4 May 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
What stage of development are you at?
And what stage of development is your team at?
Teams develop in much the same way as all living human systems - in the direction of survival, development, and transformation. And the stages of development can be observed as a hierarchy of systems, later stages being more complex than earlier stages.
According to SCT (Systems-Centred Training), the hierarchy of team development is from the Authority stage to the Intimacy stage, and finally to the Interdependent stage where real work can be accomplished easily.
Each of these stages has a sub-stage:
- In the Flight sub-stage of Authority, the emphasis is on staying safe and holding unrealistic goals. Verbal behaviours are characterized by a high frequency of speculations, storytelling, personal data, small talk and anecdotes.
- The Transition to the next stage is marked by an impulse to retaliate either through passive, helpless, impotent complaining, or righteously indignant, sarcastic blaming.
- In the Fight sub-stage of Authority, the team moves from passive stereotyping to active scapegoating, first of each other, and then of authority. Verbal behaviours shift to a higher frequency of attacks, blame, sarcastic humour, "yes-but's", and discouragement.
- Transition to the next stage shows up as a crisis in which the team confronts its major defenses of blame and externalization onto the authority.
- The Intimacy stage engenders more complex dynamics than the Authority stage. Team members' relationships with each other become more important than their relationship to the authority, team leader, or boss.
- The shift to the Interdependent work stage marks a movement from group-centred to context-centred. In this stage the team can freely use its resources to relate to the work task in the context of present reality.
, perhaps now you know why you've been so frustrated with childish behaviour in your work group, or project team! Get professional facilitation for your next team-based event, meeting, training or conference with the Strategic Team Development Program.
And check out my "Wisdom Circle" blog for musings, research, and applications of practical wisdom!
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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