TEAM BUILDING¶

A project manager can't manage a project alone. They have to include people with a range of different qualifications and experience on the team and ensure that they are suitably motivated [24]. Tuckman's phase model can help to facilitate team building, ensure good organisation and work constructively as a team.

Tuckman's stages of group development¶

Step 1 – Forming [25]
This is where the team is created. The stakeholder analysis shows which departments and people need to be involved in the project. As soon as the potential employees have been agreed with the client, the core team can be put together. The employees join the team with different expectations. They get to know each other, routine work is carried out and tasks are allocated. They still feel relatively comfortable and treat each other in a friendly and polite manner.

Step 2 – Storming
It is important to get the creative chaos under control at an early stage. To this end, a formal team-building workshop should be organised. All project planning issues can be discussed here. However, the informal part must not be neglected under any circumstances. Sufficient space should be given to the ‘social aspects’ of the project team members (getting to know each other, team development, recognising achievements, etc.).

Step 3 – Norming
The employees must quickly grow together to form a team! To this end, the team must be given a project identity, e.g. in the form of a central idea, a motto, a slogan and a logo. This breathes a spirit into the project and inspires the team. Conflicts come to a head, but the more obstacles are removed and conflicts resolved, the greater the cohesion of the team later on. The roles are clearly allocated and the team members agree on rules.

Step 4 – Performing
Once the planning has been set up in this way, the project team members can move forward and realise it in a goal-oriented manner. However, it must be borne in mind that individual employees may leave our team during phase transitions and new employees may join the project. It may be necessary to re-enter the storming phase. Reaching this phase is not easy and should not be taken for granted. The team as a whole will achieve more than its individual members and a strong sense of team identity will have developed.

Step 5 – Adjourning (only autonomous project organisation) [26]
Some employees will look for new challenges before the official end of the project, others will reopen construction sites that have been closed for a long time in order to continue working on the project. The project manager must be prepared for this and have an answer to the question of how to organise the dissolution of my team well.