And no one steps forward to end all this time-wasting because every day the issue remains active adds another day of life to the group. The finish line keeps moving. Talk to any athlete who has played on a team that has won the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup or NBA finals, and you get the idea they have been through a war. Like soldiers who have survived an armed conflict, teammates forge an unbreakable bond. Any time people confront a daunting challenge together, an interdependence develops.
Members come to count on each other for emotional sustenance as well as career support.
The idea of breaking this powerful connection terrifies many team members. They leave projects dangling, with resolutions postponed to some vague time, then take on additional tasks. The result is a self-perpetuating monster. Your team should disperse because nothing is getting done, but breaking up would leave too much unfinished business. Now your group is like a dysfunctional family, whose members enable the very behavior that is undermining its effectiveness.