In what phase do you feel the team facilitator role is most critical?
Many development models mention a stage just after the introduction stage when conflict emerges due to individuals trying to find their place in the group. Levi writes, “early process conflict not only helps a team develop better work processes and strategies but it teachers the theme how to manage conflicts… which is why early process conflict is a predictor of later success for project teams.” (p. 48).
The stage that follows the initial introduction stage is crucial for facilitators to be aware of its importance in future performance. It’s the time when teams figure out their group identity and how they will all fit together. This stage is also when the team may feel the frustration in the slow progress towards its goals. If the group can successfully break down the goals into small chunks and develop a set of norms, they will be more successful in the future.

What developmental stage do you think poses the most significant challenge for teams?
The inception phase appears to be the most straightforward phase of a group, but it’s not. After introductions, it’s relatively easy to move into breaking up the goal into smaller tasks so that the group can move forward towards its destination. A great deal of work needs to be done during the inception phase to ensure that all group members understand the end goal and that they all have the same vision and understanding of what defines success. If the group does not spend time here, articulating the purpose and ensuring a shared vision, conflict cause confusion to appear later in the project. Taking the time to discuss the goals, how tasks will be accomplished, creating team norms, and the process will help fortify the team, align the definition of success, and build a solid foundation for the team to progress in unison towards their goal.

What can the team facilitator do to help teams overcome this challenge?
There are two areas where the facilitator can assist. The facilitator can guide the team in establishing their norms and work with them to ensure that they understand the project that brought them together in the first place. Do they agree on the end goal? Do they agree on what the end goal looks like? Do they know how each other’s strengths can move them in that direction? Do they have a group process for how the frequency and manner they meet or communicate? Levi (2017) writes that teams “should spend time developing a performance strategy or plan about how team members will work together… developing performance strategies that outline performance objectives and tactics help direct the team’s actions and create a shared mental model of how the team should operate” (p. 57). A facilitator who can help the team navigate its early stages and ensure a clear understanding of the problem will help support the team on its track to success.

Until three years ago, I’d never heard of the stages that a group goes through. I was at InBound (a marketing conference put on by HubSpot). I attended a breakout session led by a leader at Facebook.

At the beginning of the talk, he mentioned “storming, norming, conforming, and performing,” which I know now is a process coined by Tuckman in 1965. After explaining briefly what it meant, I turned to Google to learn more and spent the rest of his talk learning about the process.

A few years ago, I was on a new team. To help break the ice and my team conducted the Clifton Strengths survey and had a facilitator work with us to understand the results and how we can work on each other’s strengths. Our team was relatively new, in that we’d been working together for about six months. After the session, the facilitator asked us to split up into smaller groups to build a Marshmellow Tower. I’m pretty sure that we all walked out of there swearing that we would never attempt to build a tower with the people on our team or anything else.

Some great things came out of the session, for as stressful as it was. We had a debrief to discuss what we learned, how we could have used each other’s strengths better, and how we should begin working with each other. The experience forced us to have a conversation about the best way to work together. If it hadn’t been for the marshmallow tower experience, I’m not sure that we would have grown as cohesive as we are today.

As a facilitator, it is essential to know how to observe how a group is working together. Are they a new group getting to know each other, are they a group working together for a while, have new members joined an established group? A facilitator who can match her interactions and interventions to the group’s particular stage or cycle will contribute positively to the group process.

Reference

Levi, D. (2017). Group dynamics for teams. (5th ed.)  SAGE Publications.