Sail through the stages of teaming

The most successful companies around the world are reorganising to drive their growth strategies.

Microsoft successfully transitioned from traditional software sales to a cloud-based subscription model (e.g., Azure), driven by the rapid advancement of cloud technology. Unilever is adapting its business model to meet environmental sustainability goals and societal expectations around ethical sourcing. And Tesla, as a leader in electric vehicles, operates in an even more regulated and technologically advanced industry.

These shifts have only been possible by nurturing talent, developing them into highly adaptable and high-performing teams.

To replicate this success, it is essential to understand how teams develop.

Dependency and Inclusion, Counterdependency and Fight, Trust and Structure, and Work and Productivity. The stages involve forming with reliance on leadership, experiencing conflict for growth, developing trust and structure, and eventually becoming self-sufficient in achieving goals.

Although some teams may regress or skip stages, most follow this general pattern, culminating in a necessary termination phase for reflection and closure.

It is important that meta-skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence be embedded in creating adaptive, high-performing teams. 

What experiential learning does—you throw teams into the deep end of uncertainty and help them apply skills such as resilience and decision-making under pressure—is what makes teams better sail across uncertainty and embrace innovation. In so doing, it ensures a culture of continuous learning, making adaptability a key success factor for the long term.