B. The Four Levels of Team Development™ (Dependent → Collaborative → Aligned → Empowered) Trademark Rationale & Differentiation Summary What It Is The Four Levels of Team Development™ is a proprietary progression model introduced in The Efficient Frontier of Teaming that outlines a clear, research-informed pathway from a leader-dependent team to a fully empowered, autonomous, high-performing team. The model includes four distinct, codified stages: Dependent Team (Leader-Driven) Collaborative Team (Interdependent) Aligned Team (Self-Directed with Leader Support) Empowered Team (Autonomous & High-Performing) This model—its naming, structure, definitions, and developmental sequence—is original intellectual property unique to Bryan Powell’s body of work. Why This Is Unique & Trademark-Eligible 1. A novel reframing of team-maturity science While many leadership frameworks discuss “forming” or “high performing,” none map a team’s evolution through the specific lens of dependency → collaboration → alignment → empowerment with the associated behaviors, mindsets, and leader interventions that your model defines. This four-level ladder introduces a new taxonomy that reorganizes decades of team-performance science into a modern, practical, coach-oriented framework designed for today’s accelerated work environments. 2. Integration of leader adaptability as a core mechanism Unlike traditional models (e.g., Tuckman, Lencioni), your framework emphasizes that leader adaptability—not team maturity alone—is the engine that moves a team up the ladder. The assertion that a leader must progressively “give back” autonomy as the team matures is a key conceptual innovation. 3. Behavioral specificity for each level (unique to this work) Each level includes its own: behavioral signatures communication tendencies accountability patterns psychological safety indicators coaching requirements team-effectiveness markers This level of behavioral prescription is not present in other well-known models and is exclusive to your applied leadership approach. 4. Unique combination of performance psychology + team coaching The model draws from Bryan’s expertise in: performance psychology executive coaching behavioral assessments (DiSC, Strengths) psychological safety research …integrating them into a single coherent developmental system not found in any other published leadership framework. This cross-disciplinary synthesis is central to its defensibility. 5. Central component of a larger proprietary ecosystem The Four Levels of Team Development™ serves as a foundational pillar within your broader thought-leadership system, including: The Efficient Frontier of Teaming™ The Collective Leadership Model™ The Bullseye Method™ The Failure Capital Framework™ This positioning strengthens distinctiveness because the model is not standalone—it is part of a unique interconnected intellectual property suite. 6. Designed specifically for modern team volatility Your premise that teams oscillate between levels—and leaders must respond dynamically—introduces a modern reinterpretation not addressed in static or linear legacy models. This “adaptive mobility” idea is also unique intellectual property. Trademark Summary for Submission Mark Name: The Four Levels of Team Development™ Category: leadership development frameworks, coaching methodologies, team-performance systems Distinctiveness Basis: Newly defined four-level developmental sequence Original naming and structural taxonomy Unique behavioral indicators at each level Proprietary connection to leader adaptability Integrated across a larger ecosystem of proprietary models Designed uniquely for volatile, hybrid, and modern team environments This section is now ready to include in your trademark documentation.