Introduction
Forming a team to run a project takes time. Every team has to go through five stages of internal progress of team dynamics as they change from being strangers to becoming a united group with common objectives. These stages are: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
Discussion
The “forming” stage occurs when the team comes together for the first time. In this stage, members are introduced to one another as they share experiences, background information and interests. It is an opportunity for them to learn about the project and roles they are to play. An example is a project we undertook on training parents on how to educate their children about HIV and its prevention. It commenced with a training that was to last for a week. This stage was successful because of clear communication between team the leader and all team members. Apart from introductions and usual familiarity, the team leader gave us clear directions regarding the project and its goals (Eckes, 2002).
The team then moves to “storming” stage as they begin to work together. This is the most challenging stage because most members do not get out of it. It is characterized by serious competition among members; either for acceptance of ideas or for status. Everyone is struggling to be heard and strongly hold on their opinions on how things are to be done. Our project failed in this stage because the team members did not support each other. Competition was evident during presentation of individual roles and activities. Everyone wanted to sell his/her idea as the best. It would have been successful if there was team consensus.
When the team starts working efficiently it means they have moved into “norming” stage. Here, they no longer concentrate on their personal goals but rather focus on how they can work together to achieve project goals. At the end of the one week training, the team was to go out and mobilize parents to attend HIV/AIDs training sessions. We formed team rules of working together and how we could resolve conflict amongst us. We used questionnaires to determine eligible participants for the project. We succeeded in this stage because we maintained positive working relationships (Eckes, 2002).
A team is usually focused on achieving set objectives in the “performing” stage. Members become interdependent since they trust and rely on each other. For instance, in a project on rabbit rearing, we were motivated to reach our goals of selling not less than 50 rabbits per month. Every team member took his role seriously. These included feeding, cleaning and separating does from kits amongst others. This was a successful process because all members participated in the regular brainstorming sessions we had.
The final stage of team development is the “adjourning” stage. It is characterized by team celebrations in the event of success and capturing of future lessons in case of failure. Team members also get the opportunity to say goodbye and wish each other success in their future endeavors. In our parenting skills project, we failed to reach our goal of mobilizing 3000 participants during that month. The reason was that there were no clear roles and responsibilities on how to conduct mobilization. Nevertheless, the lesson learnt was to work with community leaders and health workers to sensitize parents on this project (DiTullio, 2010).
Conclusion
It is important to note that it is the role of the team leader to ensure the team successfully goes through the five stage of team development. He/she will work towards bringing them to the point of working as effectively as possible so as to meet the project goals.
References
DiTullio, L. A. (2010). Project team dynamics: Enhancing performance, improving results. Vienna, VA: Management Concepts.
Eckes, G. (2002). Six Sigma Team Dynamics: The Elusive Key to Project Success. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
