The facilitator coming into an established team needs to learn how the team operates and adapt to their established processes. Teams often have a sense of their visibility and accountability, and feel the pressure to move forward with greater intensity than most other groups. Teams need to maintain strong working relationships which involves much more effort to get to know each other personally, to understand each others' orientations and capabilities, and to work out differences among each other. Because of the importance of the positive interplay of people's intelligence and experience to team effectiveness, group dynamics and group process play a far greater role in determining team success than they do with more casual groups. As a facilitator, you need a sound understanding of group dynamics in order to be of real help when working with teams.
Teams have an especially challenging task in the early stages of their development.
Forming In which the members of the team meet one another and begin exploring their roles in the team, their relationship with one another as team members, and ideas about how the team will operate. Even if the team members already know each other, if they are just beginning to work in this team, the forming stage still occurs. Storming In which members of the team begin to understand their differences, encounter divergent ideas about their task, their roles, and the processes by which they will do their work. Norming In which the members of the team begin to recognize a common interest in the team and it task, develop common goals for the team, clarify roles of individuals within the team, and develop strategies for working together smoothly. Performing In which the members of the team work productively to achieve their goals and carry out their work.