Tuckman model: how to improve team cohesion?
As a manager or project manager, it's not always easy to start a new project with a new team. Indeed, the individuals on this newly formed team do not know each other and have never worked together. It can therefore be difficult to succeed in creating the perfect synergy between members that will produce incredible results right from the start.
Team cohesion does not appear magically, and you will have to make sure that these perfect strangers, however competent they may be, quickly become collaborators to achieve your goals on time. To do this, you must understand and identify the different phases of the evolution of a team and support them by opting for an adapted management style. That's what the Tuckman model offers.
What is the Tuckman model developed by Bruce Tuckman?
Developed in 1965 by Bruce Tuckman, an American psycho-sociologist specializing in group dynamics, the Tuckman model is a method for building team cohesion in five steps (four at the beginning, the fifth having been added in 1977).
- Forming
- Tensions (storming)
- Normalization (norming)
- The performance (performing)
- Separation (adjourning)
These steps start when the team meets for the first time and end at the end of the project with the breakup of the group. According to Tuckman, these five phases are necessary and unavoidable in order for the team to grow, to face challenges, to tackle various problems, to find solutions to problem situations, to plan the tasks to be carried out, and to produce results.
The Tuckman model helps to understand how groups develop. It makes it possible to train people to work as a team and to push the team thus formed to realize its full potential.
How does it work? What are the 5 steps of the Tuckman model?
Here's how each phase works in detail.
1. Team formation (forming)
During this first stage, the manager has just put together his team. The members don't know each other, they're discovering each other and getting to know each other. They may be nervous, curious, eager, or excited to work on a new project with new people. Exchanges are courteous and pleasant, and relationships are beginning to develop. We discover each other's personality and emotional connections appear.
During this phase, the following topics are covered:
- the skills, experience, and interests of each individual;
- the objectives of the project;
- the project schedule;
- the basic rules;
- the roles and responsibilities of each.
Your role as a manager is to coordinate and guide your new collaborators towards a common goal. You must promote exchanges, develop team cohesion and create links between employees. You also need to build trust and ensure that everyone understands the goals of the project and who is doing what.
Bonus: follow these 6 tips to motivate your team.
This stage focuses more on people than on the work at hand. So your team won't be very productive.
2. Tensions (storming)
At this stage, the situation is deteriorating because employees have discovered each other's personalities and ways of working, and they are not always compatible. The enthusiasm, the good atmosphere and the politeness of the beginning have faded away. Tensions, even conflicts, appear as a result of disagreements, conflicts of ideas, incompatibilities of personalities or situations of power struggles.
As a manager, remind your team that conflict is normal. It is better to confront the problem quickly than to ignore it, at the risk of it exploding later.
During this delicate phase, you take on the role of facilitator and mediator. You need to manage tensions, avoid or reframe slip-ups, and have the team identify problems and resolve them. Encourage constructive communication and re-motivate the team to quickly get out of this risky and counterproductive phase.
3. Normalization (norming)
Now, employees have got their bearings and are used to working together. Everyone appreciates the strengths of the other. Tensions ease and harmony is created. Employees have learned to trust each other and a real team dynamic is developing. The group's operating rules and values are accepted by the whole team. The team enters into a more productive and efficient process.
During this stage, the main role of the manager is to continue to unite and engage his team to ensure a high level of productivity. To do this, encourage the autonomy, self-organization and accountability of employees, keep your team motivated by recognizing the work and progress made, and ensure that a good level of communication is maintained.
4. The performance (performing)
Your goal is achieved: the team is united and works very well. Confident, motivated and efficient, the employees are all on the same page and work to achieve the objectives of the project. The group is autonomous, proactive and manages to confront ideas and solve problems without any supervision.
Now, the manager must ensure that the dynamics and motivation of the group are maintained. He keeps an eye on the progress of the goals and the project, and he congratulates every success of the team.
5. Separation (adjourning) or mourning (mourning)
Many teams are only created to carry out temporary projects or missions. Once the project is completed, the team is disbanded and the collaborators are sent on other missions. If the team is very close-knit, there is a risk that this stage will be difficult to live through and cause some members to feel sad.
As a manager, you must support and accompany your employees in the face of this change, in particular by offering opportunities for development. Finally, celebrate the success/end of the project by organizing an event with the entire team.
Bonus: learn how to deal with resistance to change.
To conclude: What are the advantages for a manager to control the development stages of a team?
A good understanding of the Tuckman model allows you to increase your chances of creating a successful team and thus achieving the goals of your project.
Finally, know that the Tuckman model isn't just for new teams. It can also be applied when a team is faced with a change of context, the departure of one of its members or the arrival of a new collaborator.
