All teams go through 4 identifiable stages of development
Forming - team members are polite to each other but little is achieved
Storming - members start to argue
Norming - members accept each others differences
Performing - members trust each other
Notes:
We are, by nature, polite: This is a bar to honest appraisal. It is very difficult to go to somebody you don’t know very well and tell them exactly what you think. The same is true in a newly formed teams where criticism, contradiction and difficult questioning are at first avoided. As people get to know each other better, they are not so concerned about maintaining the polite front and arguments ensue. These can be so bad that the team breaks up without having achieved anything. Providing members are prepared for these difficulties, there is calm after the storm as opposing sides of the argument are accepted and worked on. Occasionally teams advance there development to the Performing stage where they know each other well and trust them to work for the benefit of the team.
