Good-byes

In my opinion high –performing jobs aren’t the hardest to leave.  I feel that the hustle and bustle can sometimes be overwhelming and meant to be short term.  Groups that have strong norms are often hard to enter into so you often feel like the outsider if you weren’t at the beginning stage of development.  You can sometimes find yourself wishing for the completion of the task.

I feel that the hardest stage for me to say good-bye in is the performing stage.  I think that when we are all working hard and doing our best it makes for a fun place to be and a hard place to leave.  I also think that the norming stage is hard to leave because you are learning about everyone and the way that they do things.  The more that you learn about people the closer you get even if you don’t like the way that they handle certain situations. 

The closing rituals that I have experienced have varied depending on the situation and the location.  I have experienced parties, rewards, and simple good-byes when situations came to an end.  I know that some people like to show how much they have appreciated you by throwing parties while others feel like you have done your job so it’s time to move on to the next adventure.

I think that by adjourning from the group of teammates that I have formed will be bitter sweet.  Bitter in the sense that I will no longer have the group of colleagues to bounce ideas off of and to build a strong foundation for my teaching experience.  Sweet in the sense that I will have received a degree that will hopefully open new doors for me in my future. 

Adjourning is a natural part of any relationship and project.  There has to closure in order to move on.  It may not mean that you are leaving a person or a job but it means that you have completed one task and you’re graduating to the next.