I have been a part of several groups over my years, from high-school through my current professional groups. There have been some times throughout my experiences where a project comes to an end, such as when I worked on our student council in High School or the prom committee. Those times were a celebration of a job well done as we participated in the prom and then when we graduated our student council time was done. As this was MANY years ago, I do not remember what the adjourning process felt like. With both there was a sadness as our time was done, but we were also focused on the next exciting phase of life and on we went. In my professional and church experiences, I am usually the one who moves away from teams that are already formed and continue on after my time is completed. With these experiences, I am usually relieved to be done with a commitment and excited to make more time for family.
However, recently I was feeling as though it was time to back away from my position on our church Women's Leadership Team. I was feeling as though I was not a contributing member of the team and was praying about my time commitment now that I was working again. When I shared this at a team meeting, I was confirmed in my importance on the team and offered a new aspect of the ministry to be involved in which would give me a new vision on the team. I was excited to be a contributing member again, and would have been very sad to leave this group of women!
I do believe that high-functioning groups are the hardest to leave. Those groups where the vision is clear, where there is trust and respect, and there is excitement are the most difficult to walk away from. I believe that when we are part of a high-functioning group, we buy into the vision and invest in the team which makes it harder to depart from that group.
As for adjourning from my group of colleagues that are part of my Master's work, I feel that I will walk away and be just fine. When I finished my last Master's program through Walden I was exhausted by the work load and was SO grateful to be finished. I did not find it hard to walk away from the groups that had been established. I believe this is easier in the online setting than it would be if we were seeing each other each week face to face as I believe there's less personal investment in each other when it's in the virtual world. I believe that I will again be relieved to be finished and will not need an adjournment phase to my virtual colleagues.
Stacy,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you found a new reason to be excited with the women's leadership team you are a part of. I agree that it is harder to walk away from a group when you are invested. I also agree that it will not be difficult to walk away from our masters degree program because we are not as invested personally with one another. But it is nice to think that there may be someone out there that I could reach out to if I needed.
Hi Stacy,
ReplyDeleteSome of us have done this journey together since the first class and I even have classmates that I did my BA. with. It will be hard because this is a big step for all of us, a tremendous achievement .We have all shared our views and outlooks on many subjects and issues .I have learned from all of you and enjoyed the posts and blogs. Maybe we can stay in touch by creating a blog where we all can read how we are doing. I enjoyed your view and thanks for sharing.
I enjoyed reading your post and agree that groups that you have shared a tremendously amount of time in are the hardest to leave. I am glad that you realized how important your job was in the Women's Leadership Team. Thanks for sharing a great post
ReplyDeleteStacy,
ReplyDeleteI still remember what it was like to work in groups in both high school and undergrad because I never really cared for groups. There was always a small number of us that would actually do work. I do remember the bittersweet feeling of graduating from both high school and college. From my many experiences, it’s always a bittersweet moment in saying bye. Although I don’t like working in groups the people that do help work, I am able to share great moments with them so saying bye is bittersweet.
Stacy,
ReplyDeleteWhile we, as peers on this educational journey, have I'm sure been a great influence to each other, I agree that there will not be a huge adjourning period. The other factor that is very evident with on-line learning grou0ps is that we can still remain connected through blogs, email and the like.