Thanks and Goodbye

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to thank you all for sharing your experiences through each of your professional and personal lives. I have learned many things from you and have enjoyed being in this class. This class has taught me so much about communication, collaboration, and listening. All these have helped me to stop, think, and listen before I say something or do something.

Much luck and success to each and every one of you as your journey through Walden continues!

Best wishes,
Lori

Week 6 - Adjourning

 Are high-performing groups hardest to leave?

I would have to say yes because all the components to make that group experience worthwhile was present.



Groups with the clearest established norms?

Again I would say yes if you are the type of person who needs those norms established. I think for most of us, myself included, that organization and clear expectations help all of us know what is exactly expected of us.


Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? Why? What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced?

I think the hardest group for me to leave was the group of people I went to college with the second time. I was a non-traditional student (40!) and became sort of the "mother hen" to many of the students who were much younger than me! I walked through the arches on the campus when I first started and I walked through them on graduation day which put a closure on my college experience.

 How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master's degree in this program? Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork?

I will definitely tell everyone thank you and best wishes as they journey into their professions. It helps to put closure on people that we have worked with. It also gives you a sense of pride in the work a group has accomplished!

Conflict Week 5

What an interesting time for this question to be posted in our Blog. I have to say that after last week, I have had to really hold my tongue and keep my mouth shut. I am not sure how to explain it without it coming out in a poor loser scenario. My daughter was a Homecoming queen candidate last week and no, she was not the winner. The girl who did win was someone that no one was expecting to win because of her attitude and her daily drama. She said some extremely mean things to my daughter (my daughter pulled her ham string in dance, this girl was jumping up and down, clapping, and saying, "Good, she is hurt. Now she can't try out for basketball cheerleading) and I felt that someone who said things like that should not be rewarded. Well, needless to say, I have had to do much soul-searching in this area and know that I cannot change the outcome nor is it important anymore.

I have unfortunately used the "escapist strategy" for this incident because I do not want a conflict with this girl's mother. Events that took place after the crowning just left me with little desire to congratulate her because I knew it would not be a geninune moment.

So, in light of this, my daughter teaches me the "challenging strategy" for her acceptance of losing and forgiving. My daughter said, " I would rather lose honestly than win dishonestly" and has been given several opportunities to continue to be a class leader. If my daughter can move on, forgive this girl for the comments she made after my daughter's injury, then I have to do the same.

I think we both have learned many lessons from last week and what and who really matters. I will continue to use these strategies as well as cooperative strategies to work through conflicts in my life that need solutions and closure.