This article aims to help you understand the stages of team development, appreciate the benefits, and create effective team development strategies.

Team Building vs. Team Development

Terms like “team building” and “team development” are sometimes used interchangeably. However, understanding the distinctions between these concepts and their benefits is crucial for achieving long-term success.

Team Building

Team building is a collection of activities, events, or other structured interactions designed to provide social opportunities and improve interpersonal relations. It often involves fun and engaging exercises or events that encourage collaboration, communication, and trust among team members. But it can also target specific skills like problem solving and strategic thinking. Examples of team-building activities:

• Icebreaker activities
• Challenge-based or problem-solving activities
• Office games or friendly challenges
• Interactive workshops
• Team retreats

While team building fosters positive relationships, its impact on its own is often temporary and may not translate into long-term improvements in team performance. But team building activities that are part of a larger team development strategy can be extremely effective for targeting specific needs and goals.

Team Development

Team development, on the other hand, is a continuous process and plan aimed at improving the overall functionality and productivity of the team. It involves ongoing team building, training, skill enhancement, and structured interventions that address specific needs and objectives. Team development focuses on:

• Improving communication, collaboration, and trust: Helping team members practice conveying ideas clearly, active listening, and resolve conflicts constructively. This results in smoother workflows and fewer misunderstandings.
• Increasing productivity and efficiency: Well-developed teams are more efficient and effective in their work. They can delegate tasks appropriately, leverage each other’s strengths, minimize redundancies, and overcome obstacles, leading to higher productivity.
• Enhancing team skills and competencies: Teams that undergo continuous development are better equipped to tackle complex challenges. They can brainstorm innovative solutions, think critically, and approach problems from multiple perspectives.
• Sustaining engagement and morale: When a team works well together, trusts each other, and enjoy being around one another, it makes for a more pleasant and positive working environment for everyone. This leads to higher job satisfaction, increased motivation, and lower turnover rates.

Team development requires a strategic and consistent approach that integrates into the existing systems and processes of the organization or team.

The Tuckman Model of Team Development

The Tuckman model, developed by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in the 1960s is a well-documented framework for understanding the continuous dynamics of team development. The model outlines five distinct stages of development that teams typically cycle through:

• Forming: In the initial stage, team members get to know each other and establish ground rules. There is a sense of excitement and anticipation, but also uncertainty as roles and responsibilities are not always clear. Teams can revert back to this stage when a significant portion of the team is new or replaced.
• Storming: As the team begins to work together, conflicts and power struggles emerge. This stage is characterized by a clash of personalities and ideas as members assert their opinions and vie for their place within the group. In this phase, natural potential for innovation and problem-identification is at its highest, because team members are more willing to challenge one another.
• Norming: Gradually, the team starts to find its rhythm. Members resolve conflicts and develop stronger relationships. There is a sense of unity and cooperation as the team aligns towards common goals.
• Performing: In the performing stage, the team operates at its highest efficiency. Members collaborate seamlessly to achieve their objectives. The longer a team stays in this phase, the higher the risk for eventual burnout.
• Adjourning: The final stage occurs when the team has accomplished its goals and disbands. Members reflect on their experiences, celebrate their achievements, and prepare for future endeavors. Not all teams experience an adjourning phase.

While no team will fit perfectly into one single phase or box, the framework helps align team building activities, training sessions, and skill enhancement programs with the team’s unique needs and objectives.

How to Get Started with Team Development

1. Assess Team Needs

The first step in team development is to assess the current state of your team. Which phase(s) of the development model matches your team the best? Clarify what your team is responsible for accomplishing in the short term and long term. Collect data, identify key performance indicators (KPIs), strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. Use tools like surveys, feedback sessions, and performance reviews to gather insights from your team.

2. Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Establish clear, measurable goals and clarify roles and responsibilities. Team development goals should align with the organization’s objectives and address the specific needs identified in the assessment phase. Break larger objectives into smaller milestones to keep up momentum and track progress. Include your team in the goal-setting process to ensure that all team members understand the goals and are committed to achieving them.

3. Create a Development Plan

Develop a comprehensive plan that outlines the steps, tasks, resources, and timelines needed to achieve your team development goals. Include applicable training programs, workshops, coaching sessions, and other strategic interventions. Think of this as a roadmap. Research and map out what must happen to get your team to the finish line. Just like with goal setting, including your team in the process will help bring them along.

