Adjourning Stage

The last year of college I had the pleasure of working with a team which was a high-performing one. We had minor conflicts but we were able to work them out. This team was unlike the others I worked on. The other teams had members who were studying different majors. This team I was on the last year of college consisted of everyone studying the same major. I don’t know if this made a difference of why this team was more effective than the others, but it was. When we adjourned we were happy and sad. We were happy to finally be finishing and obtaining a degree. We were sad because we knew this would be the last time we would be in the same setting like this and we had sort of became like family. We celebrated by having a party in our last class. We promised to keep in touch, which some of us have. The adjourning stage lets you know that you’ve made it to the end, whether it was successful or not, it’s finally finished.

When it is time to adjourn from my colleagues, I’m sure it will be bittersweet. I haven’t gotten to know any of them personally, but we have formed friendships through discussions and blog assignments. I know I will miss communicating with them on a  weekly basis.

Conflict Strategies

A conflict I recall was with a friend of mine. We were disagreeing on which company I should use to have my tire fixed. The company I wanted to use was less expensive than the company he wanted to use and I’ve used that company before. He said the company he wanted to use did a better job. I said as long as the tire is fixed correctly does it matter who does a better job. He explained to me in more detail why the other company was better. After about 20 minutes we came to a compromise. I decided to try the company he suggested this time. We agreed he would pay half of the cost to have the tire fixed. Half of the costs equaled what I paid at the other company. The company he suggested did do a better job. We were able to compromise and our conflict was resolved in a win-win method.

Although the conflict was minor, it could have escalated into something else. I learned to listen, be open to new ideas, and to not think I have the better solution. My friend was patient while trying to get me to see the bigger picture.