Building Trust

This week I learned about the five stages of team development and the role each plays when building a team.  Adjourning is the final stage of a project that has come to an end and the members of the group reflect on their accomplishment, failures and the decision of moving forward into another project is determined.  The aspect of the project that was hardest to say goodbye to was the planning process brainstorming about activities to engage the children with throughout the evening which is what we as a group potentially envisioned our sleepover as a something that would benefit our families during the holiday season.  

The group with the clearest established norms was with the first group which was established during our first year of the sleepover.  The team’s enthusiasm about putting the project together as well as implementing the one time over-night process was the one that demonstrated the standard of sleepovers for years following.  Our initial sleepover team effort was the one that stands out the most to me because we worked the hardest to make it successful.  Each individual in the first group put their skills to work.  We established a relationship with a library in the area to get books they were disposing of to use for a game we labeled book walk which is simply musical chairs.  The game allowed each child to take home a book of their choice.  I loved how at the end we learned what we each were capable of doing to make the dream work.  Our families were ecstatic to have an evening to themselves and leave their child with teachers they have built a relationship of trust.   

After all the children were down and sleeping for the night we had a late dinner together where we discussed what was successful and the challenges we faced.  We all said we would not do it again because it was more work than just a normal day at work. Some things we found was that it was over kill to bath each child before bedtime and the before bed snack should be something such as cheese and crackers or fruit versus vanilla wafers.  What we found was the children had the most fun and parents shared the children talked about their experience days after; this was additional confirmation to the success of our first sleepover.  The next year my co-workers all talked me into doing the overnight again at the request of the children and some of the parents. 

I think adjourning from the relationships formed while working on my master’s degree would involve thanking some people for their honest feedback and supportive comments during our discussion board post including talking about what is next is our lives.  We could all possibly choose a time to join a chat for some ending comments could that include exchanging contact information.  Adjourning is an essential stage because it helps team to solidify what worked and why as well as the challenges they faced during implementing of their project.  This is also the time to problem solve and discuss what is next for the team should they decide collectively to move forward or to disband.