It’s almost impossible to take an intro-level college management course without encountering Bruce Tuckman’s research on team development. Dr. Tuckman studied how groups work together; and his 1965 theory of of team development is a cornerstone of leadership education to this day.

Tuckman identified four stages of a team’s growth that (a) are absolutely true and (b) have the benefit of rhyming such that they are easily remembered. Each stage comes with team members’ behavior characteristics and prescribed leadership tactics that advance the team toward success.

The four stages are:

• Forming – team members getting to know each other and organizing around the mission
• Storming – team members forge their roles and establish their working relationships, sometimes with conflict
• Norming – roles, goals, and procedures become institutionalized; and the team is ready to achieve
• Performing – a cohesive team achieves to its potential

Either conscious of the four stages or by intuition, effective leaders guide their teams through each step. Lesser leaders’ teams get stuck along the way, usually at storming.

Tuckman and Notre Dame Basketball

Every team in every walk of life has to navigate the four stages. That includes basketball teams. That includes the Fighting Irish.

Every season is a restart. Team members’ experience, individually and with each other, will affect how the group addresses each stage; but each one is inevitable.

Offense… Defense… Tactics… Player development. All are critical to a head coach’s success, but developing a cohesive group is job one.

Leadership

Few scholars have published more on the subject of leadership than Warren Bennis. In one of his first books, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, Bennis and co-author Burt Nanus studied hundreds of successful leaders and identified their common characteristics.

• Attention through vision – a clear notion of what the group is and will be that invites commitment from team members
• Meaning through communication – the ability to make sure everyone understands the vision, not just through words but through analogy and metaphor as well
• Trust through positioning – personal behavior consistent with the vision
• Deployment of self – a commitment to others rooted in emotional wisdom and respect

It is impossible to spend any time with the Notre Dame basketball team without understanding Mike Brey’s vision. It isn’t defined by number of wins or specific championships. It’s defines as the kind of team he wants – unselfish, supportive of each other, and accountable to each other.

“It’s a matter of us coming together as a team, understanding a common goal that we share, and being focused on that goal,” Zach Auguste told me after Saturday’s victory over Clemson.

“It’s unique in this day in college basketball for everyone to have one common goal and to want to fight for each other to get it and leave the personal agendas aside,” Pat Connaughton said. That’s what makes this team so special.”

“I don’t see a more unselfish team in the country,” Jerian Grant opined. “That has to do with us trusting each other.”

“Everybody wants to win games, Steve Vasturia said. “That’s the number one thing. Anything we can do to win games is what’s important.”

Player after player, I heard the same words – common goal, unselfish, trust, whatever the team needs me to do. Clearly there is a theme, a vision. Clearly the team knows it and has bought into it.

Forming

The team agenda must be set on day one of the forming stage so that players can begin to commit to it. The team members must learn to work and communicate with each other, often cautiously, as they consider what their individual roles might be. The head coach must assess his team quickly and determine how he can ingrain his vision in the entire group.

When the 2014-15 Fighting Irish convened in August to prepare for their trip to Italy, Mike Brey focused on working through Connaughton and Grant to get the team to buy into his vision of the kind of team he wanted.

“It started in Italy, getting them to believe again that we could have a presence in this league after going 6-12 last year,” Brey told me on Saturday. “I think those two guys (Connaughton and Grant) helped the young guys believe.

“I’ll say this very honestly, they helped the coach believe too,” Brey continued. “Everybody was on their heels after 6-12, but those two guys were so confident coming back that, starting with me, it made me feel like the way they’re moving around and the way they’re talking, we do have a chance; and I think it was contagious with Demetrius (Jackson).

“Demetrius and Zach had to play and be key guys, and there’s no question that Jerian and Pat, starting in Italy, made them feel that way… how they talked in huddles, how they talked in the locker room. It helped me bring them along as key guys.”

“You’re unsure where everyone’s head is at,” Connaughton reflected. “Everyone is mad about last season. Everyone is disturbed that last season happened. All those emotions are good to have. It’s just a matter of the leaders being able to channel them in the right direction. That was the most important thing.”

“I definitely think starting early in the summer, getting closer with the guys spending time together not only on the court but off the court, just enjoying life together has helped us grow closer,” Jackson said. These two guys have been leading us every second. They’re just great role models for the younger guys including myself.”

Storming

Storming is the most challenging stage of team development. It can’t be avoided. It must be allowed to run its course no matter how long it takes; but the sooner it is over, the sooner the team can get on to the business of achieving at a high level.

Individual goals, varying approaches to work, and norms not yet established are among the challenges of the storming stage. Ultimately, clearly defined roles must be established, accepted, and implemented to become a high performance team.

There is nothing worse than getting stuck in the storming phase because if anyone is going to check out of the vision, that’s when it happens. Notre Dame had to sort through team members’ roles, and some people weren’t going to be pleased with their outcomes.

Connaughton was the only given. There was no reason to believe that three years of consistent effort, rebounding that belied his size, and double digit scoring would not continue.

