Team Dynamics for Bloggers

Those of us who use a blog as a platform for our businesses will know that for real success, we have to work with partners, or as part of a team. Making that team work effectively can lead to some fantastic results.

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was recently reminded of some training I did years ago on team dynamics, and I recognised the power of it when I examined a period of great success I'd had previously as part of a team.

So allow me to tell you the story.

Four of us had been recruited by a major European car manufacturer. Our objective was simple, but huge. By working with the dealer network, our task was to more than double market share into the very competitive corporate sales market.

We were all from diverse backgrounds - two guys and two girls - and we had complimentary skills and personalities. To this day, I don't know if it was luck or brilliant recruitment, but it did work.

After a slow start we rocked the whole industry, achieving the biggest growth ever by a manufacturer. The team was awesome and we all become superstars within in the sector. Inevitably, the team was then broken up, as we were promoted to more senior positions, or head hunted to other companies. My former colleagues are all still very successful, but I'm sure they'd agree we have never since recaptured those heady few years.

Some time after I'd moved up the ranks, I attended the training session on team dynamics, and I finally understood what we had been through. The notion is that for a team or partnership to be really successful in business, it needs to go through four phases:

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing

I was able to clearly chart the progress of our team in each phase:

Forming

When a team first comes together, it always goes through a period of forming. Each member is discovering more about the other team members. Much of the work focuses on where, when and how the team are going to work. There is no conflict of any kind in this stage - everyone tends to agree with everything.

The team needs to be directed from above in this stage, with clear objectives. Members tend to work independently, getting on with their part of each task.

The team is basically no more effective than the two or more individuals who make it up.

We went through this phase, and I can clearly remember it. We met once a week, shared what we were doing, and basically got on with it. Many teams never actually leave forming, so they don't ever really become a team.

Storming

This is tough! It happens when the team starts to reach a point of conflict and the individuals know each other well enough to begin to assert their points of view. The team can become focused on personality and small details, and continues to need some solid direction from above. Teams often stay in this phase and slowly become less and less effective, or they will stray backwards and forwards to the forming stage without resolving the conflicts. Either that, or they simply break up and go their own ways.

Our team went through this over a period of weeks. We couldn't seem to agree on anything, our roles in the group weren't clear, and there were arguments about the division of the workload. It all came to a head one night in a hotel when we'd all had a few beers, and we simply talked everything through, very honestly and openly, and that got us to the next stage.

Norming

When a team starts to norm, it means individual's roles are much clearer, people trust each other, and for the first time the team is more effective than the individuals. The team takes on an identity beyond the individuals' own, and starts to create it's own sense of purpose and achievements. Most effective teams stay in this phase, and they can do very well for years. The danger is that the team will norm too much, and dissent and other ideas are almost completely eliminated - everyone is working to maintain the status Quo.

We were norming for the best part of a year, and we did become an effective unit. We suffered from a lack of dissent, everything was agreed, nobody ever argued, and then one night, we went back into the storming phase, and let our sense of frustration back out, and we ended up with the mother of all arguments. Every single irritation came out, nothing was left behind. This finally took us to the final phase.

Performing

Most teams and partnerships never get here, but it's when the magic happens. The team can act both independently or as individuals, anything can be said by anyone, nobody takes offence and the team as a whole can handle decision making without any direct supervision. Each individual can act in the interests of the team and on behalf of the team and total trust exists between all members.

This is when things got special for us, and as we achieved more and more success, the team's power within the organisation grew to the point where we no longer needed anyone to guide us - we seemed to know instinctively what to do and which of us should do it. It really was an incredible time. You may have seen this with exceptional sports teams, or even with married couples you know.

But let's come down to earth now and relate this to our online businesses. Having read this, think about your online relationships with a JV partner, or anyone else you work closely with. Which phase are you in? Have you tested a little storming yet and perhaps dipped back to the forming stage?

How can you move on?

The easiest way might be to share this post with your partner or team members - they will begin to see that there is a pain barrier that you need to go through to get where you need to go. Or you can act independently and force the move from one stage to the next - it can be tough and painful, but it can be done. Above all be aware of where your team is, and how much you're really achieving.