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Jory MacKay on July 09, 2025

Jory MacKay

Jory is a writer, content strategist and award-winning editor of the Unsplash Book. He contributes to Inc., Fast Company, Quartz, and more.

July 09, 2025 · 12 min read

Building high-performing teams is hard work. Many leaders think you can just bring random people together, sit them in a room, and set them a task — but that rarely, if ever works.

It takes time for a team to bond, set boundaries, establish norms, and hit peak efficiency.

Bruce Tuckman’s forming-storming-norming-performing-adjourning team development model is one of the most popular and effective frameworks to help leaders build high-performing teams from scratch.

If you’re a leader struggling with the growing pains of a new team, this article is for you.

Jump to a section:

We’ll break down the 5 stage team development model to bring the team-bonding journey to life and explain what you need to do, at each stage, to create the platform your team needs to thrive.

What are the 5 main stages of team development?

The biggest companies in the world all started small — even Google, Apple, and Amazon. Those small, inefficient start-ups with scrappy processes and garage offices evolved to become the productive global enterprises we know and love today.

That development journey is the same at a team-level, too. In the early days, teams are still trying to work things out — they try different things, make mistakes, and become stronger and stronger until they find an efficient working rhythm.

During these early stages, managers and leaders have to be more hands-on, helping to guide decision-making, solve problems, and even resolve conflict. But, as a team matures, they can step back to provide more autonomy, safe in the knowledge the team is confident and functioning well.

The most common take on the stages of team development comes from the 1960s (further refined in the 1990s), when Bruce Tuckman proposed his five stages of team development:

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning

Almost all other team development frameworks are a variation (or renaming) of these stages, plotting the journey of a team’s formation, maturing, and eventually, their disbanding.

As a leader, it’s important to know and understand these stages to support your teams as they go through their own journey of bonding and development.

Tuckman’s 5 team development stages explained

Let’s break down each stage of the Tuckman model to understand the team development journey in more detail, and how you, as a leader, can help make it a success.

Stage 1: Forming

As the name suggests, the Forming stage is all about bringing the team together for the first time by making introductions, facilitating initial team bonding, and agreeing on objectives, goals, and team roles.

The Forming stage is often an exciting time. Team members are keen to meet new people, are optimistic about the future, and motivated to get stuck into a new challenge.

But at the same time, it can also be anxiety-inducing. Some people can be shy around new people, and not like the uncertainty that comes with unknowns ahead of them.

Some examples of the typical activities to complete in this stage:

• The team leader facilitates introductions
• Team members meet for the first time
• The team completes team icebreakers or ‘get to know you’ activities
• The team is briefed on the project’s work, goals, and objectives
• Teams agree on roles and responsibilities, ways of working, and ground rules

During this stage, you may observe the following behaviors:

• Excitement, positivity, and eagerness to get started
• Apprehension or uncertainty of new relationships and challenges
• Early signs of power struggles and personality clashes
• Strong personalities taking charge
• Differing opinions on goals and realistic project expectations
• Low team productivity

As a leader, you’ll be expected to:

• Facilitate introductions for everyone
• Promote inclusion and participation from the entire team
• Set the direction on the project and team plans
• Establish initial roles and responsibilities
• Establish ways of working and ground rules
• Identify and manage any initial personality conflicts
• Be hands-on to help the group bond

Here’s a summary of what the team will need to move through this stage:

What the “Forming” stage can look like in a real life project:

When forming a new project team, the project manager will first spend time meeting each member of the team individually to build a relationship. During this meeting, they’ll also brief them on the project, the objectives, and their role within the project team.

From there, a whole-team kick off event will take place. This will:

• Provide an opportunity for everyone to meet, get to know each other, and bond
• Be used to brief everyone jointly on the project, remind everyone of the objectives and goals, and introduce the team structure
• Include a collaborative way of working session to agree working principles, ground rules, and team rituals.

