The first stage of a work team is the forming stage.

The forming stage can be illustrated with the example of Baptiste Bicycles. The executive team has decided that a team should be formed in order to design a new bicycle and appoints a leader to manage this team. The responsibilities of the leader of a team in its forming stage are numerous. He or she might need to specify the team goal in more detail, set out timelines, and make a budget. Particularly relevant for this course – with regard to soft skills – is the composition and building of the team. We will zoom into the concepts of team composition and team-building in the next section.