Customer Relationships: Storming (Phase 2)
Stella Pop - Building Successful Relationships
Forming was Phase 1. Phase 2 of customer relationships StellaPop-style is Storming. The storming phase may not be as chaotic or uncomfortable as it sounds. Every group/team will storm…this is where different ideas compete for consideration. The team raises and addresses issues such as what problems they are really supposed to solve, how they will function independently and together and what leadership model they will develop and accept. Team members will open up comparing and contrasting each other’s ideas and perspectives. In some cases storming can be resolved quickly. In others, the team never leaves this stage. Often the maturity level of team members determines whether the team will ever move out of this stage. Some team members will focus on minutiae to evade real issues. Team leaders emerge and must deal with this evasion.
It is important to note that the storming stage is necessary for the team to grow. It can be contentious, unpleasant and even painful to members of the team who are averse to conflict. Tolerance of each team member and their differences needs to be emphasized. Without tolerance and patience the team will fail. This phase can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation if allowed to get out of control.
Supervisors of the team during this phase may be more accessible but tend to still need to be directive in their guidance of decision-making and professional behavior. The groups will therefore resolve their differences and group members will be able to participate with one another more comfortably and they won’t feel that they are being judged in any way and will therefore share their own opinions and views.
