Team Development: Storms make trees take deeper roots
Why Storms make trees take deeper roots? I could have started with a recognizable (only to me) reference to Tuckman’s stages for team development— forming, storming, norming, performing. The idea is that to truly reach an exceptional level of performance, a team will inevitably run head first into a struggle, and how they work together during this challenge will tell whether they grow stronger and better and ultimately deliver something fabulous, or topple from the pressure. Who knew Dolly Parton has such a treasure trove of quotes about adversity? (I did, because Dolly!)
I thought I’d take some time to write about the storms that happen on teams, with some tips on how to get past storming and then stick the landing with a 10 out of 10 (won’t even begin to try to use the current scoring in gymnastics because I have no clue.)
Name it. Nothing worse than everyone pretending everything is okay when in fact people are quietly (or loudly) frustrated or stalled. Make it a part of your team’s culture that they understand the concept of Tuckman’s stages, and that when things aren’t working, it’s important to call out that we’re storming. I once was on a team, building a new website (back when agencies did those sorts of things—ha!) and we were working with the client on the design phase. The client was nervous because they weren’t comfortable with the jargon of our industry. We were frustrated because the client couldn’t seem to make up her mind. Progress was stalled, and our designs weren’t hitting the mark. Finally, a member of our team pulled everyone together and explained we were storming, and came up with a framework for us to better communicate and connect on the misfires. The simple act of naming our stage helped us move from feeling defensive and taking things personally to refocusing us on working towards the next stage to norm on how to resolve our differences. Name it and it can help snap the team into action.
Make the time and space to address it. We all work on tight schedules with limited resources. So the idea that the team is losing precious time while storming instead of producing is nerve wracking to the project manager in me. But I don’t want to just get it done, I want us to do extraordinary work, so that means I can’t just quickly bulldoze over the problems. Sometimes it requires lots of individual discussions, and almost always you should carve out time to get the team together to air out and address what’s not going well and why. Plan for the discussion. And provide a framework so people and constructively work through what’s bothering them. I have been working closely with my team for nearly 5 years and we still storm! On a recent project we were struggling with getting started on a new initiative, and were each heading in different directions. It became clear pretty quickly we were spinning our wheels. So, we each stopped what we were doing, jumped on the phone, and talked through the project plan and what was issues we saw. It took a couple of passes, but taking the time to work through the plan helped us move past storming. And by digging in and being candid, we were able to spot some unnecessary steps and catch back up in our schedule. So while we didn’t plan on taking these extra steps or meetings, they made a huge difference in helping us stay focused.
Create psychological safety on the team. This concept (if you want more, this is all Amy Edmondson’s genius) is so foundational to high team performance, and never is it as important as when there is conflict. How can you build it on your team? Give trust to the individuals on your team even if they haven’t earned it yet. Be candid and caring to them as individuals. Take time to understand their work styles and preferences, and recognize if someone is pushing your buttons (so you can remain focused.) Commit to doing something, and then actually do it. Back someone up who tried something challenging and made a mistake. Turn it into a learning experience. Here’s what psychological safety looks like in action. Just recently I pushed myself to be ambitious on delivering a workshop. I went big and bold in the ambition of the topics covered, and the collaborative case studies. It was not a safe agenda. And as these things do, time was not on our side. The session started late, and then the segments took longer than planned. All in all it went well, but I made some mistakes during the session. I immediately debriefed with my colleagues on the session, and admitted my challenge with time management. And the team, who I trust implicitly, didn’t sugar coat it, but instead spent time walking through the learnings and refinements. It was such a valuable discussion. What could have been a roadblock or setback turned into something that brought us closer and made our work better. All because we trust each other to have each other’s backs, and tell one another the truth. Exceptional work is only possible when people are real about successes and mishaps, and help each other get to the next level.
Rinse and repeat. Be prepared for storming to return when new challenges arise. Sometimes with teams we go through the stages— including storming—in a linear progression, and then never return to it once we work through it and hit our stride. But most of the time, life happens, and we have to work through hurdles and tensions. The key is to keep those core principles of naming it, making the time to work through it, and fostering psychological safety each time so that you can work through it as a team. Particularly on long-term projects, where there are multiple stakeholders and team members shifting on and off, this can happen quite frequently. I once was on a 19-month project where there were multiple deliveries each month, and even as we had our process down like clockwork, storming happened. We were so committed to working through storming we would give an umbrella as an award to a team member who was the ultimate “storm tracker” in recognition of their efforts to help the team work through issues and build deeper roots! (Cheesy, I know, but we did some of the best work of my career with hat team, so don’t knock it til you try it.)
In summary, storming not only is a normal part of a team working together, but it’s vital to learning how to effectively work through storming to actually achieving extraordinary results. Don't avoid conflict, but surface it, and create a space for people to effectively address concerns and frustrations. Use the experience as a way to be inclusive of the unique styles of individuals, and for people to model trust and give empathy. Healthy teams will be ambitious in their goals, so will experience storming and stress periodically. Embrace the process of working through storming, and celebrate the lessons and closeness as a result of the hard work of the team. The results are well worth the efforts!