Adjourning Phase

Yes, high-performing groups are the hardest to leave because you learn so much from these groups.  Groups with the clearest established norms are easier to accomplish the given goals.  I feel that once the goals have been met, it is hard to break from such a dynamic environment.

I was in a work group at my previous job and this group was one of the hardest to leave.  This was a job that I absolutely loved.  I worked a daycare as head VPK teacher and assisted director.  The daycare consisted of wonderful woman from variety of places. We all got along pretty well and when we did have problems we talked about it, sometimes we could be pretty loud but our main focus was on the safety and well being of our children and making sure that we provide a safe, loving, and educational atmosphere. This job really helped me with my communication skills because I was their second in command and they respected that because I was always prepared and very knowledgeable about my job. My job could be very stressful at times but I wouldn’t trade it for nothing in the world considering other day cares were being shut down due to over ratio, paper work out of order, and workers not incompliance with their paperwork. My supervisor was very nice and very easy to work for.  I stayed at this job for over 4 years off and on. The only reason I left because I opened my own center.

I really haven’t experienced any closing rituals amongst groups except one, this is when I was finishing my B.A in elementary education I remember the last day of class, and everyone brought in a dish to celebrate the end of our journey.  We ate, looked back on projects and shared experiences.  At the end, we all promised to keep in touch.  However, I never reached out to anyone and no one has reached out to me.  However, if I saw them now, I would probably find out how their career was going since leaving the course.  Many times, either the group’s goal is met or the group just disseminated.  In learning environments, the closing rituals are normally followed with a graduation ceremony.

I feel that my colleagues established here at Walden University will be hard for me not to be able to read on what’s going on with them and their journey in Early Childhood Education and I know for myself I can get pretty busy at times because I have my own business, church activities, and being with my family. The experience I have had since starting on line classes have been wonderful especially all the feedback and great suggestions in early childhood have really helped my business in becoming an high quality center. I have enjoyed the communication with all of my group colleagues and I value everyone’s input, suggestions, and experiences.

Adjourning is essential to me because it signals closure and allows people to recognize the good and bad things that happened in order to improve group communication in other groups to come.  It also gives people the opportunity to “reflect on their accomplishments and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project.”(O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009, p 235)

O'Hair, D. & Wiemann, M. p.235 (2009) Real communication an introduction.