Return to site

Forming - an orientation stage

Who are we? Why are we here? What is the task?

· team,to-sort

Members need to know and understand the:

  • aims and objectives of the team,
  • the team plan and how their contributions will be used, and
  • rules and expectations of the team.

The types of things the team should be asking in this stage are:

  • Who are we?;
  • Why are we here?;
  • What is the task?

Something that you might be asking yourself at this stage is: Will I be accepted?

If, over time, a team is not able to move to the 'Norming' stage it may be that it:

  • has a high turnover of members,
  • holds infrequent meetings (either face to face or online), and/or
  • suffers from a lack of team leadership and direction (Giesen & Osborne, 2008).