How IT teams are formed?
Tuckman’s theory describes one of the most popular methods of group development. Even though it dates back to the 1960s, it is as relevant today as it was when he first proposed it. He divided the model into four stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing.
Forming is the first stage. Individual team members see and interact with each other for the time. They are unfamiliar with one another’s strengths and weaknesses. At this stage, the group begins to learn about their common goal and internal procedures in force.
The second stage of group development is storming, and it is then that adaptation takes place. Team members begin to establish an informal hierarchy. The first conflicts within the group may arise. Individual team members may to a certain degree be subject to pressure from the project’s imminent completion date and stress that they may be held accountable should the project be improperly implemented and fail. Such uncertainty can negatively impact the team’s efficiency.
Norming is the third stage – this is when stabilization takes place. Team members are familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses by now. They communicate with their colleagues in the spirit of openness, understanding, and honesty. At this stage, the team begins to cooperate in a more stable fashion and its individual members support each other in difficult moments.
The last stage is performing. The group is now fully integrated. Its members not only know one another’s strengths and weaknesses very well, But they also know the roles they play. They are able to work more efficiently and implement projects more effectively.
What is team leasing?
Team leasing allows companies to optimize the time necessary to successfully implement and finalize IT projects. It consist in hiring whole teams of specialists with specific skills who are responsible for seeing project through, from the start to the very end.
In most cases, a team of selected IT specialists has already collaborated on other projects and has gone through all stages of group development according to Tuckman. As a result, the team has little to no difficulties to begin implementation of new tasks and is able to react faster in critical moments. The experience and knowledge they had gained working together on previous projects allow them to recommend optimal solutions.
If we involve a single IT developer as part of the body leasing model, we cannot be sure whether the “newcomer” will adapt quickly to their new team. In practice, the new person only gets to know their new teammates upon meeting them for the first time, and begins to learns how to efficiently work with them. It may take some time to establish appropriate work patterns and fully integrate within the group – a process similar to that taking place in the early stages of group development according to Tuckman.
For more information on effective IT teams’ development, see our blog post.
The advantages of team leasing
At the start of a new project, a company has to spend a lot of time looking for the right candidate to fill a given position. With team leasing, however, this is not at all the case.
According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, the average time necessary to find a suitable developer comes to approximately 42 days. Unfortunately, in spite of the time committed and costs incurred when recruiting, the process does not always bring the expected results. What often happens is that recruitment is not effective and the person employed under a permanent contract does not meet their employer’s expectations.
In the case of team leasing, the company needs to spend neither time nor money on the tedious task of searching for the right candidate. This model allows for an almost immediate involvement of a group of well-coordinated specialists who eager to start implementing the project they were hired to see through.
There is also an advantage of a financial nature, as the costs of team leasing are lower than those of employing a specialist. In the case of a traditional employment contract, the law obliges companies operating on the market to keep their employees’ records, pay insurance premiums, and bear costs related to employment on a monthly basis.
However, should a company lease a team instead, the risk related to hiring a full-time employee are virtually eliminated. There is no more need to worry about records, red tape, social security or health insurance. And after the project has been finished, the leased team can move on to a new project. Or the company may as well choose to terminate cooperation with them if their services are no longer required.
Who is team leasing for?
Team leasing is the perfect solution for companies specializing in that build expanded applications and complex systems, where the project duration is likely to exceed 3 months. Then again, in the case of companies implementing short-term projects, body leasing would be a better solution.
Planning a project quite often requires a larger than usual team of people with diverse skillsets and competencies, who are more experienced in their respective fields than a company’s employees. Team leasing is a model appreciated by entrepreneurs who are looking to reduce costs and start implementing a project quickly.
Thanks to team leasing, any company can quickly involve a group of well-coordinated specialists in a new project with the comfort of knowing it is in good hands.
Team leasing will also be perfect for small and medium-sized enterprises that carry out many different IT projects at the same time, and thus require additional, proven, highly qualified employees.