A team I coached had gone through a lot of change. Just like clockwork, the team returned to what the Tuckman model calls forming. Shortly after, I observed the team clearly in storming.
I was excited, as it meant they were learning to work together. Now I had to support the team as they moved through storming to norming.
Introduce significant change and a team will cycle through the model. As a leader, you want to create the conditions so the team can move through the cycle quickly.
To support the team, I like to pay attention to two factors: listening and sharing.
In Forming – they are neither listening nor sharing well. Get them to share more, and they will start storming.
In Storming – they are sharing more openly, but not doing a great job of listening to each other. Get them to listen more and they will move to Norming.
In Norming – they are doing a better job of listening, but sharing has not progressed. Get them to share more openly to move to Performing.
I know working with teams is never this simple. However, combine this with your other tools and see what happens.
You’ve got this.