At some point this week you will possibly feel low, maybe feel a little glum. You will speak to someone on the phone and they’ll be all ‘doom and gloom’, you’ll speak to a colleague and they’ll be grey, you’ll maybe even have a wobble yourself at some point.
Why?
Where did last week’s positivity for this new working style go? Everything was so positive, we were in it together, we were embracing tech like Zoom/MS Teams etc and we still felt like part of our work communities. Where did the ‘this is easy from home’ go? Where did that ongoing business confidence go?
It didn't go anywhere
5 minutes before I was about to start our company Monday Morning Meeting, it occurred to me that I’ve experienced this before. Where was it, what was it, how can I describe this period to the team?
And there it was, I drew it quickly on my notepad ready to push in front of my laptop camera…
Tuckman’s stages of group development. Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Normally we refer to this for the stages that teams go through in growth, but it’s relevant to NOW:
Forming
We come together, it’s all new, we’re apprehensive but excited, and we stay fairly ‘middle of the road’ with our interactions and opinions.
Storming
We’re now letting our true feelings out, we’re not so excited about this ‘new’ anymore, we’re telling people ‘how it is’, we’re not sure of our place in the environment, we’re worried and our worry manifests in negativity/petulance/fear/reluctance.
Norming
We got through all of that Storming stuff and we’re feeling ok, this is normal now, we know how things work, we know who we trust, we know what our shared goals are, we know how we can impact our team goals. We’re OK with this.
Performing
We’re great at this, our worlds are great at this, we have so much more to give, we love this place, “Let’s ‘ave it!”
Last week was ‘Forming’, and this week is ‘Storming’. Last week was new and exciting, this week we have to do it all again and doing it all again doesn’t feel new anymore and maybe not so exciting.
It’s OK to have a little wobble this week, it’s perfectly normal as we’re experiencing ‘Storming’. Console yourself that next week or the week after will be ‘Norming’ and in a few weeks we’ll be ‘Performing’.
So, when you have a call this week where the other person isn’t full of the joys of spring, when your colleague is a bit glum, when you have a momentary dark thought, it’s OK. Forgive the person on the phone, forgive your colleague, forgive yourself; it’s fine…it’s great in fact. The world isn’t falling apart, we’re just in the Storming phase; we have to have this phase in order to then Norm and then Perform.
Enjoy the bump because what comes next is brilliant.
Embrace, Smile and Keep Going.
