In our last post on Parish Team Development we reviewed the 5 stages of team development. One stage, described as the norming stage, is re-presented below.
Norming Stage
IF a team gets through the difficulty of the previous stage, some degree of unity will happen in this stage. There is general agreement on leadership and individual roles. Once this occurs, there arises a sense of “team” as cohesiveness leads to progress. Performance of the team improves, and progress is made.
We will go into a bit more detail on forming norms for teams and the critical role the leader must play to ensure success of the team in this post. As mentioned above, this is a critical stage in the development of the team, but it also may be fraught with difficulty.
Although the team will ultimately establish acceptable norms, largely by the interaction of the individuals, the leader can greatly assist the process by serving as a role model to exemplify desired behavior. The leader can also assist others in this effort by publicly rewarding desired behavior and privately addressing unacceptable behavior. It is important though, that the leader does not mandate unrealistic or excessively demanding standards too early in the formation process. The team must collectively accept the leader’s guidance but adapt it in such a manner that is most acceptable and effective in the cohesiveness of team dynamics. An excellent resource in this area can be found at LumenLearning.com in an article on the 5 stages of team development.
In that article the following information is mentioned: “Team norms set a standard for behavior, attitude and performance that all team members are expected to follow”. They go on to indicate that norms are not written down but are implicitly understood by the team. Norm development also goes through a series of stages in their development. It may start with a focus by team members on attendance and general commitment to the team efforts or program. Over time, the focus switches to relationships and level of performance. Peer pressure serves as a means of enforcing compliance. The cohesiveness which is established at this stage serves to ensure that members are attracted to, and desire to remain on the team. They comply with norms because they value their membership, their ability to contribute and participate. They look forward to the anticipated success of the team’s efforts.
The leader must pay close attention to individual and team dynamics at this point. It is possible that the more reserved team members may acquiesce to the more assertive individuals. It is important that everyone be heard as the contributions and efforts of everyone, not just the most aggressive are heard. It is also important to assure that members are not excluded by the formation of cliques. The leader must continually remind the group why the team was formed and the value of each member.
These actions will ensure a strong cohesive team who will more easily transition into the performing stage of development who delivers good results.