Do Our People Have Room to Land Before We Launch Again?
Do Our People Have Room to Land Before We Launch Again?
Bruce Tuckman’s model reminds us that teams move through forming, storming, norming, performing; and finally adjourning, when the project winds down and people move on to what is next. It is a rhythm, not a race. Each stage matters.
But here is the question that tugs at me as I work with leaders of change:
If we keep piling on new initiatives before our people have had the chance to reach norming, or better still, performing, are we truly building capacity; or just quietly draining it?
The Brain’s Need for Rhythm
Our brains are wired for both novelty and stability. We love new ideas, but we also need routine to make sense of them.
Too much novelty, and overload hits. The prefrontal cortex waves a small white flag, decision fatigue rolls in, and resistance starts muttering in the back row.
Too little stability, and nothing sticks. Habits slide off, learning stays fragile, and people start treating every new thing as “a phase that will pass.”
Stack the changes too high, and the brain simply short-circuits. Competing priorities fill the mental inbox until there is no space left for creativity, calm, or a decent night’s sleep.
The result? Teams hovering endlessly in storming; circling between conflict, fatigue, and shallow compliance; instead of reaching that satisfying glide of performing, where everything just clicks.
What This Looks Like on the Ground
A shiny new digital platform arrives before the old one has found its footing.
A curriculum refresh collides with assessment changes, and teachers never quite land either.
Leaders change focus each term while their people are still unpacking last term’s “must do.”
That is not agility. That is exhaustion disguised as progress.
What Leaders Can Do
Ask the timing question. Before launching anything new, pause and ask: has the last shift reached norming yet, or are we still paddling furiously in storming?
Distinguish the must dos from the may dos. Sequence, do not stack. Just because we can does not mean we should (even if it looks great on a strategic plan).
Use neuroscience as your compass. The brain needs repetition, reinforcement, and rest for new pathways to form. Give your people space for all three.
Normalise reflection. Hui, pulse checks, retrospectives; whatever you call them, use them. Ask, are we stabilising, or still storming?
Protect capacity. Sometimes leadership is less about what you add, and more about what you intentionally hold back.
Pause and reflect:
Are we measuring success by how many initiatives we launch; or by how deeply our people can embed and thrive in them?
What would it look like to honour the brain’s natural rhythm; so that change becomes sustainable, not just survivable?
And what external influences might we need to push back against; the well-meaning pressures, expectations, or trends that keep us launching before our people have truly landed?
Go with rhythm this week
Mary-Anne