What is a team?

To begin with, let’s explain the very concept of a team. A team is a group of people, committed to carrying out joint activities and achieving a common goal. All team members follow the rules they have adopted and feel an inner need to be in a team. What else characterizes a team? The team thinks in terms of “we” and not “I”.

Every team goes through certain phases of development, which we call the team life cycle. In each of these phases, there are certain activities that later determine the effectiveness of a given team.

How to recognize a good team?

A good team is distinguished by:

• Clearly defined goal that is known and understood by all team members.
• Specific roles in the team, their duties and responsibilities.
• An effective communication process.
• Balanced participation of individual team members in the implementation of tasks and equitable distribution of responsibilities.
• Rules and norms that all team members respect.
• A well-developed action plan leading to the achievement of the set goal.
• Diverse skills and knowledge of team members.

Team life cycle

As we have already mentioned, every team goes through a certain life cycle. The life cycle of a team consists of 5 phases. Each phase is distinguished by characteristic behaviors of team members and different levels of performance.

Team life cycle model

1. Forming

In the initial phase of the team’s life, members are just getting to know each other. In doing so, they are usually cautious, communicate in a formal way and are not prone to criticism. Druring the forming phase, team members feel insecure because they don’t quite know what lies ahead.

During this phase of the team’s life, the team’s structure is established (including the division of roles and responsibilities) and a leader is elected. Team members also learn what their common goal is. Later, integration takes place. Team members begin to get to know each other better and start building positive relationships.

The forming is characterized by low team performance.

2. Storming

At this stage, team members “get along”, the first misunderstandings and conflicts appear. Some differences in the personalities and expectations of team members begin to become visible. Sometimes there is an undermining of the authority of the leader. This is a normal phenomenon. A good leader should guide his team through this phase and teach team members respect and mutual acceptance.

Storming is characterized by very low team efficiency.

3. Norming

During the norming phase, the team begins to get along better. Team members are not afraid to express their own opinions, and they also show respect for other members’ differing views. They begin to think of the team as a whole, that is, in terms of “we.” Confidence in the group grows.

At this stage, members are motivated to achieve common goals and support each other. This is the best time in the team’s life cycle.

Cooperation between team members becomes normalized, everyone knows what to do. Rules and standards of work are formed.

The role of the leader at this stage is to support the team and provide individual coaching for those who experience a temporary decrease in motivation.

Norming is characterized by high team efficiency.

4. Performing

In this phase of the project’s life, the team is maximally focused on achieving the goal and completing the tasks. Team members are eager to exchange their experience and knowledge. The team is also capable of self-organization.

With a long team life cycle, individual team members may also experience fatigue and boredom. Therefore, the leader’s role in motivating and activating team members is very important at this stage.

The first successes also appear in this phase.

The activity is distinguished by the very high efficiency of the team.

5. Closing

In the closing phase, the team focuses on settling the last details and finalizing the last tasks. Simultaneously, there is sadness among team members over the ending collaboration and excitement over new challenges.