Creative action teams: innovative opportunities for team work

DePauw University is a selective, liberal arts institution with 2,350 undergraduate residential students located in Greencastle, Indiana. In the fall of 2004, top managers in the Library and Information Services department came up with the idea of forming Creative Action Teams to address issues and concerns they saw within the department. The Creative Action Team program was to fulfill two major objectives for the department. The first objective was to build continuous communication and collaboration between the individual departments within Library and Information Services. The second objective was to give dynamic teams a chance to create and implement a systematic process in order to reach a desired goal.The following topics will be discussed in this paper: 1. Upper management's development of the process for each Creative Action Team to follow - a process that would be clear enough to guide the teams in the right direction, yet loose enough to encourage the creative energies of the individual team members. 2. The impact participation on the Creative Action Teams has had on staff members from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and responsibilities. 3. Issues team members faced during their participation on the teams. 4. Management's response to the recommendations developed by the teams, including suggestions that have been implemented. 5. Future plans or next steps in the program.Although it is too early to be able to provide a bottom-line evaluation of the program, we will offer formative feedback and convey our thoughts as to whether this first round of the Creative Action Team program is viewed as a success or failure.