Adjourning

When thinking back on how different groups I have been involved with have gone through the adjourning stage they all seem to have one aspect in common and that is the final outcome. No matter what the goal has been, the group always parts when that goal has been reached. How I feel about that parting is varies though. When a group works well together, is productive, and performs at a high efficient level it is hard to part ways. I am always left wishing we had more goals to accomplish because of the way the group works together. When there are combative personalities, difficult individuals, and wasted time I can hardly wait for the group to be adjourned.

One of the hardest groups to leave was an early childhood science fair group. We planned a one-day event at a local community college. We used five classrooms and each classroom was a “destination”. For example one room was ‘down on the farm’. This room was decorated to look like a farm and children 3-3^rd grade would visit stations in the room to make butter, plant seeds, and other experiences. The event was a huge success. We had a total or 300 children participate in the event throughout the day. The only let down was the end. When the event was over we helped clean and each when our separate ways with a goodbye. I wish we would have planned a dinner to celebrate our success or closed the group in another way.

In the future I am going to have to pay closer attention to the adjourning process of a group. This way each member of the group will feel like there was an end instead of it feeling unfinished. I am not sure what this is going to look like for my group of peers in my Masters program but I do hope we can adjourn in a way that makes us all feel celebrated and successful.