Team-building is vital in startups. We know that having an idea is not a sufficient condition for the success of a startup. In addition to the initial idea, you also need a team. A strong team that can make the startup successful. Building a team is not easy, and Funder Startup has a heavy responsibility at the beginning of the work. If someone is thinking about team formation and teamwork, it is unlikely that they will not have a glimpse of Bruce Tuckman’s model.
Bruce Tuckman has recommendations for funder startups at every stage of team formation. Knowing and applying them can bring your startup to its final destination. According to Tuckman, we are dealing with five steps in the startup team-building process. Each of these stages has its own difficulties.
On the whole In this article, we will examine Bruce Tuckman’s recommendations in each stage of team-building, including the step of formation, storm, norming, performance and termination. If you are a startup investor, I recommend you to read this text. However, I have written this text in such a way that it can help anyone in the team-building process.

Team-Building: First Step is Forming

For instance Bruce Tuckman’s model, taking into account the characteristics of the formation stage, offers recommendations for startups to pass through this stage. The lack of transparency of tasks and the difficulty of controlling the emotion of team members at this stage may cause complexity. Tuckman believes that by applying these recommendations, the formation stage can be passed lightly.

1. Before building a team and involving more people, write down the description of your tasks and the people you need.
2. Consider an organizational chart for your startup and avoid copying the organizational chart of other startups. Your startup is unique and has its own identity. Your startup, idea, team, and job market are your own. As a startup funder, you should be able to answer the following questions at this stage:

• What is my role as a startup funder? Leadership role? Leadership role? Being a mentor?
• Who should I start working with? Because the wise and informed selection of team members is vital.
• What is the future of my company? Am I dealing with a company of 10 or 1,000? What service will we offer?
• What is the organizational value of the company and startup? New members who will be added to the team must know these values and be loyal to them. The answer to this question is tied to the answer to the business goal question.

1. Before building a team and involving more people, write down the description of your tasks and the people you need.
2. Consider an organizational chart for your startup and avoid copying the organizational chart of other startups. Your startup is unique and has its own identity. Your startup, idea, team, and job market are your own. As a startup funder, you should be able to answer the following questions at this stage:

• What is my role as a startup funder? Leadership role? Leadership role? Being a mentor?
• Who should I start working with? Because the wise and informed selection of team members is vital.
• What is the future of my company? Am I dealing with a company of 10 or 1,000? What service will we offer?
• What is the organizational value of the company and startup? New members who will be added to the team must know these values and be loyal to them. The answer to this question is tied to the answer to the business goal question.

Definitely as a startup funder, if you want to set the principles of team-building as your model, you should be able to answer the question, what is the organizational value of your startup?

1. Professional team
2. Customer Orientation
3. Being a market unicorn
4. Fast customer service
5. Obtaining the largest target community in the desired service

Don’t look to grow your team. Especially when you haven’t built your MVP yet. So, you can build a startup with just three people.
Regarding number three, you should know that the decision may reach a 50–50 result in a situation where the team is two or four people. The combination of more than four members for a startup may make it difficult to manage.
The best team composition for a startup in the early stages includes these people:

You need a small, full-time team. Your team can devote all its energy to the startup. A team with part-time members cannot meet your needs at the beginning of the activity.
At the beginning, divide your team into two groups. Administrative and Product. As a funder, you choose which one according to your capabilities. By specifying your topic, you can lightly recruit co-founders from other teams.
The chosen co-founder of your business should have several skills. Expertise that the growth rate increases at the beginning, and at the same time use are spent.

Team-Building: Second Step is Storming

As I have noted since the negative energy between startup team members is high at this stage, you, as a knowledgeable and bright funder, should prevent any conflict between team members. Emphatically I have explained below how to follow it.

1. From the beginning of work, know your team members well and get to know each other’s personalities and spirits along with their expertise. The use of personality tests is recommended at this stage because one may be conservative and another risk-taking.
2. Set aligned goals for your business. Differences in business goals and different perspectives on startups can increase conflicts between members. Someone’s aim may be to get rich overnight, and another’s goal is to answer the need to be an entrepreneur.
3. Differences in how team members work can also be traumatic. Bring team members to homogeneity by aligning people’s working models and increasing insight into the differences between the lives of an employee and a startup team.
4. Wherever you feel that the contradictions between people are hurting your team, don’t hesitate and look for another co-founder or co-founder.
5. From time to time in daily standup meetings, the phrase “Are we on the same page?” Repeat to find out if the team members understand what you are saying and the team’s goals?

Be sure to ask your startup team members the following questions in daily meetings:

1. Do we have common goals?
2. Do we have enough interpersonal skills?
3. Do we agree on roles and responsibilities?
4. Are our tasks, communications, and decision-making systems working right?

Don’t forget that all teams have fought thousands of times to build and achieve their business goals. Don’t get discouraged when problems arise and keep trying.

Team-Building: Third Step is Norming

With these recommendations, funders can go through the norming phase lightly.

1. Help your team members perform their responsibilities more accurately.
2. It is necessary to constantly remind the team members of team goals.
3. Holding effective and frequent teamwork events helps to coordinate and unify the team structure.
4. Remind yourself that you have just passed the storming phase, and the team still needs to strengthen relationships and foundations.

Try to strengthen the infrastructure of the team at this stage. As a funder, you have a heavy responsibility at this stage. Team members need to feel that you are on their side. Arrange joint social activities to reduce team members’ fatigue to create more coordination among team members.

Team-Building: Fourth Step is Performing

Obviously here are some tips to help you get through the fourth step in team-building.

1. Spend more time with new teams. Guide them consciously to align with the goals.
2. As much as possible, delegate tasks to other members, who are eager to do them while remaining empathetic.
3. Give team members the confidence to be more creative and improve their performance.

Following this In 1977, after 12 years, Tuckman revised his theory of the team-building cycle and called the fifth stage. The ajourning stage is actually a stage for the collapse of teams. Tuckman’s studies with her colleague Mary Ann Jensen suggest that this stage is an vital step in the life cycle of small teams. Bitter separation, which some have called the mourning stage.
Since going through this stage requires longer recommendations, I prefer to dedicate a separate article to it.