5 STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

I have belonged to many groups of people working together. I have been a PTA member where the goals were to identify and eradicate any obstacles in the way of our children having a quality education. I have been part of study groups in nursing school. We bonded because we all had the goals of passing our exams and gaining our licenses. I am presently in a neighborhood beautification group. We gather every Saturday morning that we are available to clean up and plant flowers on a dead end block around the corner from me. My undergrad experience with groups here at Walden University had me in classes with some of the same people. We had the goal of getting our Baccalaureate degree. I did meet a few classmates at graduation, but sadly many did not even show up for graduation. The groups usually have a closing celebration after a task is completed. I usually remember the members with fond memories but we usually don't exchange personal information after reaching our goals unless we have something else personal in common. The group of classmates I have met during my Graduate classes has been similar. Some of us have had all our classes together so far. Soon we will split to our concentrated courses. Hopefully I will get to meet some of the students at graduation next year. The adjourning phase is important because this is when the group can celebrate their success of the project. If there was not success, this is where brainstorming could be done to discover why the project was not a success. Adjournment brings closure. If the group was a high performing group there will be sadness about the conclusion of the project. If the group was low performing without success it will be easier to leave the team. I do hope my Walden University closure will provide the opportunity to keep in touch with some of the other students

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION

I don't usually have conflicts. Maybe once a year on my job. I work for NYPD. There are so many bosses..sergeants, lieutenants, captains, commanders etc. Then there are civilians like myself. We work as a team at my job. Everyone knows how to do every aspect of the job...whether it is drug testing, writing review slips, giving instructions to candidates etc. Another civilian had disrespected me by slamming a door after saying a derogatory remark to me. At first I was going to avoid the situation but avoidance is not the way to go. If you avoid someone disrespecting you, it will happen again and again. I confronted this person coming from a place of being disrespected and not liking it. Her voice was raised and so was mine. We were in an enclosed room but I was so mad at myself for letting her take me to that place. I just said what I had to do not so nicely and that was the end of it. I walked away to continue doing my job. Now this person is someone who I am very close to usually but when she is pressed for time working she can sometimes get anxious and nervous. It bothered me all that evening after I had left the workplace. The next day I said "Good Morning" to her and she answered begrudgingly. Later that day I went in her office and touched her shoulder and said "you know I hate when we argue". That was the end of that episode. We continue to work together but in the back of my mind, I know she can loose it at any time so I am alert to any change in behavior. The way that we handled that situation was a lose-lose situation. We both were yelling, not listening to the other and were acting very unprofessional for about 30 seconds. We should have made that a win-win situation by discussing what set her off and dealing with that issue. Instead I chose to ignore her in the beginning which probably is the reason that her temper escalated. By discussing the situation and arriving at a solution that satisfied both of us, we both would have remained calm and professional in the workplace.