I love that you handle multiple tasks independently. And I’ve also noticed that you hesitate to communicate actively with your team. I think the team will greatly benefit if you frequently share your insights and experiences.
A constant loop of constructive feedback points out what one needs to work on, but with respect and empathy. Plus, when the feedback is respectful, specific, and actionable, it helps an employee grow in the long term.
Implement conflict resolution strategies
Implementing conflict resolution strategies is critical in the storming stage of group development. They help find a middle ground to resolve the conflict between involved parties.
Here are a few conflict resolution strategies you can implement:
- Collaborating strategy: Leverage it to work out a mutually beneficial solution to the conflict. This strategy works best during a negotiation
- Smoothing strategy: Use this strategy when one member has a stronger opinion than the other. It involves finding areas of agreement and mutual benefit where both parties align while subtly acknowledging both opinions.
- Avoiding strategy: This strategy involves avoiding confrontation to not engage in a conflict. Use this strategy when you think a conflict might simply escalate stress without resulting in a beneficial solution
Reinforce team objectives
Reinforcing team objectives helps you re-establish solid ground and guide your team back on track.
While it’s easy to get bogged down during the storming stage, reinforcing the team’s goals, team’s purpose, and objectives helps your team members regain focus on the big picture. Communication is the key to reinforcing team objectives. It resolves conflicts and helps team members think about the end goal.
You can create a communication plan using ClickUp’s Communications Plan Whiteboard Template.
This template ensures that you convey the right message to the right people. The ClickUp Communications Plan Template has fields like stakeholder, objectives, message content, delivery method, etc., to help you set and clarify communication rules.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWin over the Storming Stage with ClickUp
Strong team leaders build high-performing teams. So, if you’re prepared to handle the storming stage challenges, your team will easily navigate the ‘storm’ with you as their guiding beacon.
By being aware of potential issues, developing leadership skills, and implementing best practices, you can help your team members perform their best across all stages of team development. ClickUp can help smoothen your team’s journey.
ClickUp is an all-in-one communication and collaboration tool that brings everything under one roof—team members, timelines, and resources. It can help you communicate easily, define roles, chat in real time, and track your team’s progress.
Want to try ClickUp to build stronger future teams? Sign up for free today!
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