4. Evaluate Progress

Regularly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your team development initiatives using KPI metrics and team feedback to measure progress and identify areas for further improvement. Celebrate achievements, big and small, and address challenges promptly.

Utilize feedback loops to foster a consistent flow of both qualitative and quantitative data. For example, surveying team members before and/or after formal team building sessions can help measure the effectiveness of these activities, and how to continuously improve them going forward.

5. Lead the Way

If you want your team to continue to grow and improve their performance, you must promote a culture where continuous learning and improvement are valued. Encourage team members to seek out opportunities for growth, share knowledge, and support each other’s development. This begins with the leader modeling desired behaviors and celebrating progress.

Additionally, team members must feel psychologically safe to participate in the process, for example, healthy conflict resolution and team building. Team members are more likely participate and give honest and meaningful feedback if they do not fear negative consequences for doing so, whether from their peers or their leader. Thus, it’s important to lead the way by modeling vulnerability, fostering open communication, and demonstrating a commitment to continuous learning. By setting the example, leaders can foster a culture where growth, trust, and collaboration thrive.

Conclusion

Team development is a vital component of organizational success. By understanding and appreciating the benefits, and implementing a structured approach, you can create engaged, high-performing teams that drive long-term success.

Strengths-Based Team Development

We streamline the process with customized development plans, team coaching, and curated activities.

• Improve team engagement, communication, and collaboration
• Identify and develop team and individual strengths
• Enable team members to form powerful partnerships
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing team culture

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But how do we develop great leaders?

With so many wonderful leadership development programs, competency models, and assessment tools available, it can be hard to choose. Having spent a decade utilizing many of these resources as both a facilitator and participant, I believe that a strengths-based approach provides unique versatile benefits for both the participants and company. But it doesn’t need to replace your favorite development strategies. Rather, it can complement them by helping people develop self-awareness and motivation to practice new behaviors and apply authentic leadership skills in the real world.

What is Strengths-Based Development?

Born from positive psychology, strengths-based development focuses on abilities and capacities rather than deficits.

Traditional performance evaluations often grade competencies with a focus on improving lesser areas, or “fixing weaknesses”. While it’s essential to understand and address weaknesses, a strengths-based approach empowers people to develop natural talents as tools to achieve goals and overcome weaknesses.

Picture a manager that is naturally talented at relationship building but struggles with strategic problem solving. When the focus is to fix weaknesses, the manager will spend time and energy trying to improve their problem-solving skills, which may or may not have the desired impact on their day-to-day ability (depends on the manager’s capacity combined with the company’s training & development effectiveness).

Alternatively, a strengths approach encourages the manager to refine their natural relational skills as a tool for solving problems, overcoming the “weakness”. For example, collaborating with strong strategic thinkers to tackle complex problems. It allows the manager to feel more fulfilled along the way by spending more time working in strength areas while simultaneously learning from others and actively solving real problems in the workplace.

Whether you’re seeking development for yourself, your team, or your workforce, here are 5 major benefits of adopting a strengths-based development approach:

1. Authenticity

There is a difference between mimicking behaviors and developing skills. If you’ve ever failed a New Year’s resolution in the first few weeks of the year, you know that it’s quite challenging to change habitual behaviors, even when we really want to! How likely do you think you are to be successful in changing your behaviors long-term if they don’t align with your values, natural talent, motivations, abilities, or personality?

Earlier in my career, I frequently promoted team members into leadership roles—it was one of the most fulfilling parts of my job. One promotion, however, taught me an unforgettable lesson about the importance of authentic leadership.

This individual had natural relational and managerial talents, paired with a warm and friendly demeanor. Their strong rapport with the team made us confident that the transition would be seamless. But just weeks later, I hardly recognized them. Gone was their colorful, upbeat, positive presence. Instead, they were dressed in all black, carrying an uncharacteristically serious demeanor. The atmosphere in the workplace had shifted dramatically, from vibrant and engaged to gloomy and tense.

It didn’t take long to uncover the issue. The manager was mimicking their boss, a highly respected leader with a completely different leadership style—serious, formal, and stoic. Both the manager and their boss believed that replicating these behaviors was the key to great leadership. After all, it worked for the boss! Unfortunately, this clashed with the manager’s natural strengths and personality.

The result? Frustration and stress rippled through the workplace. The manager felt inauthentic and overwhelmed, the manager’s boss struggled to mentor someone so unlike themselves, and the team’s morale suffered under the weight of misaligned leadership.

