197 Something we must be proud of: team improvisation signed up (Table 5.3). Overall, respondents’ consensus was that training occurred on an ad hoc, trial-and-error basis due to the constant changes that happened. IV. Lessons learned When respondents were asked what lessons they learned from being part of the CCP group, themes included the successes, challenges, and organizational impact. Before the pandemic, respondents alluded to the slow and tedious ways that projects were not completed or changes were not implemented. However, during the pandemic, the group discovered that it was possible to (1) accomplish a specific goal, (2) accomplish the goal quickly, (3) by using nontraditional methods exemplified by this quote: “We did NOT go back to, ‘Oh we always used to do this in this way. Let’s do this in this way again’” (Respondent 7). This sentiment was echoed by nearly all respondents and elicited an excitement and thrill which directly contributed towards pride at the strong teamwork and collaborative and flexible spirit: “Because of all the efforts of everybody in this project, who all s[aw] the need of getting it done, doing a lot of overtime, we did it. And that is something we must be proud of” (Respondent 3). They described that the key to achieving this required breaking free from a set mentality or previous behavioral patterns, as advised by one respondent: “If other countries want to do this, forget about your own documents. Not the system of course, but forget about your own documents, how you do it. How you do it is not important…How do you want to do it, and does it fit in the law and regulations of your country? If it does, just do it and believe in yourself. You can do it” (Respondent 8). Through these experiences, several respondents summarized the impact upon the organization: “the pandemic has shown Sanquin at its best.” (Respondent 1). However, since interviews were done after the acute pandemic phase was over and the group was no longer functioning, several noted a transition: “back to business as usual.” Practically, this meant that tasks such as missing documentation was being completed, but in the way of working, the organization was returning to how it used to do things: “what you see now is that it’s going back more and more to the old Sanquin [way of doing things]— which is making decisions and taking a long way of talking and not looking at alternatives” (Respondent 7). This was a regretful thought for some: “I’m afraid that when we are out of this crisis, it will go back to the time before [where it was difficult to get things done], but I hope not” (Respondent 3). Thus, it seemed that being out of the acute pandemic phase, the culture was shifting back to having less flexibility, openness, and collaboration, and respondents were lamenting the change.
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