Resources you can use to be a better leader during this stage:

• Run a kickoff meeting to get everyone together and outline the goals and expectations of the project.
• Share a project plan, scope of work, or any other documents that can help provide additional context to your team.
• Set up communication and collaboration norms and expectations — for example, make sure everyone is set up in your project management tool.

Stage 2: Storming

With the introductions made and the foundations set, the Storming stage is where teams begin to work together on initial tasks. During this stage, team members establish a working rhythm, seek to gain trust, and form stronger relationships, with initial conflicts and clashes often arising.

The Storming stage is similar to the ‘honeymoon phase’ in personal relationships — it still has an air of excitement and novelty, but individual’s quirks begin to surface.

The realities of the goals and objectives also become more clear. For some, this will provide extra motivation and drive, but others may become nervous if they feel the goals are unrealistic, or become unhappy about their emerging role in the team.

Some examples of the typical activities to complete in this stage:

• Further scoping and goal definition meetings
• Project planning and requirements workshops
• Team meetings and one-on-one meetings
• Team rituals and further team bonding activities
• Escalation or conflict resolution meetings

During this stage, you may observe the following behaviors:

• Continued excitement about the work and project
• Relationships beginning to form
• Initial consensus building and team organization
• Continued power struggles and clashing
• Initial conflicts and personality clashes
• Initial escalations to managers or leaders
• Minimal productivity

As a leader, you’ll be expected to:

• Re-establish direction, goals, and objectives
• Support the development of plans and requirements
• Begin delegating leadership and managerial tasks
• Promote the concept of autonomy and task responsibilities
• Offer continued support and praise
• Support conflicts resolution and escalations
• Actively discipline poor behavior (e.g., breaking of ground rules)

Here’s a summary of what the team will need to move through this stage:

What the “Storming” stage can look like in a real life project:

The Storming stage often coincides with the Initiation, Design, or Planning phases of a traditional project life cycle. This means the team is simultaneously understanding how to deliver the project, while working out how they’ll all work together — that’s a lot!

To help, this means lots of project update meetings, requirements and planning workshops, and one-on-ones while project team members settle into their new roles. Where initial conflicts arise, it’s important to deal with them quickly and effectively, as well as provide the team feedback on what’s working well, and what isn’t.

Project governance structures (e.g., status meetings, reporting) may change to adapt to the evolving ways of working of the team.

Resources you can use to be a better leader during this stage:

• Use a mix of team meetings and 1-on-1 meetings to ensure you support and guide the team through the team stages of development
• Begin producing project status reports to demonstrate progress and identify areas of improvement
• Formalize project progress with a clear project plan and requirements document
• Brush up on proven conflict resolution techniques to manage early friction effectively

Stage 3: Norming

The Norming stage is where the team gets over the initial growing pains and begins to gel. The personality clashes and conflicts you (hopefully) resolved in the Storming stage contribute to a stronger team dynamic, with shared leadership and responsibility growing across the group.

The spirit of cooperation, common purpose, and collaboration begin to show, and the team often starts adjusting their ways of working to adapt to an individual’s skill sets, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as their external environment.

Teams may feel re-energized at this stage, thanks to the security and stability of the team environment and the strong relationships which have now been built. Confidence and sense of belonging also increase, and there is a trust and freedom of expression within the group.

Some examples of the typical activities to complete in this stage:

• Implementation and checkpoint meetings
• Progress updates and milestone celebrations
• Team meetings and one-on-one meetings
• Established team rituals in place
• Teams have their own meetings without leader facilitation
• Limited escalation or conflict resolutions

During this stage, you may observe the following behaviors:

• Excitement is replaced with genuine confidence
• In-team conflict resolution and decision-making emerge
• Trust builds across the team and stronger collaboration
• Leadership is shared rather than just coming from the leader
• Acceptance of other team members (and their quirks)
• Medium-level of team productivity

As a leader, you’ll be expected to:

• Provide arms-length support and guidance
• Continue to set the strategic direction
• Provide mentorship, coaching, and support when requested
• Reduce formal structures if no longer required
• Delegate decision-making where appropriate
• Promote autonomy

Here’s a summary of what the team will need to move through this stage:

What the “Norming” stage can look like in a real life project:

As project teams enter the Norming stage, it’s important for the project manager to have the self-awareness to get out of the way. Transitioning to a more bottom-up ‘servant leader’ approach is advised, with a reduction in formal governance, updates meetings, and hand-holding to make room for team autonomy.

