Adjourning is a fabulous process that a group goes through in order to
achieve closure, upon completion of their goal. This stage of team development
is a celebration, a mourning and a farewell between the members of the team.
My sons play baseball with the little league and so each season we form
teams for each of my two sons and train and play together for four months. Then
the All-star teams are formed and we train, travel and play together as well.
All those teams go through the forming, storming, norming, performing and
adjourning stages. The players go through the stages, as well as the volunteer
coaches and the parents. After each season and each All-Star tournament, the
adjourning includes meals together, awards, pictures, gift exchanges and lots
of hugs and farewells. If I were to choose the aspect that makes the goodbye hardest
I would say that yes a team that performs well by having lots of wins, is
always adjourning as a celebration and it is somewhat harder to end that unity.
In addition, a team that has a lot in common, which to me is the norming stage
optimized, is harder to leave than a team with little in common that hardly
goes through any norming.
I find the baseball teams are a perfect example of team work, and all that
we have learnt this week. If we finished our season without the closure of
adjourning, the children would feel a sense of loss instead of a sense of
victory. The season's closing ceremony is a perfect example of adjourning, with
the rituals that represent everyone's commitment and unity.
I think the same applies to our Master's program. We all come together,
trusting the path set by our leaders for our goals, with the respect and
commitment needed to complete the task. After the storming, norming and
performing, there certainly needs to be a finale that celebrates the efforts,
the relationships, the accomplishments and even the lessons with each failure,
along the way. I look forward to congratulating the classmates, and thanking
the professors who are sharing this journey with me. The adjourning rituals are
surely to take on the culture of the leadership and I trust that it will bring
closure and a sense of victory.
Hi Zeina, my two favorite parts about your blog were how you described the adjourning stage as a celebration, mourning, and a farewell and when you said without adjourning there would be a feeling of loss instead of victory. These two descriptions really helped me visualize the adjourning stage in different contexts. It made me think of how my best friend described her love and hate for party/wedding planning. She feels an enormous sense of accomplishment and pride when she's done, but also feels an extreme low or loss when it is over. I think this is a good example of how high-performing teams would be harder to adjourn from than lower performing groups. Great post!
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