Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing

As a student in the AFROTC I remember learning about leadership and group dynamics. Most of the lessons I learned have faded as I moved away from the military career route, but one model has stuck with me to this day. I think I still remember it because of how useful it has been in many facets of my life, and especially in writing.

First, I want to say something about intellectual models. Models help us understand something, but they aren't that thing. Models are simplified to the point that we can understand them. Simplification removes some truth. It doesn't make the model incorrect. It just means that we should understand that there is more there.

So this model is about teams and groups. It says that when a group comes together to accomplish a task, there are four main stages before they can really work together as a team.

• Forming - Forming is the group coming together. Your name has been drawn out of a hat, and now you go to meet your associates.
• Storming - After the group meets, there needs to be some sort of organization. If all members are equally ranked, then they'll naturally shuffle themselves around until a "leader" comes forward. Sometimes this is a power struggle, sometimes it's just a matter of who speaks first. Sometimes we try to skip this step and keep things calm. Having defined roles can help negate some of this struggle. But in the end it will happen, and if the team survives then it will be stronger. (With my personality type, I try to avoid this stage as much as possible even though I know the results are usually positive.) 
• Norming - This comes after the struggle. Everyone settle in to their place in the group. They may not be happy with it, but they know where they stand.
• Performing - Now the group works together and performs a job quicker and more effectively. They are a team.

You've seen this pattern before in nearly every sports movie, but it's also present in romantic comedies. In fact, if you graphed the progress linearly you might find something very similar to Freitag's pyramid. It's also how Piaget breaks down our encounter with new ideas(well, at a very basic level). Meet an idea, struggle with it, classify it, and then use it. But it's not a one time event. We are ever changing, ever meeting new ideas and people that we must struggle with.

Some of the strongest teams are formed from some of most adversarial people. Some of our best ideas are formed when our current ideas are challenged.

You can use this when creating relationships or teams. It even happens inside a single character. (Imagine a character who is lost in the forest and twists their ankle. They have to struggle until they figure out how to move forward in their new condition.) Which stage are they in when the story starts? Do they work together well throughout the whole story, or does something happen to throw off the balance so they have to storm a bit to find their norm again. Look at your own relationships or careers. Which stage are you in?