Developmental Stages of Teams

Teams develop in stages. It is good for business groups to be aware of these stages because they normalize the experience of growing and developing into a high performance team. The stages are as follows:


Stage A - This is the birth of the group and there is typically some excitement and anticipation about the potential and possibility of the group.

Stage B - This is when reality sets in about how group life can be demanding and hard work. It is no longer fun and there is finger pointing between employees. Mutual accountability by most is seen as an empty concept and team members look at who to blame. This is where most teams die and where there is the need for the most support and focus. Commitment needs to be generated to work through the issues. This is also where the employees “love of the game” is needed and counted. For most groups, Stage B is where the real work counts and is necessary.

Stage C - “Getting behind the game stage” This is when everyone begins to align behind the group’s performance and what needs to happen in order to allow the group to succeed. Real group performance results are for the first time seen.

Stage D – This is the high performance stage, where the team is really using its group structure to produce some remarkable results.

I hope the above insights are valuable to you and your workgroups. They have been valuable to me as I seek to establish high performance teams with my clients. I invite you to share your experiences in building high performance teams.