Adjourning

     In thinking about the adjourning phase of group collaboration, whether it is difficult to disband or not varies with the importance of the goal. If the goal of the group's efforts were to get medication for a child which was not yet FDA approved, and they were successful, adjourning would be happy, sad, and satisfying at the same time. If the group's purpose was to write new policies and procedures for an organization, the members may become close during performing stage, but not as close as those participating in an emotional risk.
     A life saving drug was not available to a boy from Fredericksburg because it had not been properly tested by the FDA. A group of us got together to sensationalize the issue and promote the urgency of this little boy's plight to people outside our local area. Josh Hardy received approval for the medicine on March 14, 2014. He still has a long way to recovery, but without the efforts of our group and many others, he would not be here. It was bitter sweet to break up the group of people who worked passionately together. We all had opened up with our individual emotional burdens, and formed a strong network which can be called upon for future missions.
     I don't believe I will feel any emptiness when adjourning from my Walden classmates. I don't feel I made the connections I make with people I work with in person.
     Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it ensures completion. Review of the success or failure of the efforts made by the team are a valuable learning experience.
    

A conflict at work

     We are about to be assessed for accreditation by NAEYC for the first time, because we are a new center. Although we have been open one year, everyone in management is fairly new to their job. Our director had previously been a trainer, the assistant director was a middle school guidance counselor, and the trainers were all classroom teachers before this center afforded them the positions they're in. Everyone is familiar with accreditation, but experienced it in a different capacity in the past. With the application in and the assessors due anytime around the end of May or beginning of June, management is freaking out.
     Information given to the teachers is contradictory, opinionated, or outdated. This has led to anger and frustration for teachers who are working on classroom portfolios that are constantly being changed, room arrangements that always have something wrong, or decorations that are, then aren't, appropriate.
     In the break room and at meetings of the lead teachers, more venting than productive work was being done. Our director threw up her hands at the last meeting and said she doesn't understand why no one seems to care anymore.
     I made an attempt to use the 3S skills I read about (The third side, 2013). I saw the point of view of both management and my co-workers.
     I listened to my co-teachers without agreeing or adding on to their complaints. I pointed out the fact that everybody was just nervous. They were concerned about their reputations, as well as the evaluation of their effectiveness in their new positions. Accreditation is a big deal, and a lot of it rests on the personal judgement of strangers.
     I then went to the director in the privacy of her office and explained the reason she felt no one cared anymore was the nit-picking going on after the hard work we had been doing to meet and prove standards. I asked her if she thought we could really fail accreditation if our font sizes were not uniform? Wasn't the atmosphere of the classroom more important than how many inches lower the artwork should be, and whether or not it was matted? I suggested she have the creator of the best book at each age level help the others with any major issues,  and that she should take off her trainer hat and back off.
     She was very appreciative of my coming forward, and is trying to be mindful of what she chooses to criticize.
Reference:

The third side. 2013. The third side. Retrieved from: http://www.thirdside.org/