Adourning

There are five stages of team development; forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Each of these as value to the process of becoming a successful team, this includes adjourning. As I first read about these I did not understand that the the fifth stage adjourning was just as vital as the others.

Once a project/assignment etc. is complete you have to move on to the next one, taking what you learned  from the previous team experience and using it to improve your communication and participation in the next team,

This week I completed a month long commitment as a juror on a civil trial, This was a team and we did go through the five stages of building an effective team, but is was as the judge read our decision and said court is adjourned that I looked around at my fellow jurors and realized that I had learned from the other jurors and gained a lot from the experience I dreaded at first. I celebrated the end of a successful trial with several my fellow jurors after we left the courthouse that day. When I left them that night I though about adjourning and what it actually means. It means to break off, with the intention of resuming later. Teams are adjourned and while they may not have the same make-up when they come back together for a new project there will will always be a new project. I will use the problem solving strategies skills I learned from a few of my fellow jurors as I return to my team at work and begin new projects.

Adjourning does not need to be the end.