The Journey Continues.......

As we prepare to move on to another phase of our Master's Degree  journey,  I want to thank you all for the thoughtful contributions you have made along the way.  Some of us will continue on through the administrator's track while others will move on to other specialty areas.  Best wishes to you all !
                     Judi

Adjourning

Saying goodbye can be difficult in many circumstances we find ourselves in both personally and professionally. I think our level of commitment to the group weighs heavily into whether we can just walk away or whether we have a difficult time.  It was extremely difficult for me to leave the mentors that I had recruited for a school-based mentoring program I coordinated a few years ago. This group of individuals from different sectors of our community made a commitment to meet with a student at risk of dropping out of school for at least one hour every week.   The individuals involved took time out of their busy work day to meet their student at school and give them the one-on-one attention many of them rarely received.  When I made a career change, telling the group I would be leaving was one of the hardest things I have ever done. This group had become more than people I recruited to mentor at –risk children, they had become my friends as well. I had serious concerns about what would happen to the program after I left the agency which made saying good bye even more difficult.  Sadly, because of the time of year I left the program, I wasn’t able to plan a closing event. It is something I regret even now, five years later. 

                 Over the past months as I have worked on my master’s, I have had regular online contact with my classmates through our discussions and blogs.  The relationship is certainly different than a face to face relationship which in my opinion, makes adjourning from the group different.   The personal connection is lacking so saying goodbye for me will probably a closing blog entry to my classmates.

                Adjourning is important as a team completes their task because it provides everyone with the opportunity to feel a sense of accomplishment and freedom to move to new things.  I think as part of adjourning, the team has the opportunity to acknowledge each other for the work they completed. As I think about my experience with leaving the mentoring program, I realize now that formally adjourning from the group would have actually made it easier for me to move on, a lesson learned.

               

Using My New Conflict Resolution Skills

This assignment came at a perfect time!  For the past two weeks I have been dealing with a conflict at work that involved me, three of my staff, my supervisor and the director of our department.    Here are the details to set the scene- every year staff and I attend the Early Childhood Summit for three days in October.  It is a wonderful event that provides many workshops, experts in the field as key note speakers, state and federal updates on funding and a good opportunity for networking with other early childhood professionals.  It is something I include each year as I prepare the train and technical assistance budget for the program.  Past practice has always been that each person attending has their own room at the host hotel.  We all registered and reserved our rooms as we have done in the past.  About two weeks after this was completed, my supervisor emailed me requesting that I discuss sharing rooms with the staff going this year since the organization itself is tightening spending.   I explained to her that the money is already in place in our program budget so it was not a hardship for us.  I also reminded her that if the money was not spent out, it would need to be returned to the funder and could affect the amount of the allocation for the next program year.   Her response was that was still the present expectation of the organization that people share rooms when going to conferences.  I found myself in a true conflict both personally and professionally.  I knew I had no intention of sharing my room and as I discussed it with the other staff attending, each had legitimate reasons for not feeling comfortable sharing a room.  Everyone also said, had they known before-hand that would be the expectation; they would have declined the invitation to attend.  I have struggled with this for the past two weeks!  As I read the materials for this week, I found myself thinking about ways to incorporate these techniques into my situation.  First, I met with the staff involved to give them the opportunity to share their feelings relating to this request.  I then presented their concerns to my supervisor and the director and proposed a compromise.   I suggested the possibility of finding other accommodations in an all-suite hotel.  If I could find something that was less than the cost of separate rooms, I would propose that to my staff.  They both found that to be reasonable possible solution but the director said that going forward, sharing rooms would be expected but if there are no accommodations that would work, she would allow everyone to keep the arrangement they already made.  I was grateful for the internet! It made my research fairly easy and didn’t take too much time in my already very busy day.   As it turned out, the options were very limited and the only accommodation I found that was less expensive had a suite with only a partially divided room and still only one bathroom.   I met with my staff again, and shared what I found.  They did not feel those accommodations would be any better than just sharing a room.  I  reported back to my supervisor  the outcome of my meeting with my staff and she agreed, I had done as much as I could to attempt to comply with the new way of thinking  and that arrangements already made should stand.

                Reflecting back on the conversations with my staff and with my supervisor and the director, I can now see how different strategies affect the outcome when there is conflict.  My staff actually shared that they felt respected by the way I handled this and really appreciated it. I can’t say I felt the same way in terms of how I was treated by my supervisor and director.  The tone of my meeting with them was authoritative and uncomfortable for me.  In the end, there is a positive outcome and we will all be able to attend Summit.  I was grateful for the new skills I had just learned related to conflict resolution.  How timely this assignment was!