You can't expect a new team to perform well when it first comes together.

Forming a team takes time, and members often go through recognizable stages as they change from being a collection of strangers to a united group with common goals. Bruce Tuckman's Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing model describes these stages. When you understand it, you can help your new team become effective more quickly.

In this article, we'll look at how you can use this model to build a highly productive team.

About the Model

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman first came up with the memorable phrase 'forming, storming, norming, and performing' in his 1965 article, 'Developmental Sequence in Small Groups

.' He used it to describe the path that most teams follow on their way to high performance. Later, he added a fifth stage, 'adjourning' (which is sometimes known as 'mourning').

Let's look at each stage in more detail.

Formin