Would Auguste take and hold a starting spot as the team so desperately needed him to do? Who would complement Auguste? Austin Burgett? Martinas Geben? Bonzie Colson?

Would Jackson start to play up to the lofty expectations that accompanied him to Notre Dame? Would fellow sophomores Vasturia and V.J. Beachem build on their freshman experience? What could Austin Torres contribute this year?

Perhaps no question was bigger than what Grant would bring to the team upon his return from academic suspension. The talented senior had an inconsistent career so far, sometimes brilliant and sometimes indifferent. Would he be more consistent in his approach to the game?

“What always made me feel like we could be back in the mix this year is Grant and Connaughton were two of the ten best players in the league coming back,” said Brey. “They were seniors and men. They won together. And they were fabulous in setting the tone for us.”

Grant established early on that he was a day-in, day-out force on the team. Other questions weren’t answered so easily.

Early season success, including a 5-1 start to the conference season and victories over Michigan State, Duke, and North Carolina might have given the impression that the storming phase was behind the team; but it wasn’t close to being over. The inconsistent Auguste held his role by default as the freshmen were taking time to learn and adapt. Burgett didn’t stake his claim, and his minutes dwindled.

The record was great; but it was built on comebacks and escapes, some against mediocre teams. If the conference record had been 2-4, as it easily could have been, there would have been no doubt about this team’s stage of development. The Irish were winning in spite of their spot on the development scale, not because of it.

“There’s where #22 was the difference maker,” Brey said. “We won a lot of close games. We stole wins. The year before we couldn’t finish those. We were in a lot of game situations, but we didn’t have the closer. We’ve got the closer who can score it or make the play, and I think all the other guys are really confident when he has it in his hands. They get their hands ready to attack.”

The storming stage came to a head when Notre Dame travelled to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech on January 14th. A surprise academic issue kept Auguste in South Bend and threatened his season. Martinas Geben was penciled in to start, and the Irish desperately needed him to be competent. He wasn’t. Ineffective, he played only six minutes. It was Colson’s chance.

Colson was slated to come off of the bench and get significant minutes in the game, but he exceeded expectations against the Yellow Jackets’ big front line – 10 points, four rebounds, and solid defense in 22 minutes on the floor. He still was a little raw with four four fouls as evidence, but he showed that the sky wouldn’t fall if Auguste didn’t return.

“Bonzie stepping in, it’s a testament to him always staying ready,” said Vasturia. “We knew he was very talented. When he comes in the game he’s giving us energy. He’s been a huge help to us.”

Auguste did return, and the process of resetting his role while incorporating Colson began. He remained inconsistent, often brilliant and heart breaking within a span of a few minutes, while Colson continued to provide energy, defense, and eventually more scoring.

To Auguste’s credit, Colson’s success wasn’t treated as a threat. “Bonzie has earned his way up,” he said. “We knew he had it in him. It wasn’t a change of roles, more like welcoming him in.”

There was more pain to come – the loss at Pittsburgh and the blowout at the hands of Duke, but such outcomes are to be expected in the storming stage. It isn’t a comfortable time. Discomfort often means inconsistency. Inconsistency undermines trust. Eroded trust causes people to take more on themselves than their roles require. It’s messy, but leaders who revert to the vision and insist on consistency of purpose inevitably prevail.

“I think those losses helped our team grow,” Jackson said. They exposed some weaknesses – rebounding, defending for 40 minutes. They exposed a lot of things that we then worked on and got better at.”

The final step in role definition came in the loss to Syracuse. Brey had considered giving Auguste and Colson some time together anyway, but necessity forced his hand against the Orange. The Irish could not operate in the lane effectively against the Syracuse zone and center Rakeem Christmas, and they could not hit an outside shot to save their lives. Down by 8 points with 5:58 left in the game, Brey put Auguste in the game and left Colson on the floor with him. The Irish cut the lead to three points before succumbing.

The comeback failed, but role definition was finally completed.

Norming

In the norming stage, the team gains confidence and feels a sense of momentum. That started when the Irish almost caught Syracuse despite playing about as poorly on offense as a Mike Brey team ever has. They learned they have more tools than they thought.

With a week to work with the rotation and its various combinations settled, ND went to Louisville and dominated for all but a few minutes early in the second half. The team followed with a comfortable win over Clemson, a squad it struggled to defeat three weeks earlier. The regular season was over, and it became time to set sights on postseason achievement.

“We came in here wanting to have a good season,” said Vasturia. “We wanted to win games. We took it (last season) personal. We’re still getting better. We still have an opportunity to make a run in March. We want to keep building off this.”

Performing

It will be good news for Irish fans if the team is ready for the performing stage between now and the end of the ACC Tournament. The players have done the hard work required to get there. If they remember their goal, if they remain the unselfish group that is, one man after another, willing to do whatever is needed to win, Notre Dame fans’ trepidation about the NCAA tournament will finally be eased.