Marked by a sense of the team member’s collective attributes and
sense of functioning as a unit, a team in this phase is productive, addresses
conflict well and effectively leverages its knowledge and resources to
function well. Members in this phase understand
each other's strengths and weaknesses and seek to find collaborative solutions
to issues. This phase uses all the tools developed
in the prior phases: Basic Communication
Skills (including intrapersonal and interpersonal skills);
Conflict Management;
and Dialogue and Discussion.
NORMING
Tool:
Dialogue and Discussion
(dialogue and conversation, Bohm, D.)
- Permit generative solution development
- Are useful tools to bring one’s mental models and theories in use to light
- Their power lies in their synergy – the
dynamic use of both
Dialogue |
Discussion |
| Diverging - don't seek agreement but richer grasp of complex issues; to generate options through brainstorming (coming up with variants on options, improving on views offered by individual team members) - team members not co-located; interruptions; disparity in availability, conflicting commitments. | Converging – used to narrow and choose among the possible options by a dispassionate analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the options and of the impact (intended and unintended) of each. |
| Do this first, to brainstorm possibilities. | Do this last, to narrow choices to a shared solution. |
| Requires team members to suspend their assumptions and regard each other as equals to permit all possible options to be put of the table. | Requires team members to permit each option to be discussed dispassionately, to discuss the undiscussable and to either suspend or admit individual biases about alternatives. |
| Tools | Glossary | Resources |
