Story+PD: The story of the team

Part of a series at the intersection of Storytelling and Product Development.

The middle of the story is crucial.

Team performance depends on psychological safety, trust, communication, coordination… so many things (but that first one is huge!) “Being on the same page” is an expression from chorale or singing hymns in church, but in a team, product development setting, being on the same page of the same story is powerful. It’s that ‘norming’ part of a team’s journey from forming to storming to norming to performing, per Bruce Tuckman's model of team development.

Tuckman's model has been around and expanded for over 50 years, but I think we can also consider it a story arc that helps a team situate the common experience of 'not getting along with strangers' inside a redemption narrative. We’ve all heard people discouraged by a new team or project. “We’re not gelling… did I join the wrong team?” It’s reassuring for them to learn a) they’re not alone and b) there is a path to really working well together. That story arc also encourages teams to get into norming/team rules & routines before they go off the rails. (A little friction and unearthing assumptions doesn’t have to blow up into a storm.)

I’ve worked on many 3-5 person project teams that had new combinations of colleagues and clients. Whenever we got a new project or even a new teammate mid-project, we realized that a new member changes the story. A new member creates a new team but with a shared history. We onboarded new people with a team shareout (eg, everyone ‘here’s what you need to know about working with me”). This allowed us to refresh on what our story was and where we were headed, and obstacles we still had to face, together, but also, take a moment to recognize that our story has a new chapter. We re-normed. We don't want anyone's story of the team to be stuck on the chapter about dysfunction or a lack of cohesion. We know how to make a better story of us.

So think about your team’s formation story; your level of performance today; and reflect on whether you skipped a chapter or two in the middle. If you’re storming, is it time to have a team discussion and agreements on how align so your project story ends well?