Forming Collaborative Teams

Tuckman’s 4 stages of team development are essential to creating an effective professional learning community.  The stages are:

1.       Forming – During this first stage of team development, individuals come together and ask essential questions about the team’s purpose and goals :  why are we here, their role in the group: ( member, facilitator, recorder, timekeeper, etc.), how they can contribute to the group (establish agreements), and their level of commitment to the work of the team.

2.      Storming – During this stage members have some sense of understanding about purpose, role, commitment and contribution and conflicts arise about member influence, processes, and beliefs  that make members uncomfortable(they have to work through disagreements in order to get to the next stage)

3.      Norming – During this stage members revisit, refine, extend agreements that were made in the beginning and start to work as a team with a shared vision, goal, commitment and value team work as opposed to working individually

4.      Performing – During this stage, the team is highly productive, there is synergy among members, members recognize benefits of working collaboratively

Garmston and Wellman discuss behaviors or capabilities that each group member should possess.

The 4 group member capabilities are as follows:

1.       To know one’s intentions and choose congruent behaviors

2.      To set aside unproductive patterns of listening, responding, and inquiring

3.      To know when to self-assert and when to integrate

4.      To know and support the group’s purposes, topics, processes, and development

      On the journey to becoming a team, there are certain stages of development that must be mastered.  Ginny Lee, in her article about moving from groups to teams, discusses the first two stages of team development created by Drexler, Sibbet, and Forrester.  They developed 7 stages of team performance model that describes this process. 

The following are the first two stages:

1.       Orientation – explain the purpose of the team and why each member was selected

2.      Trust building – share hopes and concerns about building this team

     My recommendations for strengthening my collaborative school-based team and for promoting professional collaboration at the school are simple.  We need to embrace not only a culture of achievement but a culture of collaboration, as well.  Our focus must be to improve student achievement.  Clear agreements must be in place and all members must adhere to them.  In addition, each member must perform their role in the group.  Finally, we must commit to having real discussions and dialogue about what works, what doesn’t and making necessary changes.

What do you think?  Please share your thoughts and feedback.