The Adjourning Phase

Adjourning is the process of saying goodbye, of leaving a group or team of people that you have grown to trust and respect. When we start out in a team, we often don’t know others very well; we go through the introductory or forming stage, and then move on through the other stages of group development (storming, norming, and performing) until it is time for the group to adjourn.

In some situations saying goodbye is easier than others; groups with high-performance and clearly established norms are more difficult to leave than others because they have often made it through all of the stages of group development while some adjourn before really working together. A high-performing group or one with established norms is more likely to have built up trust, respect, and camaraderie with each other-they have worked with each other and therefore may find it harder to adjourn than a group that has not been productive, has been engaged in conflict, or has no trust among its members.

The hardest group that I have left was a group that worked well together-even though our performance wasn’t necessarily the best we became close to each other, had established trust and friendship, and knew and performed our tasks well. We often met outside of our group meeting times and had lunch and discussed things other than our group work; it was fun and we enjoyed each other’s company. This group was a small study group for one of my undergraduate classes-myself and two others-and when the class ended we had a celebratory dinner and vowed to keep in touch. We still talk sometimes but without the bond of the group we are not as close as we once were.

To be honest, I had not really thought about adjourning from this group of colleagues at Walden University and now that I think about it, it makes me sad! I feel that over this past year I have really gotten to know some of my colleagues and enjoy discussing things with them, hearing their perspectives, and receiving their support. When this program is over, I will miss my colleagues even though we have never actually met in person. Hopefully part of our adjourning process will be exchanging contact information because I hope that we will remain in touch and continue to share our ideas and experiences with each other!

I think that adjourning is a necessary stage of teamwork because it gives closure to a project or goal and allows us to move forward. Working with familiar team members is great, but working with new teams and new people can help us grow even more. I think that without the adjourning process we would not really able to do this and so, as sad as it is, we must adjourn and move on. Hopefully we will take what we have learned from our past teams and use these experiences to better our future team/group skills!