Managing your team during each of the stages of team development can be a challenge. Each stage will require different skills and strategies for motivating team members, making decisions, delegating authority, and dealing with conflict.

The stages of team development are sequential and developmental. Each stage has issues that must be resolved before the team can move to the next stage. An effective project manager recognizes the stage a team is in, and manages accordingly.

In the Forming stage, team members are unsure of their roles and responsibilities. To move to the next stage, the project manager needs to provide structure and clear direction, so that they become comfortable with their responsibilities and with each other.

In the Storming stage, conflicting viewpoints and personal agendas lead to conflict. To move to the next stage, the project manager must mediate cooperation and encourage a team identity.

In the Norming stage, the team becomes cohesive. Differences, responsibilities, and working standards are settled by negotiation. To move to the next stage, the project manager must encourage communication and guide the team toward a reliable pattern of productive work.

In the Performing stage, the team is highly productive and largely self-directed. Team members employ effective and efficient working practices. The project manager must encourage team interdependence. It is important to supervise productivity to maintain the momentum of this stage.

In the Adjourning stage, the focus shifts from the performance of tasks to the end of the project and the disbandment of the group. The project manager must make sure work is complete. This is the time to help team members accept closure by encouraging them to keep in touch with each other, and by giving and receiving feedback.

Each project team will take a unique path through the stages of team development. Some teams will go through the early stages of team development quickly. Others may stall, or regress at certain stages. Much depends on the composition of the team, the capabilities of the team members, the tasks and objectives of the project, and the external support system.