Module 3: Building Effective PLC Teams - Team Development
Stages in Team Development
PLC teams, like any other shared-responsibility gathering, go through stages of development. Taking the time to frequently assess where a team is in its quest towards effectiveness, and allowing the necessary focused discussion to ask why and to plan how, provides a context for its progression without risking “getting stuck” in one phase of what is a natural development.
Bass and Avolio (1994) identified five common stages that team members go through on their way to working together
effectively:
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PLC teams, like any other shared-responsibility gathering, go through stages of development. Taking the time to frequently assess where a team is in its quest towards effectiveness, and allowing the necessary focused discussion to ask why and to plan how, provides a context for its progression without risking “getting stuck” in one phase of what is a natural development.
Bass and Avolio (1994) identified five common stages that team members go through on their way to working together
effectively:
- Forming: The development of mutual acceptance during early meetings and activities. During this stage, team members are friendly and often will not disagree with each other’s ideas.
- Storming: The development of open, honest discussion of differences that can produce group conflicts. This stage is a
natural part of developing trust and open dialogue about issues. Caring and honest acceptance of differences will foster better planning.
- Norming:
The team starts to establish the norms for working together, being
productive, and cooperating. The
team is meshing together and becoming more cohesive and creative as open
and honest conflict gets resolved into productive working
relationships.
- Performing: The team has its goals, working roles, and norms; members can solve problems openly and honestly, plan new programs, and communicate with each other and the rest of the staff.
- Reforming: All teams eventually lose and then add members. In this stage, the team begins anew as old members move on and new members are added. The process of becoming a team starts again.
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