When it comes to collaboration, forming a team is the easy part. Uniting multiple personality types or organizations under a common purpose, however, can be a challenge.
Whether the collaboration is working on community development or issues management, it is often said that the power of a group is greater than the sum of its parts.
Collaboration is an important part of capacity building. When a collection of individuals or organizations works together for a common purpose or goal, many concepts are at play, according to the Association for Information and Image Management.
Problem solving and mediation help collaborators gain consensus. Common goals lead to common expectations of team members, as far as sharing information, participation and reciprocity. Collaborators are also likely to proactively engage a topic and consider alternatives.
Collaboration relies not only on the open sharing of knowledge, but also some level of focus and accountability. Collaborations can achieve far more than their individual members or organizations, but it takes patience and professionalism to become a high-performing and cohesive team. Proficient team leaders can accelerate the process by understanding how to coach members through stages of development.
MindTools expands on psychologist Bruch Tuckman’s mantra of “forming, storming, norming and performing” by describing how the stages of team formation ensure a collaboration reaches the high-performance standards needed to meet and achieve its goals.
The process of team formation or collaboration typically starts out with members acting positively and politely, as they are excited about the task ahead. Leaders need to take a dominant role in this stage, as other roles and responsibilities are less clear.
The storming phase of collaboration begins as collaborators begin to stake their roles within the group and tackle the issue.
“The ways of working start to be defined, and as leader, you must be aware that some members might feel overwhelmed by how much there is to do, or uncomfortable with the approach being used,” according to MindTools. “This is the stage when many teams fail, and even those that stick with the task may feel that they are on an emotional roller coaster.”
As a hierarchy is established, the collaboration moves into the norming stage. As team members become more familiar with each other, they are willing to ask for and provide help and constructive criticism. With that familiarization and comfort come more confidence and a stronger commitment to the goal.
The collaboration will be the most productive during the performing stage.
“Hard work leads directly to progress toward the shared vision of the goal, supported by the structures and processes that have been set up,” according to MindTools.
