Stages of Team Development

A scout leader needs to understand how a team develops so he can effectively direct them and modify his leadership style to guide them.

Typically, a new group gathering to perform a task will evolve from being enthusiastic with a low skill level to being confident with a high skill level. But, as a team evolves, the leader has challenges to lead them through the evolution.

There are four stages of team development that usually occur:

• Forming - Team members are excited to be on the team and enthusiastic about being part of the group. They may have very little idea about what they've gotten into and no skills to perform the required tasks. There tends to be lots of indepent initiatives that don't all work toward the team goal. The leadership style most useful here is Explaining.
• Storming - Team members realize that there is work required of the team and and they need to develop their skills to reach their goals. General enthusiasm drops because skills are not adequate. Conflicting ideas and assumptions need to be addressed to focus the team on a common goal. The leadership style to use now is Demonstrating.
• Norming - The skill level of the members begins to rise through practice and they gain confidence. Their enthusiasm rises as their skills grow. Members reach a common direction and have developed their place in the team. Team trust develops. Use of Guiding works here.
• Performing - With developed skills, the team is capable and getting the job done. They have high enthusiasm again because they know they can do it. The team is interdependent but each member is competent and autonomous. The leader just needs to use Enabling leadership now.

Even teams that reach the Performing stage will revert to earlier stages in reaction to changing circumstances. A new leader may cause Storming or a new project may drop us back to Forming.

In Scouts, these stages of development should be expected after every troop election and whenever a group of scouts is tasked with a project. By including this in your troop leader training and reviewing it when a new team is made, it will help the team progress through the stages quicker and smoother.

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