A team can be compared to a puzzle made up of many small pieces. The aim is to put all the pieces together in the end so that they form a whole. But every beginning is difficult. It starts with the pieces being scattered all over the table and it takes time to get them all in the right position. You can keep this image in mind when thinking about the optimal composition of a team. It takes time and a good strategy to turn many individual parts into a powerful team that performs harmoniously and effectively to its full potential.
In the 21st century, teams often work together on an interdisciplinary and intercultural basis. Suddenly, people from different specialist areas and cultures come together to work towards a common goal. The colorful mix of qualifications, experience and personal interests is a major challenge. In order to master these challenges effectively, it is important to know where a team currently stands and how it can actively shape the individual phases.
The team clock clearly describes the phases a team goes through before it has grown together and can develop its full potential. Bruce Tuckman observed in 1965 that every team currently goes through four phases.
In this phase, the team comes together again or its original composition is fundamentally changed. The background to this is often a change of management in the company or the hiring or firing of employees. The team is in an orientation phase that is often characterized by strong uncertainties. The individual team members are often distant and reserved towards each other. The focus is not on professional performance, but on getting to know each other.
After cautiously getting to know each other, the team members focus on their work. Individual interests become more apparent and disagreements and conflicts arise. Sometimes small groups form within the team and subliminal tensions arise. It is often only now that the team becomes aware of the complexity of its task, motivation fades and a focus on the problem arises. Conflicts are not resolved objectively, but are carried out on a personal level.
After the first storm, the aim now is to establish rules and manners within the team in order to avoid these conflicts in the future. There is an open discussion about how constructive cooperation can be achieved. Roles and tasks are sensibly distributed within the team with the aim of creating a solution-oriented way of working. This is usually the time when a sense of unity is created for the first time.
Teamwork is now literally picking up speed. Instead of focusing on personal conflicts, the effectiveness of the work increases. Each team member feels part of a whole and performance increases. Conflicts can still occur in this phase, but they are no longer the main focus. Cooperation is characterized by respect and mutual appreciation.
The team clock according to Tuckman was later supplemented by the fifth point "Adjourning", which describes the dissolution of the team, recognizes its performance and closes the project appropriately.
The manager has a special role to play during the individual phases. In the forming phase, the project manager is the host who accompanies the process of getting to know each other and ensures that everyone feels well received. In the conflict phase, he acts as a mediator who must ensure that conflicts do not escalate. He directs the focus to the next phase. In the norming process, they take on the role of advisor, defining the rules of the game together with the team. In the high-performance phase of the team, the manager has done their main job and only needs to intervene occasionally when problems arise.
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