Saturday, June 14, 2014

Is it time to adjourn?


Saying good bye is a hard action to do especially if that bond was made between two or more people.  My very first administrator position was for a facility that was a very small close nit family.  I came on board during a time that they were preparing for their self-study for NAEYC.   After the ups and downs of preparing for the ultimate goal—Accreditation from NAEYC.  After we met our goal, my superior needed me to transfer to a larger facility that was about to open.  Emotions that came to me were indescribable.  Some of the aspects that stood out to me that made it harder to say good bye were simply the friendship that was made between the other manager and myself.  We had so many challenges that sprang up on us that we overcame together that it was very difficult to say goodbye to each other. 

As my days came to an end with this team, I continuously visited with each individual and shared my favorite attributes that they displayed that made them so successful working with children.  This group upon working with them were not following best practices with children, not because they did not want to but because they did not have a leadership team mentoring and modeling for them appropriately.  I want to say that they were so successful with their everyday routines of working with children because of my team of leadership. 

As we draw near to the last few courses left with the master’s degree program I have thought about how it is going to feel saying good bye to my colleagues.  Wishing someone good luck does not really express the true words that I would want to say to everyone.  I feel that we all struggle day to day with completing the required college level work, while still fulfilling our duties as a parent, a spouse, and working fulltime.  Adjourning is an essential stage of team simply because everyone wants to feel that they contributed in a positive way and to celebrate the group’s achievement.  Friendships are made among group work and it is imperative to keep those professional friendships simply because of needing someone’s else’s professional opinion with other projects that will happen in the future.

3 comments:

  1. I think in any case when you get close to someone or a group of someone's, it is so hard to day goodbye. You never know when you will see them again or what the future will hold. What a great accomplishment on your part though with that accreditation. I am sure you and your team put a lot of hard work and dedication into that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aloha Crissy,
    Some say that growth is painful with many accompanying emotions. To give up something that you helped make work for something that doesn't or won't right away is tough. Remember, we are made of what it takes to make any transition work for the kids and soon we will be called Masters at it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Parting ways can be difficult, but sometimes necessary in order for people to grow. Life is about evolving and growing from either mistakes or accomplishments or pursuing the next challenge. So as stated in the course readings this week,. Adjourning also provides the team the opportunity to say good bye to each other and wish each other luck as they pursue their next endeavor (Abudi. G, 2010). But good byes don't always mean that connections need to be lost. As you mentioned, friendships are imperative in keeping lines of communication open with colleagues because you never know when you may need their assistance again.
    Reference:Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

    ReplyDelete