Management for Artists – Team Cycles
Author of this post: Doug Oglesby | About Blog Authors »All teams go through a predictable cycle of chaos and order that can be summed up in four stages: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
“Forming” is the stage where the team is first put together. Everyone is very polite and excited, but tentative. People are still floating, unsure of their role on the team.
The next stage is “Storming”. At this point, problems have started to surface, and people start to drive each other crazy. Everyone knows they are in over their heads, and they can’t get out. There is too much agreement in meetings, while inside everyone is smoldering with resentment. Fixing problems almost always involves stepping on toes.
Everyone wants to avoid this phase, but it is unavoidable. Storming is where the rubber hits the road, and all your best-laid plans start to show their weaknesses. Reality begins to exert itself. Teams and entire companies can get stuck in this phase, because solving root-level disagreements is painful. People often deny that those problems are there, or end up leaving in frustration if they feel that issues important to them are not being addressed.
The lead needs to help the team through this phase. If the lead is part of the problem, then a neutral party needs to be brought in. The Neutral party doesn’t need to be a professional, just neutral. This is the “Norming” stage. General solutions or technical fixes are unlikely to solve the real problems, because they are caused by conflicts between personalities and agendas. Solutions require that people to talk to people.
The Norming stage requires honesty, patience, and the ability to apologize. Feelings will get hurt – yours as well, because, as a lead, you will be the focus of much of the conflict. At this time, it may become clear that some people are in the wrong position, or doing the wrong job. At Red Storm, fortunately, we are too small a company for these conflicts to be solved by firing people, except where a situation has been proved to be hopeless. Actually working out problems is much more difficult than downsizing, but it is well worth the sweat and tears. After one or two rounds of Norming, you will feel like you can face anything. You will also have a better understanding of your own abilities and the abilities of your team.
If a team successfully passes the Norming stage, they will move on to “Performing”. This is the stage that you hear the most about from successful teams. “I dunno, we just jelled!” “We had an awesome team, and it felt like we could read each others’ minds!” Teams like that get write-ups in business magazines. Don’t be fooled. They didn’t skip the Storming stage, they just don’t talk about it.
The more experienced you are, the shorter the round trip is through the four stages, but you will go the whole circuit. A few things need to be pointed out about this model:
* This is a cycle, not a road. Every time you change the dynamic of the team – moving people around, changing responsibilities, or adding or losing a member – the team will cycle through these stages again. It will happen more swiftly and not as deeply, but it will happen, and you can’t avoid it.
* This cycle goes on at all levels – with you art team, between the leads, and between leads and their managers. Don’t expect a point at which it will all be over.
* The style of your management will need to be different at every stage. Forming requires a lot of one-on-one contact, meetings and open brainstorming. Storming and Norming will require decisive action, diplomacy and frank discussion. Performing will require more assessment from you than forceful direction, because everyone will have developed a fairly solid idea of what they need to do.
Take a minute now and think about your current project. What is happening now? Jot down a few notes, and compare them to the development cycle. What stage are you in? What are the next steps you need to take with your team?