Sometimes a project manager needs to have the self-awareness to get out of the way.

This stage often aligns with the Development stage of the project life cycle, where teams run their own project rituals, such as daily standups and retrospectives, with the project manager there to solve escalated issues or support strategic decision-making.

Resources you can use to be a better leader during this stage:

• Transition to a servant leadership approach, giving your team space to have autonomy while being there to support and remove blockers
• Look for additional ways to boost team effectiveness, providing the right balance of direction, structure, and supportive context
• Focus on mentoring and coaching rather than directing — this will not only give your team space, but also aid development and professional growth for your team

Stage 4: Performing

The Performing stage is where every team wants to be — effective, in-sync, and productive. At this stage, the team is fully in its flow, managing itself and its objectives with little support from managers and leaders.

By this stage, the team are all clear on roles, have independence, and have even developed the flexibility to adapt to changes and challenges when they occur. As well as being productive, these teams also boast great creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making prowess too.

This is an exciting stage to work in as there’s strong commitment, relationships, and confidence across the team. It’s also a fun environment to work in, with team members having a general sense of empathy, trust, and respect for each other.

As a leader, keeping the team in this stage is a delicate balancing act. A high-performing team works hard and gives it their all. But over time, they risk burnout, demotivation, and the itch to try something new.

Teams aren’t static - and neither are your responsibilities as a leader

Some examples of the typical activities to complete in this stage:

• Implementation and checkpoint meetings
• Progress updates and milestone celebrations
• Team meetings and one-on-one meetings
• Established team rituals — in and out of work
• Teams have their own meetings and discussions without leader facilitation
• Limited escalation or conflict resolutions

During this stage, you may observe the following behaviors:

• High commitment and satisfaction
• True collaboration
• Increased creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making
• Teams having fun, with genuine excitement for the work
• Personal development and growth
• High productivity

As a leader, you’ll be expected to:

• Provide arms-length support and guidance
• Co-create the strategic direction
• Provide continual motivation
• Delegate decision-making where appropriate
• Promote autonomy
• Manage workloads and avoid risks of burnout
• Support team members with their personal development

Here’s a summary of what the team will need to move through this stage:

What the “Performing” stage can look like in a real life project:

Much like the Norming stage, when a team reaches Performing, the project manager should be there to support, guide, and enable, rather than actively direct and manage.

As project teams get in the flow of delivering strong outputs, the project manager ensures workloads, expectations, and capacity is managed effectively. Striking this balance ensures the output remains high, while avoiding burnout and fatigue.

Resources you can use to be a better leader during this stage:

• Continue with regular one-on-one meetings to check in on team members, ensuring their workload is manageable, morale is high, and they’re avoiding burnout
• Look for ways to maintain high team motivation, mixing feedback with monetary rewards
• As a leader, transition to a more bottom-up management style, supporting rather than directing, while involving your team in more strategic conversations

Stage 5: Adjourning

All good things come to an end, and it’s important to manage the closing or turnover of a team carefully. In the Adjourning stage, either team members leave the team, or the team is completely disbanded.

If one or more team members leave and are replaced, the dynamic of new members may cause the team to move back to the Storming or Norming stage.

This would require a leader to re-manage the team back to the Performing stage, stepping back into a more hand-on role if required.

If the team is completely disbanded, leaders should focus on reviewing their performance, learning and sharing lessons, and supporting each team member onto their next toles.

