Is Team Learning just a new-fangled word for Team-Building?

Team Learning is more than Teambuilding.

Teambuilding focuses on creating a higher level of collaboration and trust between team members, in order to effect better team results. Teambuilding aims at improving how the team communicates, makes decisions and solves problems. It focuses on improving the practices of the team, while Team Learning zeros in on how team members engage in enlarging shared perspectives of the Team.

Teambuilding and Organisational Development
In OD language, most Teambuilding activities would be considered 'single-loop' learning; ie the team learns how to modify their actions according to the difference between expected and obtained results. For instance, the Marketing team identifies that team members are experiencing poor results because they are quick to operationalise the first suggestions that surface during brainstorming. Through facilitation, they learn the rule-of-thumb that they should discuss further and not settle on the first suggestion thrown up.

Team Learning as 'double-loop learning'
While Team Learning is premised on the fact that a team already exists, it looks to the fundamental aspects of team life - developing shared vision, recognising and overcoming potentially destructive habits of thinking. Team Learning processes are 'double-loop learning' in nature; ie the team learns to recognise and correct the perspectives, values and norms leading to poor actions.

In other words, poor-quality actions and practices will be eliminated at source. To illustrate, let's take our same Marketing Team through Team Learning processes. The team learns that the reason why they are opportunistically seizing the first suggestion that comes along, is that
they are new to each other and do not wish to be perceived as the person who rocks the boat. Team Learning involves them recognising that such perspectives prevent innovative thinking from surfacing and encourages them to trust each other by first 'agreeing to disagree'.

Team Learning is a fundamental part of any team or organisational change and improvement effort. Only when the Team learns ie it changes perspectives, such improvement efforts are bound to be stymied. Furthermore, teambuilding will only be remembered as a fun day in the sun and people forget it's usefulness as a building block for Team Learning.

Noel Tan
Resident Philosopher

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