The 4 Stages of a Team is a toolkit for team survival.

The Team Clock® method has been endorsed by internationally recognized leaders in sports, consumer products, professional services, education and healthcare seeking to improve business results and the wellness of their organizations.

The 4 Stages of a Team is a toolkit for team survival.

The Team Clock® method has been endorsed by internationally recognized leaders in sports, consumer products, professional services, education and healthcare seeking to improve business results and the wellness of their organizations.

Running a successful business involves people, processes and products. This book is about the people – written to support teams of people for sustained success.

Photo of The 4 Stages of a Team book

Welcome to The Center for Team Excellence

What is Team Clock®?

Team Clock® transforms teams, impacting company culture and morale. By identifying and addressing the obstacles interfering with performance, teams can spend more time focusing on their work and less time on the politics of their workplace. Team Clock gives teams the tools they need to adapt to change and repair themselves for the lifespan of the entity.

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Illustrated graphic of The 4 Stages of a Team cycle

How We Help

All relationships travel through cycles of growth and change. Whether it’s two people in a partnership, a team of people with a common goal or an organization with a mission, the living entity evolves through predictable stages. At the beginning, the team makes an INVESTMENT in a future together and carefully defines its direction. As the team becomes close and discovers how to work out differences, TRUST becomes the fuel for connection. The foundation of shared values and accountability becomes a platform for INNOVATION. This exploration creates change, which requires some DISTANCING to adjust to what has been lost, refuel and adapt to the new circumstances.

"Teams are messy. Conflict is unavoidable. Dynamics flow with the circumstances, mindsets, and emotions of the members involved. Graduates of top-tier schools are exceptional individual performers, but often struggle in teams."

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How We Do It

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Common Team Challenges
  • Workplace norms, mission alignment and conflict
  • Connection, trust and accountability
  • Leveraging diversity to innovate
  • Managing change
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Books
  • The 4 Stages of a Team
  • Team Clock: A Guide to Breakthrough Teams
  • Useful Pain: Why Your Relationship Needs Struggle
  • Interpersonal Assessment Action Workbook
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Team Engagement
  • Team Wellness Packages
  • Coaching and Consulting
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Workshops
  • Online Assessment
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Certification
  • Become a Specialist
  • Become a Consultant
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Interpersonal
  • Interpersonal
  • Interpersonal Assessment

Organizational Nirvana

Which team is yours – Aging rock stars? Perpetual motion? Comfortably numb? Toxic? The Center for Team Excellence has a solution. Contact us today to get started with Team Clock® and learn how we can help your team rise to new heights.

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60 Seconds on the Team Clock

November 11, 2025

Concentric Circles

Whether at home, at the workplace, or out with friends, all of our connections live within a proximity to us that we choose. Those who are let into the inner circle are typically the most trusted and have the most extensive relationship history. Those most distant have either earned the need for arms-length or haven’t yet proven their welcome closer to the center. Over time, our connections move in and out, nearer and further, as events unfold that justify their position. However that plays out, each of us is in charge of who populates our concentric circles and where in our personal ecosystems everyone gets to live.

October 29, 2025

A Simple Recipe for Emotional Wellness

Think about the people in your life who seem to have it all together. Do they have the golden secret to life’s mastery, or is there more going on under the surface? Most of us work hard to keep our deepest struggles from showing. Everyone has something heavy going on, whether or not it’s visible. A common metaphor is the duck gliding across the water with webbed feet below the surface, paddling like mad yet invisible to observers. Another symbol is the oppressive weight of the backpack the kid carries through school, while teachers and classmates remain unaware of the home life trauma bearing down on him. Whatever the hidden narrative, there are three key ingredients to the recipe for staying well amidst the struggle.

Clients We've Worked With