Storming Stage of Development: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Storming Stage of Development, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
About 1 minute
Try it here: pick the stage your team is in
Pick the stage that sounds most like your team today, so you can choose a leadership move that fits it.
Which stage is your team in right now?
Practices that may help
- Diagnose which stage your team is in
Name the stage you’re in before you pick a leadership response.
Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development - Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development
Bruce Tuckman’s model describes four stages every team moves through — Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing — before optionally Adjourning. The stages are a useful diagnostic map for leaders: friction in a new team is usually normal Storming, not a personnel problem. - Storming: name the conflict without taking sides
Surface the tension that’s already there rather than managing it away.
Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development - Recognize and recover from stage regression
A team that was Performing can drop back to Storming — and the recovery move is different from the original ascent.
Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development - Problem-solve together once the child is calm
After the emotional storm passes, invite the child to find a solution with you.
Emotion Coaching (John Gottman) - Forming: provide clarity before connection
In the first stage, a new team needs structure and purpose more than it needs team-building.
Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development - The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
Timothy Clark’s four-stage model holds that psychological safety develops in a predictable sequence: people first need to feel included, then safe to learn (make mistakes), then to contribute ideas, then to challenge the status quo. Skipping stages or pushing for challenger safety before inclusion is established typically backfires. The model is a practitioner framework grounded in Clark’s organizational consulting work and Edmondson’s foundational research. - Identify your current season honestly
Name the season you are actually in — not the one you want to be in or the one others expect.
Seasons of Life - Avoid level-jumping: build through each stage rather than skipping
Recognize when you’re bypassing a developmental level that still has unresolved challenges.
Spiral Dynamics, Made Practical - Iterate — treat the stages as a loop, not a line
Cycle back to earlier stages as testing reveals you framed the wrong problem.
Design Thinking, Step by Step
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My team feels off and I keep reacting to each flare-up as its own thing, but I can’t actually say what phase we’re in
- There’s real friction on my team
- We had a reorg — lost a key person, changed direction — and suddenly the team that used to hum is fighting and second-guessing again, and I’m treating it like they broke instead of seeing the ground shifted under them.
- The storm has finally passed and my kid is calm again, and I keep wanting to either just move on or fix the situation for them
- I just took over a brand-new team and everyone’s being polite and looking to me for everything
Related concerns
- Storming Stage
Surface the tension that’s already there rather than managing it away.
Storming: name the conflict without taking sides
- Bruce Tuckmans Team Development Model
Bruce Tuckman’s model describes four stages every team moves through — Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing — before optionally Adjourning. The stages are a useful diagnostic map for leaders: friction in a new team is usually normal Storming, not a personnel problem.
- Complete Each Stage Development
Cycle back to earlier stages as testing reveals you framed the wrong problem.
Iterate — treat the stages as a loop, not a line
- Example Of Storming Stage In Team Development
Surface the tension that’s already there rather than managing it away.
- Five Stage Group Development Model
Bruce Tuckman’s model describes four stages every team moves through — Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing — before optionally Adjourning. The stages are a useful diagnostic map for leaders: friction in a new team is usually normal Storming, not a personnel problem.
- Five Stages Of Group
Bruce Tuckman’s model describes four stages every team moves through — Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing — before optionally Adjourning. The stages are a useful diagnostic map for leaders: friction in a new team is usually normal Storming, not a personnel problem.
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