A white water rafting team completes its course. Image by JulianOMarini courtesy Pixabay.com.
Probably the best-known and most widely used group development model is Tuckman's four-stage model — also known as "Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing." [Tuckman 1965] It was later enhanced to add a fifth stage, Adjourning. [Tuckman & Jensen 1977] The model is broadly useful, but there are some tricky bits. One of those is understanding how Storming works for task-oriented work groups. For a brief review of Tuckman and Jensen's model, see "Tuckman's Model and Joint Leadership Teams," Point Lookout for January 18, 2023.
Some have proposed that a useful metaphor for Storming in group development is a stretch of white water in a rafting trip down a river. The metaphor does have some value. And it can also be misleading, because there are differences between a task-oriented work group in the Storming stage and a group of white water rafters heading down an angry, turbulent river. In this post I explore just a few of those differences.
I begin by clarifying what I mean by task-oriented work group. Task-oriented work groups are variants of what Tuckman called groups that operate in a natural-group setting. There are differences between a
task-oriented work group in the
Storming stage and a group of
white water rafters heading
down an angry, turbulent riverFor Tuckman, natural groups included what we today would call, for example, task forces. More examples: teams, project teams, red teams, review panels, boards, or even just work groups. Tuckman explains, "Presidential advisory councils and industrial groups represent examples of natural groups." With this definition in hand, let's compare the Storming stage of development of a task-oriented work group to what happens in a group engaged in the adventure of a white water rafting trip.
| In rafting… | In Task-Oriented Work Groups… |
|---|---|
| Rafting guides know very well what's up ahead. On any given trip, the guide might have taken that very trip just yesterday or even this morning. | The metaphor is misleading about risk. Organizational leaders — executives, managers, project managers, and scrum masters — might know more about what lies ahead than some group members do, but unlike the rafting guide, they can't see the future perfectly or in enough detail to eliminate nearly all risk. |
| The stretches of white water — the metaphorical "challenges" — almost always occur in the same order and with unchanged spacing between them. When changes do occur, they usually occur on a time scale much longer than the time scale of the rafting trip. | Knowing the order of the challenges we face is an invaluable aid to planners. They use that information to arrange for the right resources to be available at the right times. Although we might have this kind of information for a rafting trip, we certainly don't have it for most of the projects we work on. |
| People very rarely join the rafting group in the middle of the trip. | Many task-oriented work groups must deal with the consequences of people joining the team in mid-task, to replace someone who was needed elsewhere, or to provide skills that are needed for a specific subtask, or to provide an extra pair of hands. |
| People very rarely intentionally get out of the raft in the middle of the trip. | In many organizations, people belong to several teams. And they cycle in and out depending on what work is scheduled for a particular time period. For example, specialists might work intensively with Team A in July and August, and then move to Team B to help them with something else. In effect, with respect to Team A, they become inactive until January, when the work they did in summer is due to be tested as an element of a larger system that won't be ready for testing until January. In short, team rosters can be unstable, not only by chance, but also by plan. |
| In white water rafting, there are no do-overs. The raft goes in one direction only and that's downstream. | We sometimes repeat work, when we discover something that requires it, or when our objectives change, or when requirements change, or when schedules change. |
| Two raft crews never decide to merge into one crew and then get rid of one raft and fire one of the raft guides. | Project teams, departments, and entire enterprises sometimes join together and reorganize. These structural changes really have no parallel in rafting trips, except possibly in emergency rescues. |
Last words
Metaphors might seem at first to provide useful insights about the systems they represent. But take care not to identify too closely with a metaphor. 
Top
Occasionally we have the experience of belonging to a great team. Thrilling as it is, the experience is rare. In part, it's rare because we usually strive only for adequacy, not for greatness. We do this because we don't fully appreciate the returns on greatness. Not only does it feel good to be part of great team — it pays off. Check out my Great Teams Workshop to lead your team onto the path toward greatness. More info
Footnotes
Your comments are welcome
Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrentSgXnAlNVWlhxNIJner@ChacAtZoEYrrmofzZnjPoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.About Point Lookout
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and
found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.
This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.
Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.
Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.
Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.
Related articles
More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:
Make Space for Serendipity- Serendipity in project management is rare, in part, because we're under too much pressure to see it.
If we can reduce the pressure, wonderful things happen.
Films Not About Project Teams: II- Here's Part II of a list of films and videos about project teams that weren't necessarily meant to be
about project teams. Most are available to borrow from the public library, and all are great fun.
Give Me the Bad News First- I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that if you wait long enough, there will be some bad
news. The good news is that the good news helps us deal with the bad news. And it helps a lot more if
we get the bad news first.
How to Ruin Meetings- Much has been written about how to conduct meetings effectively. Here are some reliable techniques for
doing something else altogether.
Wacky Words of Wisdom- Words of wisdom are so often helpful that many of them have solidified into easily remembered capsules.
We do tend to over-generalize them, though, and when we do, trouble follows. Here are a few of the more
dangerous ones.
See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
![Pair of Wooden Shoes [right] (Sabots)](../images/thumbnails/sabots-gaugin.png "Pair of Wooden Shoes [right] (Sabots)")
Coming June 4: White-Collar Contractor Sabotage- Modern firms in competitive, dynamic markets draw on many types of employer/employee relationships, including contractors. By providing privileges and perks preferentially among these different types, they risk creating a caldron of resentments that can reduce organizational effectiveness. Available here and by RSS on June 4.
And on June 11: More Things I've Learned Along the Way: VI- When I gain an important insight, or when I learn a lesson, I make a note. Example: If you're interested in changing how a social construct operates, knowing how it came to be the way it is can be much less useful than knowing what keeps it the way it is. Available here and by RSS on June 11.
Coaching services
I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrentSgXnAlNVWlhxNIJner@ChacAtZoEYrrmofzZnjPoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.
Get the ebook!
Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:
- Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
- Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
- Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
- Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
- Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
- Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )
Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info
Follow Rick
Recommend this issue to a friend
Send an email message to a friend
rbrentSgXnAlNVWlhxNIJner@ChacAtZoEYrrmofzZnjPoCanyon.comSend a message to Rick
A Tip A Day feed
Point Lookout weekly feed
My blog, Technical Debt for Policymakers, offers
resources, insights, and conversations of interest to policymakers who are concerned with managing
technical debt within their organizations. Get the millstone of technical debt off the neck of your
organization!
Bad boss, long commute, troubling ethical questions, hateful colleague? Learn what we can do when we
love the work but not the job.Learn how to make your virtual global team sing.Are you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or
maybe even outright revolt?Learn how to make meetings more productive — and more rare.