195 Something we must be proud of: team improvisation III. Underlying elements of team skills and context Expertise and memory: Through interviews, it was clear that expertise and memory were key qualities that enabled the group to improvise. Most respondents had worked decades in their respective roles at Sanquin and were chosen for their particular expertise and knowledge to contribute towards the group: “Not many people know eProgesa as good as I…And that’s why a lot of projects ask me to join because of this knowledge” (Respondent 3). However, all echoed the novelty and challenge of such a task: “to create such a new product in such a short amount of time; we’ve never done anything like it!” (Respondent 4). They expressed how the experience of working through the pandemic situation and the pressures that came with it were novel. However, they stated that though they did not have specific memory of something exactly like this, they knew of what was possible and what was not. This expertise was the decisive factor into the matter: “It was indeed crucial, otherwise we would have been still talking” (Respondent 7). Importantly, they noted that they did not break the rules in doing this but found ample space within them to redefine how things were done. Regulatory respondents reflected on the wisdom they gained from participating within the group, for they experienced how improvisation was a necessary technique in maintaining quality standards and finding ways to maintain high-quality, safe products while meeting the demands of a crisis (Table 5.3). Overall, by combining their expertise and memory skillfully, they were able to successfully improvise and coordinate amidst a crisis (Table 5.3). Teamwork quality: What was emphasized the most during the interviews and evident in the documents was the teamwork quality, comprised of a common goal, trust, and rotational leadership. Respondents affirmed that having one shared goal to help the patients and help them quickly was crucial in the demanding context they were working in and enabled them to have “spectacular collaboration”; Intranet posts attributed the same. As each member of the group was hand-picked for their roles, there was clear recognition of who had what skill or knowledge. As respondents worked together, trust was built within the team (Table 5.3). Regarding rotational leadership, there was some degree of it as the team was subdivided into small groups and took turns leading and following one another; dynamics within the group changed with time: “My job [in Quality Assurance] changed a little bit from someone who…was a referee. I no longer was a police agent. I was one of the guys. I worked with them” (Respondent 8). The group was led by two project managers who gave ample space for respondents to give input. Overall, since this group comprised of some of Sanquin’s most experienced employees,
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