Success as an Introvert For Dummies

Chapter 6

Keeping a Team Happy and Productive

In This Chapter

Identifying the five stages of team development

Leading successfully through each stage

In today’s business world, it’s all about teamwork — and the higher you go in your career, the more often you head up teams.

Getting tapped to head a team is an honor, because it shows that your company sees you as a strong leader. But heading a team can also be a bit of a challenge for you as an introvert. To keep your team on target, you need to project assertiveness — something that can be tricky for a quiet person. You also need to speak up (probably more than you want) to communicate your expectations. In addition, you need to guide your team through conflicts, troubleshoot when they encounter problems, and reward them when your project comes to a close.

In this chapter, I offer advice to help you ace these team-building skills. First, I talk about the five stages that nearly all teams go through. After that, I tell you how to keep your team happy and productive in each one of these stages.

Understanding the Stages of Team Development

No two teams are exactly alike, but most teams evolve in similar ways. Years ago, psychologist Bruce Tuckman and his colleagues laid out the five typical stages of a team’s evolution, which I outline ...