Leadership isn’t about copying someone else’s style; it’s about understanding and leaning into your own. A strengths approach empowers people to develop leadership competencies through a lens that aligns with who they are. Thus, maximizing potential and likelihood of long-term success.

2. Engagement & Wellbeing

People that have the opportunity to use their strengths at work are six times more likely to be engaged and three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life (Gallup®). When we’re able to do what we do best, we feel more connected to our work and experience greater fulfillment.

Engagement is also a key factor for learning & development. Adults learn more effectively (and are more motivated to learn) when they’re genuinely interested in the material. Leadership development is no exception. A strengths approach helps create an individualized experience by empowering participants to learn more about themselves. This personalized aspect boosts engagement by making the learning process more relevant and meaningful. Participants gain insights that not only help them excel in their current roles, but also prepare them for future opportunities and challenges, extending beyond the workplace, positively impacting their lives.

3. Performance & Productivity

It’s no secret that engaged employees perform better and stay at the company longer. But engagement alone isn’t enough to overcome a lack of knowledge or ability. Throughout my experience in learning & development programs, I have witnessed participants become inspired by new concepts, eager to take action, and genuinely committed to personal and team growth. Yet, many struggle with one critical question: How do I practically apply this in my role?

A strengths-based approach can elevate development and performance management programs by providing a clear and actionable framework. It introduces a common language for setting goals and creating development plans—not just for self-development, but also for leaders and managers tasked with fostering growth within their teams.

This approach offers a practical pathway for leaders to reflect, learn, and practice new behaviors that enhance their abilities. By focusing on their strengths, leaders can improve their performance, achieve meaningful goals, and grow targeted skill sets.

4. Team Dynamics

Have you ever thought something was common sense, then felt frustrated when others didn’t share the same perspective? This is a natural bias—we assume that others see the world the way we do. In reality, we all learn different, process thoughts different, grow up in different cultures, and have different values.

In the workplace, we may expect others to share our abilities or capacities, particularly when comparing ourselves to peers or leaders. The result? Frustration, miscommunication, and even animosity.

You’ve likely experienced how easily team conflict can hinder productivity and create uncomfortable workplace cultures. This conflict exists at all levels of a business, whether you lead individual contributors, managers, or executives. It’s human nature.

A strengths-based approach flips this narrative. It encourages individuals to recognize and value the unique strengths of others. Rather than viewing differences as obstacles, team members learn to celebrate them as assets. By focusing on individual and team strengths, these activities can foster a greater sense of collaboration and mutual respect.

5. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a crucial leadership skill that extends far beyond having empathy and managing your own emotions. Emotionally intelligent leaders are self-aware, with a better understanding of who they are, their natural leadership style, values, and how these influence their beliefs, behaviors, and emotional responses. They are also socially aware and recognize how their emotions and actions affect the people around them—through decision-making, communication, perceptions, and expectations. This makes them better equipped to manage conflict, build productive working relationships, drive change, and inspire teams to accomplish shared objectives.

The foundation of EQ is self-awareness. You need to know yourself before you can effectively manage yourself and others. Strengths-based development helps build self-awareness with scientifically backed assessments like CliftonStrengths®, self-reflection, and other resources to help people learn more about themselves, and how to utilize that knowledge to improve their communication, influence change, make better leadership decisions, and so much more!

The Case for Strengths-Based Leadership Development

Leaders don’t become great by spending all of their energy trying squeeze into a perfect leadership mold. They become great by understanding who they are and learning how to utilize their strengths to achieve goals, overcome weaknesses, build trust, and inspire change. By empowering leaders to focus on what they naturally do best, organizations can foster engaged, high-performing, collaborative workplaces that are more effective and provide better experiences for everyone involved. At Leading For Tomorrow, we are passionate about helping leaders in all stages of their journeys discover and lean into their natural leadership talents.

The information contained on this website is not sanctioned or endorsed by Gallup®, Inc. Opinions, views, and interpretations of the CliftonStrengths® or business advice provided, are solely the beliefs of Leading For Tomorrow LLC. Gallup®, CliftonStrengths®, StrengthsFinder®, and the 34 theme names of CliftonStrengths® are trademarks of Gallup®, Inc. All rights reserved. To learn more about CliftonStrengths®, please visit Gallup Access.

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When feedback is done well, it can elevate engagement, build trust and excitement for the future, and inspire people to accomplish great things. When done poorly or not at all, it can negatively affect team and individual performance, damage trust and morale, and hinder development.

