Stage of Adjourning

As I have said it before that I have been involving in a number of groups, particularly group projects.  In fact, I prefer to work in a group, rather than to work alone by myself.   In a group setting, you accomplish more and work more effective, attaining success more easily than being working alone all by yourself. 

I am so fortunate that I have a regular team to work with for different projects, without much going through to the forming, norming and stages.  We have to do a lot of brainstorming during the storming stage for a new project.  And, in the performing stage, we have to make sure the project is on time and within budget. Among all the stages of group development, I enjoy the time in the adjourning period, when we can celebrate success and accomplishment that we have achieved.  Each success we achieve makes our team to be more norming and performing.  We have formulated our team rules and systems of planning and execution. 

However, as far as I am concerned, it is hardest to leave from the groups that are high performing when compared to groups that have clearest established norms.  In a high-performing group, there is an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, and each member is highly motivated to achieve success for the group.  When encountering a conflict, the team members can work through it and come to a consensus easily.  On the contrary, clearest established norms groups are at the beginning stage to work more effectively as a team.  They are yet to learn to trust and rely on each other to get the job done.  Their interdependent relationships are at the initial stage.

Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork simply because evaluation and reflection that done in the stage would help members to develop personally and professionally.   It is good time for the team to evaluate and capture best practices for future use.