Having recently started working with a couple of new teams, it always gets me thinking about the dynamics of how they work and fundamentally how they learn, as a team.
Peter Senge, a thought leader in the systems thinking space, talks around this idea of “team learning” as one of his five disciplines, which is described as being essential for a learning organisation. “We want (or are), a learning organisation”, is a statement I have heard a number of leaders state, but often without any evidence of how they are working towards this or how this is working within their teams.
It’s worth a conversation to explore a bit more around what this is, why it’s important and what we can do to leverage in our teams.
What is Team learning?
Team learning focuses on the capacity of a group to essentially learn how to achieve collective outcomes that go beyond the abilities of individual members alone. Elements of this would include how the team communicate, how they align to goals, and how they innovate. A way of thinking around this could be…
How are the team learning to unlock their true potential?
Why would you want to focus on this idea of Team Learning?
I can’t imagine anyone saying they wouldn’t want a highly effective team, but at the same time actions tend to speak louder than words. If you are not taking action to foster a learning environment with the idea that the team is trying to reach its true potential then you are probably missing out on a bunch of emergent value in areas such as this…
1. Enhanced Collaboration: When team learning principles are applied, groups cultivate a shared understanding, leading to stronger collaboration and mutual trust. When trust is high, things tend to get done in a more effective and efficient manner.
2. Accelerated Innovation: Through open dialogue and reflection, teams will then challenge assumptions, leading to breakthrough ideas. If you’re leaving it to the ‘innovation team’ you may be missing a trick.
3. Improved Problem-Solving: Teams that have the discipline of learning can address complex challenges more effectively by leveraging diverse perspectives. Problem solving always starts with understanding the problem at hand and will ultimately be flawed if it’s done from one or two viewpoints alone.
4. Strengthened Organisational Culture: Team learning fosters an inclusive environment, where every member feels valued and engaged. This will most probably mean happier people, higher engagement scores, low attrition, low sickness etc etc.
Just thinking around some of these ideas, you can see how learning can link into the bottom line, it’s just not that tangible to the naked eye. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and more importantly that you shouldn’t look to leverage it.
If this was easy then everyone would be doing it. There are some typical challenges in getting Team Learning going, here’s some that spring to mind…
1. Resistance to Change: If you haven’t being working like this, then some people may resist. This could be due to fear of the unknown or comfort with existing ways. You’re probably going to need to lead the way if it’s very different from how things normally are.
2. Misalignment of Goals: There’s going to need to be shared purpose and vision, without it teams may struggle to focus their collective efforts. This is easy to say but often requires a number of current measures, ways of articulating company goals etc to be challenged, change, even removed.
3. Time and Resource Constraints: This almost always comes up. If you want to facilitate meaningful team learning this is going to require investment in time, training, coaching and effective methods. These may appear to compete with other priorities when you put them in a binary decision making process. Often, the elements we prioritise above are only there due to a failure of the team to learn. This is what might be termed a bit of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’
So what can Leaders do to get better at this?
Of course there are things we can do to help make team learning emerge as a way we describe how our teams work. Without spelling out what may seem like the obvious…
1. Encourage Open Dialogue: Create a safe environment where team members feel free to share their perspectives without fear of judgment.
How safe is the current environment? What evidence do you have to suggest this is the case whether that’s good or bad?
2. Model the Way: Leaders should embody the principles of team learning by being open to feedback, demonstrating curiosity, and facilitating reflective discussions.
What was the last bit of feedback you had? How did you act on both receiving and actioning? Who saw that?
3. Align Goals: Regularly revisit and clarify the team’s shared objectives to ensure alignment.
How ‘shared’ are current goals by those within the team? How ‘shared’ are goals when you think about this at a leadership team level i.e. the opposite of functional goals owned by one leader?
4. Invest in Learning Opportunities: Provide resources such as workshops, coaching, and collaborative tools to support the team’s development.
How does ‘Coaching’ work in your organisation? How does it affect team learning?
Yeah we are doing all of that…
I can imagine, most leaders who would read this saying that exact sentence. The reality is, no team is ever at its true potential, it can always learn to improve. The team that stops learn will almost certainly move backwards.
Senge’s discipline of team learning is a definitely a transformative principle that should be seen as a way to empower an organisation to achieve its strategic goals.
Yes there are challenges, but they are easily removed if the belief is there. Thoughtful implementation and a commitment to fostering collaboration was free and not overly time consuming, the last time I checked.