Raving Fan Customers: Creating Customer Focused Teams

Developmental Stage Movement

In time, Stage 1 teams arrive at Stage 2. Stage 2 teams will either get stuck in Stage 2 or move on to Stage 3. Stage 3 teams can slip back into Stage 2 or move on to Stage 4. Progress or slippage depends on whether the team builds on its momentum or rests on its laurels. In Stage 4, the team can move on through consistent improvement or slip back by becoming arrogant and overconfident. Keep in mind that none of these stages are good or bad. They are necessary stepping-stones in the process that leads to high performance.

In the process of development, teams most often get stuck in Stage 2. In order to move to Stage 3, the team must hammer out the performance standards and commitment to achieving them. Also, team goals must become more important than personal agendas, which need to be congruent and in alignment with the group agenda.

 In Stage 3, the group starts to take on a life of its own and begins to aggressively move in the direction of its performance standards.

Stage 4 is where teams come into their own and truly create customer loyalty. If the team becomes relentless in providing superior products and anticipating the changing needs of the customer, it becomes possible to become indispensable to your customers. Equally important to customer focus is internal responsiveness for employees and shareholders who directly benefit from high performance with increased earnings. This is the win/win/win stage of development.

Stage 5 is a bit tricky because it can occur at any phase of development and can be triggered by any change that significantly alters the team. Examples include gaining or losing a member, altering the performance standards or receiving a new coach. Similarly, a major change in the internal or external environment will impact the team’s progress. Examples of this type of change include new products or services, new customers or a change in rules and regulations.
For more information about moving through team stages click here.

Raving Fan Customers: Creating Customer Focused Teams

A Normal Process for Team Development

Like people, teams go through different phases during their development. This is normal. A two-year old human is very different than a 16-year-old. Likewise, a team that has been together two months behaves very differently than a team that has been together 16 months.

There are five stages of development for customers focused teams, each with its own distinct characteristics:

Stage 1 - Getting to Know You

• Feeling that this customer service stuff could be fun combined with some anxiety about how to do it
• A degree of excitement about the concept of team
• Figuring out who is in charge
• Clarifying the rules and developing standards
• Dependence is on the coach/leader
• Coach/leader uses a directive approach

Stage 2 - Wish We Weren’t Here

• Feeling that this is not fun
• Leadership and/or members are all screwed up
• Feeling that “something is definitely wrong here”
• Feeling uncertain and incapable
• Performance standards not being met and a lot of finger pointing
• Little agreement among team members regarding standards
• Customer focus is rhetoric only
• A lot of internal strife and no sense of mutual accountability
• Task driven but a lot of individual agendas
• Performance standards are not agreed upon

Stage 3 - Getting Behind the Game

• Performance standards hammered out
• Increasing ownership of those standards
• Decreasing hostility as the team begins working out personal differences
• Focus on customers
• Starting to like and feel comfortable with mutual accountability
• Positive feedback from customers starting to come in
• More honesty among team members
• Failing forward -- learning and improving from trial and error, with rapid recovery from mistakes
• Enthusiasm and energy levels increasing
• Support for each other evident
• Small wins bring large smiles

Stage 4 - High Performance and Raving Fan Service

• Customers are consistently overwhelmed by the service and product
• Team standards are met and moved outwardly by the team
• Members feeling good about consistency
• Shared leadership
• Open and honest communication
• Meetings are full of straight talk
• Results are recognized by customers as high performance
• Members feel deep concern for each other’s personal growth and success
• The team outperforms all reasonable expectations
• Team members are having a lot of fun

Stage 5 - The Times They Are A-Changing

• A major change occurs, such as members joining or leaving, a new coach, new performance standards, etc.
• Confusion
• Uncertainty regarding the implications of change

 For more information about Team Stages click here.

The Fifth Rule About Teams

5. Teams develop in stages. It is good for participants 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 employee’s 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 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.

For help transitioning to Stage D, click here.