Team Development

At Prospect Consulting, teams have become an important part of our consulting approach. Through ‘client-consultant’ teams we have created a combination of skills and knowledge that have allowed us to create unique and informed project approaches, interventions and outcomes beyond what we could have accomplished as individuals. 
 
Experience with such teams has taught us that not all project teams achieve a high level of teamwork.  We have learned that every team progresses through a series of developmental stages. These stages are defined within the “forming-storming-norming-performing” model of team development from Tuckman*. The key features of each stage are natural steps of progression as a team gels together into a single unit, able to tackle and solve problems efficiently, with the minimum amount of time and effort taken.
 
We also have learned that groups who are aware of these stages tend to have less confusion and difficulty in proceeding through them and tend to become high performing. Our extensive experience with teams has also taught us that the stages are not clearly divided steps that groups readily progress through.  They are more continuous, slowly blending into one another. Surprisingly teams do not necessarily go through the stages in sequence and may fluctuate between the stages throughout their life-span. However, teams who have a well defined task prior to their inception move through the initial stages more quickly, as the goal of the group has already been established and provides initial structure. 
 
Once teams reach optimal performance level they are able to effectively listen to each other, engage in dialogue, challenge their own assumptions and change their opinions. This is typically a highly productive period with the team achieving objectives and results, whilst ensuring that communication sessions are efficient and effective. This is what we call a high performing team.

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* Tuckman B (1965) Developmental Sequence in small groups” Psychological Bulletin, 63, 384-399