About six weeks ago, I had a revelation about our program.<\/p>\n
Two months into JuntoIII, we had several conversations and experiences that were challenging. An Apprentice questioned whether a particular Mentor was appropriate for their company. Another Mentor hadn\u2019t shown up to two of three meetings. A repeat Instructor didn\u2019t do nearly as well on this year\u2019s evaluation scores compared to last year\u2019s. And there were more such occurrences.<\/p>\n
What was the revelation? That this was normal.<\/p>\n
We had already completed two full cohorts lasting nine months. And in both of them, we experienced a number of similarly challenging moments. After all, when dozens of people come together as complete strangers, there are bound to be problems, right?<\/p>\n
Well, it wasn\u2019t that simple. Instead, I realized that Junto is built on group dynamics and teamwork. A company’\u2019s leadership\u00a0team<\/em>\u00a0participates in the program. The JuntoForum is a\u00a0roundtable<\/em>\u00a0of peer entrepreneurs and leaders. Six JuntoMentors are matched with each company, five of whom function\u00a0together<\/em>\u00a0as a MentorTeam. At the twelve JuntoClasses,\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0the leadership teams from\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0the companies come\u00a0together<\/em>.<\/p>\n So with the omnipresence of group dynamics and teamwork comes the fact that our program is subject to the same stages of development that any group goes through: forming, storming, norming, and performing. This model of group development is known as Tuckman\u2019s Teamwork Theory, conceived in 1965 by Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist. It remains widely used and followed, especially in business and therapy settings. And while we didn\u2019t think about it during the design of the Junto curriculum, it\u2019s become obvious to us that Tuckman\u2019s Theory applies to our program.<\/p>\n Below is a description of each of the four stages followed by how we have observed Tuckman\u2019s Theory applied to Junto. At the conclusion, I lay out what I believe companies’\u00a0leadership teams can learn from this model and how they can use it proactively.<\/p>\n The first stage of a group\u2019s development is marked by \u201corientation, testing, and dependence.\u201d The members get to know one another, watching and listening, as they learn what their task and objectives are. This stage is often marked by hope, anxiety, and curiosity and provides a baseline for the future development of the group.<\/p>\n At Junto, we\u2019ve found that the first few weeks of the nine-month program is our Forming stage. Everyone is getting to know one another, and there\u2019s a great deal of excitement, optimism, and energy. Some of the Apprentices, new Mentors, and new Instructors hold back a bit, watching and listening as they get comfortable in our community. People ask a lot of \u201chow do we\u2026?\u201d questions, attend virtually every Junto session and social gathering, and have boundless energy.<\/p>\n The second stage of Tuckman\u2019s Theory is marked by \u201cintragroup conflict\u201d and an \u201cemotional response to task demands\u201d. Group members often respond with resistance to ideas, friction to peers, and rebelliousness to procedures. People are trying to understand how they fit into the grander scheme and may doubt whether the group will ever function.<\/p>\n At Junto, the Storming stage typically occurs during months two and three. This is when we\u2019ve experienced the moments described in the opening of this post. Apprentices start feeling the impact of the time investment, much like when your muscles ache after pushing a workout into new territory, or express concern that they\u2019re not leveraging the program to its potential.<\/p>\n Newer Mentors and Instructors may show mild frustration with the JuntoWay, such as how we start and end\u00a0every<\/em>session on time, ask that cell phones are put away, or don\u2019t allow advice-giving but rely instead on shared experiences. And even seasoned Mentors may get frustrated with why the company they\u2019re mentoring does things a certain way, or hasn\u2019t thought about some very \u201cobvious\u201d strategies.<\/p>\n In this stage, group members become comfortable expressing themselves openly yet with courtesy. Attentive listening becomes more commonplace, and a higher level of cohesiveness develops in the group. Individuals may begin to adopt specific roles in the group (leader, devil\u2019s advocate, question-asker, etc.) and mutual respect tends to emerge.