It can be helpful to think of groups as having a lifecycle; they go through stages in order to become fully effective and productive. Psychologist Bruce Tuckman developed the well-known - and still relevant - 'Team Formation Model' in 1965 based on observations of group and team dynamics and how they evolve over time.
Tuckman identified five stages in a team's lifecycle moving from a group of individuals coming together for the first time, to a cohesive team disbanding after achieving their goal:
FORMING: Group members come together to work on a task, and start to understand their roles and purpose.
STORMING: Conflicts arise as group members assert their ideas and work through differences.
NORMING: The group establishes team norms, builds trust, and begins to work cohesively.
PERFORMING: The team reaches peak performance, effectively collaborating to achieve goals.
ADJOURNING: The team disbands after completing their objectives, reflecting on their journey (and what has been learnt).
The adjourning stage (also known as the mourning phase) was added to Tuckman's model later to acknowledge what happens when a team finishes its tasks and dissolves. In a university or project-based context, this is really important as it's the time the group wraps up their work and reflects on their process - where a lot of the learning happens - before moving on to another project (hopefully having learned something on the way!).
Tuckman's Team Lifecycle model provides teams with a good way of discussing and thinking about how their teamwork evolves over time. For example, if conflict arises in the storming stage, it is helpful to know that this can be a necessary part of the team coming together. For a group that finds itself stuck and not performing, it can be useful to think about where the team is in the lifecycle and discuss how they might move themselves forward.
All groups are different and you may find that your group speeds through or skips some of these stages, or perhaps gets stuck at one stage. However, Tuckman's model suggests that it is a good idea to establish good working relationships from the start, and to schedule a halfway review to check progress, nudge the group forward and refocus on your team goal.
It is useful to have this team lifecycle in mind when using something like the Team Project Planning Wizard. Creating a team charter together as a group can help you navigate through those forming and storming stages and agree on team norms so that you can start performing and getting the task done.