No matter the scenario, the Adjourning stage often feels like a break-up as the team goes through a form of workplace grief. During this period, momentum and energy are low, with productivity often slowing or grinding to a halt.

Some examples of the typical activities to complete in this stage:

• Re-introducing new team members to the group
• Re-starting team bonding exercises
• Lessons learned workshops and reflections on success
• Formal closure of projects, budget, or team structures
• Handover of activities to other individuals or teams

During this stage, you may observe the following behaviors:

• Workplace grief — sadness, anger, or disappointment
• Uncertainty and restlessness
• Humor — often dark or self-deprecating
• Relief — that the work is over
• Celebration of success

As a leader, you’ll be expected to:

• Facilitate introductions for anyone new
• Promote inclusion and participation from new team members
• Facilitate the capture of learning
• Celebrate successes
• Support team members through change
• Open and honest communications

Here’s a summary of what the team will need to move through this stage:

What the “Adjourning” stage can look like in a real life project:

When teams lose a critical member, project managers often work to steady the ship as quickly as possible by identifying a replacement and ensuring a successful handover. There may be meetings or briefings to re-align on the objectives and provide reassurance to the remaining, and new, team members.

When a project closes and the team disbands, project managers facilitate the capturing of lessons learned and the project closure governance — often with a closure report and/or closure meeting. Project teams should always make time to celebrate success before rushing off to the next big thing, too!

Resources you can use to be a better leader during this stage:

• Use a project closure checklist to ensure all the key Adjourning items are ticked off
• Facilitate the capturing of lessons learned with a formal meeting and template, making it easier to share with other teams
• Project endings can be difficult, as everyone comes to terms with the transition differently — use these tips on leading by example to ensure you close a project in the right way

Some extra leadership tips to help your team thrive at every stage

Now that you know all about the Tuckman team development stages, you’re ready to start guiding your team towards high-performance.

Here are some final leadership tips to help you along the way:

• Get the basics in place first. Building a high-performing team is much easier when you have the leadership and management basics in place. Before jumping into the work, make sure your team’s mission and strategy are clear.
• Remember that the journey isn’t linear. While Tuckman’s 5-stage model looks linear, in reality, teams move backwards and forward all the time. Whether it’s changes in the business environment, a new company strategy, or a key team member leaving, be prepared that you may need to roll back to the Storming and Norming stages at any time.
• Work on your soft skills. A key part of being a strong leader is managing your relationships with people. Take time to brush up on your soft skills, especially communication styles, emotional intelligence, and self-management.
• Be flexible and adaptable. During the Forming stage, you’ll work hard to establish ways of working and ground rules. But as your team develops, they can quickly become out of date. As you move from stage to stage, take the time to adjust your own working style to ensure you support your team in the right way.
• Manage project expectations. Project teams often develop as the project life cycle progresses. But, it’s important to manage stakeholder expectations and give your team time to develop, rather than jumping head first into delivery. If you don’t, you’ll plan and design solutions that are ineffective or generate technical debt that will need to be reworked later.

The bottom line: Teams aren’t static — and neither are your responsibilities as a leader

Despite what some leaders will have you believe, building a high-performing team takes time, effort, and patience. Tuckman’s 5-stage team development model is one of the most respected and well-used frameworks for building a successful team, taking you from initial formation right through to high-performance and beyond.

As a leader, it’s essential to understand that journey and create a platform for success. While a top-down, hands-on approach will be needed at the start, it’s important to step back and give your team the autonomy they need as they enter the Norming and Performing stages.

Tools like Planio are perfect for enabling your team to connect, communicate, and grow, while also giving you the oversight and data you need to manage a successful project.

With features for task management, document storage, team collaboration, and time tracking, Planio is the all-around project management powerhouse to build a team of high-performing superstars.

Try Planio with your own team — free for 30 days (no credit card required!)