Have you ever avoided giving constructive feedback?

Whether we don’t want to upset someone, or don’t feel confident in our ability to communicate it well, or perhaps we simply haven’t made it a priority, it happens a lot.

Fear not!

The great news is that the solution to feeling more comfortable giving constructive feedback is to give more positive feedback! If that sounds counterproductive, keep reading. This article will provide some tips and best practices on how to confidently give and receive feedback that balances encouragement, accountability, and development.

The importance of feedback

It’s no secret that feedback helps drive employee engagement. Gallup’s engagement survey results showed that 80% of employees that received meaningful feedback in the last week were also fully engaged (Harter, 2024). In fact, according to the SHRM, continuous feedback programs have been trending in the workplace as a replacement for failing performance management systems (O’Connell, 2020).

Research on these continuous feedback methods suggests that while both quantitative and qualitative feedback contribute to performance improvements, qualitative feedback (from a person) was more effective in enhancing motivation and engagement (Giamos, et al., 2023). Basically, your team needs more than automated KPIs and data analytics. They need some human motivation!

Tailor it to your audience

The quickest way to meet your team’s expectations is to ask them what their expectations are. Asking the simple question of “how do you like to receive feedback?” is a great icebreaker and foundation for engaging in these types of conversations.

Consider these other variables that can impact how your feedback is perceived:

• Context and place. Is the feedback more appropriate for the team or 1:1? If it’s negative and doesn’t apply to most of the room, it probably shouldn’t be delivered to the room. Giving negative feedback in front of others can cause stress, embarrassment, and damage trust, which are all counterproductive for performance and engagement. If it’s positive feedback, consider that some people love being recognized in front of their peers, yet it makes others feel uncomfortable. Ask them.
• Delivery method. In person? Phone? Zoom? Email? Text? The perceived meaning of our communication can change drastically based on tone, body language, and how we phrase things. And yes, emails have a tone. Thus, the words you say can be different than what your body language and/or tone is saying.
• Frequency. Don’t confuse feedback with micromanagement. Feedback isn’t helpful if it isn’t meaningful. If you’re giving “feedback” several times a day you may be unknowingly creating a sense of being watched over the shoulder.

Tip: While acknowledging one person in front a group, remember that your audience is bigger than the one person receiving the feedback.

Highlight the good stuff

It’s easier to give constructive feedback when you consistently give positive feedback. In fact, most of the feedback you give should be positive and focused on strength areas. Positive reinforcement is real. When you point out what someone is doing well, it motivates them to keep doing it.

A common mistake is to assume that people know exactly what they do well and how their actions impact the big picture. When someone exhibits behaviors or actions that move the team or objective forward, tell them! Celebrate small wins, ask people to share best practices, and thank people for their contributions. Be specific. Here are a few examples:

• A simple thank you goes a long way. “Thank you so much for your hard work in organizing this event! Your leadership and project management skills were integral in making this event a success for everyone. Looking forward to hearing your best practices and feedback for future events”.
• Appreciation of strengths. “Great job with the presentation today. You have a natural talent for storytelling! Your use of metaphors kept me engaged and able to visualize the subject matter. I’m looking forward to your future presentations!”. Notice how this example not only shows appreciation for a talent, but also provides a specific example of how this talent provided value.
• Ask them to share best practices. When people are really good at doing something, it can be so natural that they sometimes don’t consciously plan it out. Asking them to share best practices is a great way to recognize them while also providing an opportunity for them to reflect on the experience to articulate which skills or behaviors attributed to their success (and consider what they might do differently in the future).

Tip: Employees expect to be shown appreciation for the contributions they know they are making. Boost morale and engagement by also pointing out achievements or contributions that aren’t as obvious.

Make it timely

Do not wait for performance reviews and formal evaluations. These should supplement ongoing feedback. The better you get at giving feedback, the less surprised people will be to see their performance review results. Imagine thinking you’ve been doing great for 6-12 months, but you receive a mediocre review that doesn’t align with any of your day-to-day conversations you’ve been having with your boss for the past year.

When evaluations don’t match the employee’s perception of their own performance, it can cause the employee to question whether their manager recognizes, appreciates, and understands their abilities and contributions.

Timeliness is also important to ensure both parties remember the events accurately. Talking about it while it’s still fresh allows people to reflect on the situation to gain a better understanding. Of course, it’s not always appropriate to share in real time, for example, in front of peers or customers. If it’s not an emergency, take note to discuss it when appropriate.

