The Team Development Wheel Revisited: The Forming Stage in Modern Teamwork
If you’ve spent any time in team development (or group development), you’ve likely heard of Bruce W. Tuckman’s classic model: Forming → Storming → Norming → Performing. First introduced in 1965 and expanded in 1977 with the addition of Adjourning, it remains one of the most widely used frameworks in organizational psychology, leadership development, and team coaching.
But what’s most remarkable is this: Tuckman’s model, after nearly 60 years, still holds up!
Drawing from the work of the late Deborah Mackin (including The Team Building Tool Kit and Keeping the Team Going), this four-part blog series explores each stage through a modern lens.
Today, we begin with Stage 1: Forming - and how leaders, supervisors, and coaches can set the foundation for long-term team success.
Understanding the Forming Stage: “Who Are We?”
In the Forming stage, the team is new. Members are polite, cautious, and careful. There is energy, but it’s tentative. There is motivation, but it’s often superficial. There is “niceness, ” but rarely true trust:
Team members are guarded, polite, and watchful.
Trust is “wait and see.”
Participation is uneven - some jump right in, others hang back.
Communication is surface-level.
The purpose is understood but not yet compelling.
Confusion and ambivalence are normal.
Individuals rely on their past experiences, not shared processes.
This stage can look like teamwork, but the cohesion is only skin-deep.
More importantly, and I pointed this out recently to a mentee who had a well-formed team, but added a new person - teams can revisit the Forming stage any time there is change:
New members join
A leader or coach departs
A major project begins
A reorganization occurs
Workplace stress alters behavior and norms
Regression is normal. And knowing where a team truly “is” developmentally helps leaders choose the right level of support.
Why Forming Matters More Than Ever
Recent research in team science and group dynamics reinforces several new truths about early-stage teamwork:
1. Psychological Safety is now recognized as the #1 predictor of team performance.
Amy Edmondson’s work at Harvard shows that without early signals of psychological safety: respect, permission to speak, curiosity - teams move more slowly through Forming and stall in Storming.
2. Early norm-setting dramatically accelerates team maturity.
Studies from MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab show that high-performing teams establish structured communication habits early—turn-taking, directness, equal voice.
This mirrors Deborah Mackin’s decades of practice-based learning: Teams that build structure early build trust faster.
3. Distributed leadership works - but only after directive coaching at the beginning.
Tuckman anticipated this. Mackin doubled down on it. Modern research confirms it: Teams cannot self-organize until they first understand the rules of the game, the boundaries, and the expectations.
How to Advance a Team Through the Forming Stage
Here are the essential strategies—drawn from Tuckman, Mackin, and contemporary team development research:
Assign a committed coach or sponsor: A team without a coach often confuses autonomy for absence. The coach must understand team dynamics and be committed to the long view.
Front-load meetings: The fewer meetings early on, the longer the team remains in Forming. Frequency and momentum matters.
Introduce meeting roles immediately: Make sure to rotate the role of Meeting Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, Process Observer. This builds ownership, structures participation, and models accountability (see our previous post on the topic).
Distribute early tasks widely: Get people onto the “playing field” right away.
Bring a draft Team Charter to the first meeting: Using tools like the High Performance Team Charter Template ensures clarity (see our previous post on the topic).
Build Norms and Protocols Early: Especially focused on Meeting Protocol, Decision-Making Protocol, and Conflict Resolution Protocol. Start with a Help/Hinder Protocol to address behavior issues early.
Teach the team to plan using Work Breakdown Plans: Teams rarely fail at strategy - they fail at execution mechanics.
Conduct a Team Boot Camp: Two days of systems, roles, expectations, and practice accelerate team readiness.
Use the Process Observer role religiously: Real-time feedback is the foundation of accountability.
Err toward inclusion: In Forming, the biggest risk is silence, not messiness.
What Leaders & Coaches Must Do in the Forming Stage
This stage demands a highly directive, teaching-oriented leadership style.
The Coach Should:
Attend all early meetings
Clarify boundaries, authority, and expectations
Teach team processes (charter, protocols, roles, etc.)
Model good facilitation
Review and refine the draft charter
Provide direction and structure
Ensure the team knows “how this environment works”
The Coach Should Not:
Assume the team will self-navigate
Delegate too early
Skip foundational training
Allow norm violations to slide
The goal of the Coach in Forming: Build trust. Build structure. Build clarity.
This is what prepares the team for the conflict and complexity of Storming - which is coming.
What Team Members Should Do in the Forming Stage
Team Norms to Establish Early:
Be present and participate fully
Ask clarifying questions
Practice active listening
Honor meeting roles
Avoid triangling or gossip
Honor the emerging charter and protocols
Give each other grace (everyone’s learning)
A team member’s mindsets should be one focused on curiosity over certainty, learning over performing, we over me, voice over silence and seeking feedback over frustration.
Forming isn’t just an introductory stage, it’s the foundation for every stage that follows. Done well, it builds momentum, clarity, and trust. Done poorly, it delays teamwork by months (sometimes years).
In this four-part series, we’ll next explore Stage 2: Storming, where conflict emerges, power struggles appear, and the real work of becoming a team begins.
