One of our mantras at MindTeam Solutions Inc., and the pre-title to our book Internal Masterminds, is “When people come together, great things happen!” One opportunity to apply this thinking is during the group formation stage of your organization.
To be clear, this doesn’t just apply when you’re starting from scratch with new hires. The dynamics of group formation also come into play when your staff has been separated for an extended period of time because of an unprecedented event like the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The 4-Stage Model of Group Formation
Let’s talk about the stages people go through in learning how to interact with each other. The model we here at MindTeam Solutions teach in our facilitator training is Psychologist Bruce Tuckman’s Four-Stage Model of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing.
Forming
In the first stage of group development, people relate to each other at an emotional distance and with minimal trust. Some are anxious with uncertainty, others are excited about what lies ahead, and still others have a wait-and-see-what’s-what frame of mind. This stage can last a while as people return to working together and get to know their colleagues in new or different ways.
How to respond
Your leadership plays a major role in moving through this first stage. When your staff walks in through the door for the first time again, make sure to offer an environment of trust and openness without judgement. As staff return to a changed environment and learn to move forward, they need the mental and emotional space to process the emotions and experiences of their Covid-19 lives first.
Storming
People work in different ways for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is how they fulfilled their responsibilities working from home. Differing work and communication styles cause unforeseen problems and breed anger or frustration. Conflicts arise quickly at this stage as politeness and “all in this together” starts to fade.
How to respond
Your leadership at this stage needs to be strong, specific, and direct. Present your workplace with the challenges that are at the forefront of recovery efforts, and ask for your team members’ input in figuring things out and making the necessary changes. Give direction and guidelines, yet be vulnerable enough to receive their ideas. At this stage, your people need to clearly understand the norms, requirements, and firm definitions of their roles and responsibilities. Once they understand the parameters, let them loose to initiate solutions.
Norming
Norming is the stage when people start to resolve their differences, appreciate colleagues’ strengths, and respect their leader’s authority. Staff members better know each other and may find ways to socialize together under new norms. They are able to ask one another for help and provide constructive feedback. They develop a stronger commitment to the organization’s goals and begin to realize they are making progress towards them.
How to respond
As their leader, encourage—and yes, push at times—for your people’s ideas, solutions, attention to consequences, and pivots due to frequent management changes and directives. Share relevant business data. Be up front with business progress and operational challenges and successes. The more your people understand workplace wins and setbacks the more they can make “adult decisions” about their environment.
Those who do well with such input and initiative can accelerate productivity. Those who don’t will need counseling, training, guidance, tools, and other assists to succeed in a continually changing workplace.
Performing
The truly productive stage is Performing. When people reach this stage they interact with each other with minimum friction to achieve organizational—and personal—goals. They support and carry out structures and processes they themselves contributed to establishing. The workplace feels easy to be a part of at this stage. New people who trickle in or leave cause minimal disruption to overall productivity.
How to respond
New and long-time staff perform well together. Oh, I’m not so airy-fairy to suggest that all will be well. But by this stage, reorientation will be well underway and renewed productivity should be evident. This is where you should realize the value of the group platform you put in place when they walked through the door. You can project how much more maintaining such a platform contributes to productivity and culture as you move into the months and years ahead.
In summation
Understanding how people interact as they come together will go a long way toward putting the best framework in place to guide your organization through its post-COVID-19 return to work. Not only can you speed up the reorientation process, but you can build the positive workplace culture you’ve dreamed of, almost as if from scratch.
For specific strategies to make what we’ve outlined in this article happen, download our Return to Work Guidebook. Filled with planning worksheets, actionable items, and even a post COVID-19 workplace checklist, this guidebook will equip you with all the tools you need for your post COVID-19 business success.
Return to Work Series #3: Post-COVID-19 Workplace Checklist >