Background

A team of six members was put together from different offices to work together on a newly introduced process meant to improve a project that is required to improve the way the organization supports and manages its client base. The team members included Peter, Sarah, Mohammed, Donna, and Me. The team leader; Sandra, had fifteen years experience working as a project manager and had managed several process improvement projects.

Lotus is an outsourcing company with its headquarters in Chicago, and it is important for the company to offer the best possible services to the clients that is why it had to come up with a team to develop ways of improving the manner in which it supports as well as manages its client base (Ancona, 2010).

Stage 1: Forming

Face to face meeting with the agenda of the meeting including personal introduction, team building exercises, information with regards to the process improvement project, discussion on team responsibility and roles, discussion on team norms, and introduction on the SharePoint site used during the project to brainstorm, share ideas, and store project documentation (Ancona, 2010).

Stage 2: Storming

From their respective home offices, we began to work as we interacted through the SharePoint. The team leader assumed a side role during the exchange and interaction but in the event of any misunderstanding, she kept on referring to the ground rules and worked with the team to make sure that the plan remained in place for the process of making decisions.

Stage 3: Norming

The team members supported each other about the project through making team decisions together, problem-solving issues, sharing information, and making sure that the ground rules are followed.

Stage 4; Performing

The team members brainstormed effectively in solving arising and remained highly motivated to get to the end goal together as a team. We worked on our own without depending on the team leader to make decisions and intervene for us. The team leader kept on checking on the members praising and correcting them when necessary. When necessary, she offered a link to be used in executives for decisions that had to come from higher management or when they needed additional support.

Stage 5; Adjourning

The project was successfully completed, and the internal customers were pleased with a definite improvement in the way the organization supported its clients. Members met to discuss the project including the documentation process of the best practices and discussed what worked as planned and what they need to improve upon in future (Adler, Hecksher, and Prusak, 2011).

References

Adler, P., Hecksher, C and Prusak, L.,  (2011). Building a collaborative enterprise. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 94-101.

Ancona, D., (2010). Outward bound: Strategies for team survival in an organization. The Academy of Management Journal 33(2): 334-365