<\/p>\n During the fourth and fifth months, virtually everyone in the JuntoTribe settles into the routine. People have gotten to know one another, understand each other\u2019s business, and begin to appreciate how the program operates. Apprentices take greater initiative and know what kinds of questions to ask, and Mentors are more comfortable being candid in meetings. It\u2019s also during this stage that we begin hearing positive feedback\u00a0about the program, and the impact it\u2019s having on the companies and their teams.<\/p>\n In the \u201cfinal\u201d stage of group development, there is an increasing amount of action being taken. While people settle into their functional roles, they also begin to see the flexibility among those roles, enabling members to swap temporarily or provide support to those areas in need. Simply put, groups in the Performing stage use their structure effectively to get things done.<\/p>\n At Junto, we\u2019ve experienced that the companies enter this stage sometime in months 4-6 and then stay in it.\u00a0They take the program even more seriously, increasingly implementing strategies and tactics they learn from the experiences of Mentors and Instructors. And in turn, Mentors and Instructors are also far more effective at sharing their past experiences, helping the companies fully optimize their JuntoExperience.<\/p>\n Small, growing companies are like roller coasters – lots of twists and turns and lots of ups and downs. This turbulence and volatility is greatest during the first few years and while it may slow down, it virtually never goes away.<\/p>\n Through all of it, there are people coming and going, teams forming and breaking up, and people switching roles faster than business cards can be printed. As a result, I question how likely it is for teams in young, growing companies\u00a0to even get to the norming, much less the performing, stage.<\/p>\n This is because I believe that Tuckman\u2019s Team Theory requires a certain level of organizational stability. As much as the leadership of a growth-stage\u00a0company wants high performance from all of its teams, the mere fact that they have a fast-changing organization makes it difficult for that to happen (assuming that Tuckman\u2019s Theory is valid, of course).<\/p>\n Now that we are aware of what happens at Junto with our program, here are the things we plan to do starting with future companies along with how other founders and leaders can apply\u00a0Tuckman’s Theory to their companies.<\/p>\n Tell teams what to expect.<\/strong>\u00a0I would share Tuckman\u2019s Theory with any and all workgroups so that they\u2019re aware of such group dynamics. We have already decided that we\u2019re going to include this topic in the orientation session we hold when a new cohort begins.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Make the next stage the group\u2019s next goal.<\/strong>\u00a0Great salespeople stay focused on getting their prospect to the next stage in the sales funnel. They only worry about the close when it happens to be the next stage. In a similar fashion,\u00a0CEOs and their C-level peers can encourage teams to simply get to the next stage\u00a0while<\/em>\u00a0making progress as a team. Too often, I\u2019ve experienced team leaders wanting the team to go straight from forming to performing. Again, assuming Tuckman\u2019s Theory is valid, that just can\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Embrace storming.<\/strong>\u00a0Since we\u2019re already planning to tell our companies what stages to expect, the awareness will already be there. By sharing that, we expect that we\u2019ll have common language to discuss what\u2019s actually happening, and that our goal is to get to the norming stage. Again, based on our experience, we know that will happen, making the storming stage less worrisome. And because we know that it\u2019s incredibly difficult to get to norming, given the turbulence and volatility of growth-stage\u00a0companies, I would position it more as a challenge than just a goal. And I would be very active in checking in with the team to hear specific examples of how it\u2019s storming and how they plan to weather the stage.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n In my view, the biggest challenge for any company leader is to remain mindful of how difficult it is for teams to get to the norming and performing stages. Being aware of this process, and the theory upon which it’s based, can help such entrepreneurs\u00a0better manage expectations\u00a0and, ultimately, help them become better leaders.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0487.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1212,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions\/1212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejuntoinstitute.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}FORMING<\/strong><\/h5>\n
STORMING<\/strong><\/h5>\n
NORMING<\/strong><\/h5>\n
PERFORMING<\/strong><\/h5>\n
LEADERSHIP & TUCKMAN\u2019S THEORY<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n