HBR's 10 Must Reads for New Managers Collection

What do your rankings say about what you value most right now and what you believe you can influence through leadership?

Your assessments will be faster and more accurate if you explicitly state your criteria.

There are many frameworks to help leaders build new teams. One of the best known is “forming, storming, norming, and performing,” created by Bruce Tuckman in 1965.

Here’s a three-step model that works: First, assess the people you’ve got and the dynamics at play. Second, reshape the team’s membership, sense of purpose and direction, operating model, and behaviors according to the business challenges you face. Third, accelerate the team’s development by scoring some early wins.

You can’t just shut down the plane’s engines while you rebuild them—at least not without causing a crash. You need to maintain stability while moving ahead.