Thinking back to all the groups I have been a
part of, the ones that were hardest to leave or hardest to say good-bye were
the ones where everyone was very close and worked well together. I personally
do not think it has anything to do with performance. I think the most important parts of being in
a group are collaboration. The groups that build a relationship/ bond, share
the same goals, set guidelines and stay focused, and the ones who overall work
well together are the ones that you would hope can work together again or stay
friends. Working in a group like this, there is a shared leadership. There is not one leader in a group like this;
everyone is a leader.
The group/ team that I had to leave were a
service learning group. This group had
meetings leading up to the trip and then spent a week in another state doing
service projects for others in need. The group I was in truly became a family
by the end of the trip. We knew each other inside and out and made so many
memories together. Although this was not an academic group or a group where
papers needed to be written, it was a group that still requires leadership and
a bond still needed to be made in order to perform all duties and to spend a
week together. This group was hard to leave because we grew close enough to be
family. At the end of our week together, we had a closing ceremony where we
could share our stories about the week and reflect back on all the work we had
done. We closed out the trip with a bang and even chose a song to signify our
group and trip. Still to this day (8 years later) every time I hear the song, I
immediately think back to that trip and all the people I was able to work with.
Once we returned back to our daily lives, we still stayed in touch and even got
together for dinner where we could reminisce about our trip.
As for adjourning from my colleagues in this
course/ program, I think it will be bittersweet. I think we all have worked immensely
hard and will feel a sense of accomplishment as well as excitement to have
finally succeeded. I think I will be a little sad because even though I have
not met any of my colleagues in person, I feel I know a lot about them just
based on all our discussions, blogs, and introductions. I think saying good-bye
in person is much harder so in terms of emotionally, I do not think saying
good-bye will be too sad. I have enjoyed working with each and every one of my
colleagues and will definitely miss our discussions and sharing of ideas. I
have gained so much just from reading what everyone else has to say and helping
me see different viewpoints on the same topics.
Adjourning is an essential piece of teamwork
because it is a time for everyone to be congratulated and feel a sense of
importance. We all like to feel good
about what we are doing as well as having people notice us for it. Adjourning
helps that all come into place. Adjourning helps you feel that sense of
accomplishment. It also helps us realize
that this chapter may be done but it is time to begin the next.
Hi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about adjourning is that we can reflect on our accomplishments and failures and still laugh today :).
I hope that our Walden team would be able to maintain what we have built in our discussions and blogs and continue to keep in touch.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It is great that you have had the chance to experience a familial bond with non family members. I believe that these bonds are genuine and very difficult to establish with many people. Additionally, similar to you I believe that saying good bye in person is so much more difficult than when it is done not face to face.
Hi Victoria!
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like being in a group that transforms into a family. Reading about how you are reminded of your group when you hear a song was touching. Reflecting together about our accomplishments is a good thing. Good post!
Victoria,
ReplyDeleteReading about the group you was involved in made me think about when I was involved in a Freedom School program. Me and other workers who worked with young children were not very close, but we did establish some friendships. We were able to work together as a team to teach young children about diversity, reading, math, and writing. What really made me think about this group was when you mentioned about a song that you all would listen to. Well, in this program, we had a theme song as well and the teachers and children sung it every morning. When I hear it now, I think of those beautiful children's faces and how it brightened their day. In fact, I am smiling now just by thinking about it. Thanks for your post.
Latasha
Victoria,
ReplyDeleteLike you mentioned, it doesn't matter about the outcome of the group but how everyone worked together and committed to the group. If you trusted everyone in the group and built that bond, then it's hard to say good-bye to such a hard working group. Thanks for sharing.
Stephanie