Dear Bob ... I've been through TQM training and so recognize these 4 stages [the stages of team formation: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing - Bob]. However, now that I've been away from the environment for some time, I realize something that I was too close to see before and, perhaps, is a significant insight into why teams of government IT staff are often less productive than their business counte Dear Bob …I’ve been through TQM training and so recognize these 4 stages [the stages of team formation: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing – Bob]. However, now that I’ve been away from the environment for some time, I realize something that I was too close to see before and, perhaps, is a significant insight into why teams of government IT staff are often less productive than their business counterparts.Most agencies I worked for in state government did not allow “storming” in any real sense. Disagreements were either ignored indefinitely or decided by the boss. The team was rarely allowed to work through the members’ different perspectives in order to rebuild trust. Thus, once it was lost early in the project when the differences surfaced, it was seldom regained. “Norming” thus never occurred except in a disfunctional sense; somewhat like the battered wife resolving herself to her miserable plight and considering it her own fault. Whatever “performing” managed to occur I now look back on and consider to have been a miracle. – Stuck in FormingDear Stuck …I’m not so sure government IT teams are any less effective than their private sector counterparts, largely because the behavior you just described sounds quite familiar. So thanks for giving me a soapbox: To anyone – public sector or private – who hears dissent, discord, arguing or other sounds of strife in a project team that’s trying to set its bearings, please include yourself out. Unless, of course, you’re part of the team. What you’re hearing isn’t the sound of dysfunction. It’s the exact opposite: The sound of a roomful of dedicated professionals trying very hard to understand and resolve their differences so they can focus on solving important problems.Just because not all of them realize that this is what they’re up to doesn’t change anything.The warning sign you do want to watch for is the exact opposite: Project meetings in which one person asks if everyone else agrees and everyone else, rather than answer, sits still with a quiet pokerface until the subject turns to something else. – Bob ——– Technology Industry