Tip: Incorporate regular 1:1 interactions with team members to ask questions like “what is going well?”, “what is not going well?”, and “what can I do to support you in your role?”. These types of questions can help bring out challenges and pain points organically, creating a more comfortable conversation that helps both parties understand how to create positive change moving forward.

Focus on behavior, not personality

One of the reasons we get uncomfortable with constructive feedback is because all too often it is delivered and/or perceived as an attack on our character. Of course, it’s uncomfortable to tell someone that they need to be more of a “team player”, for example. This is a vague topic that can be perceived as a personality flaw and can easily be taken offensively.

Focus on specific behaviors and actions. For example:

• Personality focused: “You’re domineering during meetings. It’s frustrating for the rest of the team when you’re frequently interrupting.”
• Behavior focused: “During our meeting yesterday, you interrupted your colleagues multiple times while they were speaking. This behavior can be disruptive to the flow of the discussion and make others feel unheard.”

Tip: Approach feedback conversations as a learning and development opportunity, rather than a disciplinary conversation.

Make it future-oriented

What’s done is done. No one wants or needs their boss to point out every mistake in the name of giving feedback. Focus on the future and inspire them to confidently move forward. Let’s go back to our behavior-focused example:

• Behavior focused: “During our team meeting yesterday, you interrupted your colleagues multiple times while they were speaking. This type of behavior can be disruptive to the flow of the discussion and make others feel unheard…”
• Future-oriented: “…While I very much appreciate your enthusiasm and participation, I want to ensure that meetings are welcoming for everyone. Do you have any other ideas or feedback about how we can improve our productivity and communication in future meetings?”

People are more likely to be successful in changing their behavior if they feel optimistic about the next steps, rather than worried and/or defeated. Feedback should feel like a stepping stone, not a road block.

Tip: Practice treating feedback as a dialogue, not a monologue.

Normalize it

Wouldn’t it be great if your team had a habit of asking you and their peers for feedback? This is possible! It’s not an overnight process, and requires some strategic change, but normalizing the process of giving and receiving feedback can help make these conversations less uncomfortable for everyone.

To encourage this within your team or workplace culture, a few things need to be true:

• People must feel psychologically safe to share opinions, ideas, feedback, etc. This includes the ability to admit mistakes. To be clear, some mistakes do require disciplinary action. Those aren’t the types of mistakes I’m talking about. I’m talking about fostering an environment where people can comfortably share or ask for feedback without fear of judgement or negative consequences. A team philosophy in which continuous improvement is a normal part of the learning & development process.
• People need opportunities to do it. People need to be empowered and equipped to take action. Two-way communication processes like scheduled check-ins, brainstorming sessions, 360 reviews, surveys, and development opportunities can help foster open communication. Consistent informal conversations from the leader encourages participation and complements the learning process.
• People need to see it modeled by their leader. It begins with you. Modeling the behaviors you wish to see is crucial. People tend to mimic the actions of their leaders more than the words they say. Ask your team for feedback, share what you’ve learned, and celebrate growth.

Tip: While asking others for feedback or ideas, consider that not everyone will be able to answer on the spot. Providing multiple ways to respond, and some time to think about their answers will help encourage people to participate and provide more meaningful feedback.

Where to start

I hope you’ve gained some valuable insights about how to feel more confident giving and receiving feedback. I challenge you to pick one action that you’ll start doing now. It begins with you!

Normalizing feedback within the workplace often requires behavior and belief changes. Respect the process and remember that everyone is different. Additionally, keep in mind that forced feedback sessions without feeling safe can lead to stressful environments and inaccurate feedback. Before you involve your team, consider taking the time to assess and build a communication and change strategy. I can help you! Submit a Service Inquiry.

The better you get at making employees feel appreciated for their contributions, normalizing feedback, and supporting two-way communication, the easier it will be to give constructive feedback (and the less you’ll have to do it!).

Good luck!

References

Giamos, D., Doucet, O., & Léger, P. M. (2023). Continuous Performance Feedback: Investigating the Effects of Feedback Content and Feedback Sources on Performance, Motivation to Improve Performance and Task Engagement. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01608061.2023.2238029

Harter, J. (2023). Gallup. A Great Manager’s Most Important Habit (gallup.com)

O’Connell, B. (2020). SHRM. Transforming Performance Management into Continuous Feedback (shrm.org)

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