Week 6 Blog Assignment

This week you read about the five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Consider the adjourning phase for several of the groups in which you have been involved. 

Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? Groups with the clearest established norms? Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? Why? What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced? How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master’s degree in this program? Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork?

This a very thought provoking assignment.  Personally I feel that a high-performing group is the hardest to leave.  I feel that they inspire me to be more productive and I want to maintain that feeling and contribution level as long as possible.  Closing rituals are so important for the members of a team/group.  Closure in general is vital to healthy experiences.  Most often, I experience roundtable questions/comment sessions that allow everyone to verbally close the interaction and leave with a sense of contribution of their thoughts/opinions/beliefs.  I like when the group decides to continue their work independently via internet/phone/study groups/etc.  However, those "extended" interactions from the original group work tend to fizzle out quickly without face-to-face time and strong leadership.  Ending a collaborative team experience is always difficult whether or not the goal was accomplished.  Adjourning from a group with whom you have connections to sad in ways but essential to move on.  Strong connections that were made sometimes stick after the separation, its up to all party members to maintain it.