Hi!

Becoming a sub project manager is a new role for me, which has been something of
a challenge. I have had some difficulties with the group and I wanted to see if you
could help me dealing with it.
My group started out as very dependent on others, then they became more
challenging and now the situation has been stabilized and the cooperation is
working excellent. It was very exhausting to manage the group before and I dont
want to end up there again but wish to keep the grip on the group as it is.
An acquaintance of mine has taken a leadership course and mentioned that this
fitted with a theory called FIRO. What is FIRO? What does it tell me about my group?
And how should I as a leader act according to it?
Best regards,
Georg

FIRO 158-165
Hi Georg,
Thanks for reaching out to me, let me help to answer your questions one-by-one.
What is FIRO?
According to my go-to Practical Project Management book (ISBN 9789188481030)
written by Rolf Lundstrm & Bo Rosander what I would highly recommend for
reading anyway , FIRO simply stands for Fundamental Interpersonal Relations
Orientation. This model can be applied for team development in general and is
based on the fundamental that each group/team is going through 3 major stages
called Inclusion, Role Searching and Affection.
What does it tell me about my group?
It provides important details on how mature your team is, in connection with how
well they can cooperate and trust each other. These stages can be cyclic and a
developed, affection stage can also fade back to a previous stage by time. In
general, I would say that inclusion is common for early stage teams who just got to
know each other and try to figure out the rules of the game. Later on, comes the
tougher and usually longer lasting part where roles and responsibilities are
challenged and there is a higher pressure on the leader of the group. Some teams
never evolve further, but thats not necessary a problem. If they do, thats the
sweet spot and team members can solve conflicts among themselves and positively
act towards the greater good.

How should I as a leader act according to it?

In each stage youve to use your position a bit different. In the inclusion, you can
direct the team to find their base structure and you can take ownership for decision
making. As you experienced, they will be more dependent on you. For the
challenging part, you dont need to worry too much, its natural to challenge the
leader. I would pay special attention on participating in the groups everyday life
and help them to be more dedicated and confidence on their task by being a great
coach. Once the team is mature enough, in the affirmation phase you should
operate with mutual trust towards each other and delegate if needed.
Regards,
Viktor
As a project manager, you are able to
accelerate the development of your team, but to fully develop it is both difficult
and time consuming and not always worthwhile.
In the inclusion stage, a project leader must use his/her position
to direct, map and control procedures, thereby allowing the group to find a basic
structure. He/she should also make all necessary decisions. The group will be
dependent on the leader and ask for a more result oriented leadership, which
should also be provided.
Essential knowledge for leaders is that the distrusts they
often become subject of in this stage not necessarily is related to their behaviour
or actions. To question and challenge a leader is a natural part of the process. This
stage could be compared to going
from being a parent of a child to being a parent of a teenager.
In this stage, the leader should be available as a resource, participate, support and coach the group when needed. The emphasis should be on
enhancing team members' commitment to their tasks and encouraging confidence
building measures in order to reduce tensions between the leader and team
members. It is essential to align common project goals with each individual's
personal goals and to ensure that the group benefit from each member's
resources and capabilities. The leader should encourage a natural
assignment of responsibilities among members

here plays an important role in ensuring that the team avoid

stagnation and that members keep their focus on the task.
The leader should here base the leadership on mutual trust
between him/her and the team. The aim is to create mutual dependence
within the entire group. Likewise, the leader must be
prepared to delegate the leadership to the current most competent

The leader

person in the group. Each member's personal authority must

be respected along with their respective capacity.

Project team development

Like all relationships and groups of people, project teams also develop over
time. A wide-spread explanatory model of team development is the so-called
FIRO model (Fundamental Interper- sonal Relations Orientation). The model was
developed by Will Schutz, an American psychologist. Schutz studied the reasons
for why some teams performed better than others in spite of their members
similar skills and education.
According to his research, a team goes through three developme- nt stages
towards cohesion and efficiency. These stages and their
characteristics are as follows: