U07a1
Analysis of Ground Rules
Celeste Green
BUS4802 – CHANGE MANAGEMENT
November 30, 2014
Dr. Mari Hadley
Capella University

Successful team following the ground rules
I participated on a team that was established quickly to help 400 employees find new positions within the organization because their current positions were being eliminated. My role as part of the team as a Senior Recruiter was to provide training to the employees by helping them to create a resume, conduct a successful interview and teach them to search for a position within the company’s applicant tracking system. The other members of the team was Sara who also is a Senior Recruiter. We shared the same responsibilities except I had the lead role because I was the original one recruited into this role because of my previous experience, there was Russell who is a Talent Acquisition manager, his role was to help provide us with guidance and to keep the business informed on our progress and communicate to both us and the business the status of the project. Heidi was the project manager for the management side of the business representing the division where the lay-offs were taking place. Her role was to keep us informed on each group that were receiving their lay-off notices. We meet with her every week to go over the status of each employee. We had only 5 months to help these employees. The ground rules that were established were we would openly discuss the issues presented to each and every one of us openly and honestly. We focused on each of our roles and the importance of us helping each other to accomplish the task without creating unnecessary problems. We all jointly designed the steps needed to lower the panic on the employees and ease their way making the employees our main priority regardless of our previous roles before we were part of this team. It was established upfront the importance of all of us making all of the scheduled planning meetings to make sure we all heard the same information at the same time and heard the solutions we came up with to make sure they were real solutions and did not hinder the progress of the project. It was established at the beginning we would not criticize or blame. If there was something we did not understand or agree with we wrote it down and openly discussed it at our weekly meetings. If there was an unexpected emergency situation came about we would call a special meeting to discuss how we should handle it. We would all take away action items that we needed to find the information or a solution for to share with each other at the next meeting and follow through with. We successfully helped over 300 of the 400 employees retain jobs within the organization and helped train almost all of the 400 employees on how to create resumes and conduct interviews even if they were leaving the company. The reason the team was successful and was a team I enjoyed being a part of because everyone took their roles very seriously, but we all partnered in sharing the tasks needed to be completed and we would share with each other every detailed involved in the project down to the smallest detail because what might seem small to us was not to the impacted employees or their current managers. We did not pass judgment on each other we valued the unique experience each of us brought to the team and the capitalized on the uniqueness and used it to excel the mission of the team. As an example because I previous held the position as a Strategic Business Partner and dealt with employee relation issue. I would handle the employees that were upset about not feeling like they were getting the attention they needed. I could talk to them and explain what was taking p[lace and completed relate with them how they might be feeling and helped them to see that we were making each and every one of them a priority and we were there to give them one-on-one attention. It was one of the most stressful positions I have held, but I was proud to be part of them team because we worked so well together.
Unsuccessful team that did not establish ground rules
I was a part of airline pilot hiring team, and the other members were my director, Elizabeth and the coordinator, Anita. We were asked to organize and hold a new hire pilot welcome reception. This required us to invite new hired pilots and their spouses from several different new hire classes from the three pilot bases they were assigned to. In addition, we were to invite all of the officers of the company, the Flight operations instructors and the Chief Pilot. I organized and held the first reception myself and even though it was a lot of work with volunteer assistance from other hiring teams it was successful. The next welcome reception was led by my director, Elizabeth, but she did not do anything except give us specific tasks to complete. I was the only member that was familiar with the process, but she did not ask for my opinion or input on anything. Even though some of the tasks she required me to conduct I would secretly do what I knew needed to do to make sure the event was a success. This event was considered a very important part of the company’s mission to welcome new hire pilots tour airline family. The ground rules that were not established or followed by me director included not allowing us to ask questions, not solicit our input and she had no value for our opinions. It was the most miserable team I have ever been a part of. She insisted that we do everything as she instructed including requiring me to take a decorating class at a decorating store in the town she lived in, which was miles from my house and our job. After the event was over she left and did not even stay and help clean up. I was lucky that I had held this event in the past and took care of most of the details behind the scenes that she was not aware of because I knew she would try and change them and I had previously done all of the research to make sure the event was still a success. If she would have allowed us to discuss what was needed and shared the duties everything would have still have taken place and the process would have been smoother and more enjoyable for all of us. The Fifth Discipline, described a learning organization as " a place where people continually expand their capacity to create results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people are continually learning how to learn." (Senge 1994).
My director did not believe in a learning organization!

References
Senge, P. et. al. (1994) The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization