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Team Dynamics
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A
team is more than a group of people who work together.
It can provide a structure and strategy for real change.
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The
team plays a very special role in the dynamics of change.
It provides a critical link between organisational change
and individual learning.
Recent
research (The Herts Team Learning Project for example)
shows that teams can, and do learn. Learning involves
the acquisition and procesing of data, opinions, knowledge,
commiment and ultimately wisdom. All teams must do this if
they are to contribute to change. They can then make change
happen and adapt quickly to changes in their environment.
Seeing
teams and groups as structurally dynamic suggests there are
five types of learning team that can support real change.
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LEARNING
COMMUNITIES
Typically they have no
formal recognition. Members work together for mututually
understood goals, or an ad hoc basis. They operate more
as a network with strong ties and influence. They often
include peole outside the organisation such as suppliers
or customers. They are sometimes referred to as "Communities
of Practice". I launched a learning network which
was stopped by the organisation because senior managers
wanted to control the flow of information to their 'change
agents'. Things are different today now that partnership
working and joint processes are needed.
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LEARNING
LABS
Usually set up to deal
with 'wicked problems', 'red tape' or one-off tasks,
with members drawn from stakeholder services
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LEARNING
PARTNERSHIPS
Composed of two or more
people, not linked, who agree to share their learning
and experience for mutual benefit.
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ACTION
LEARNING SETS
Set up
to tackle change projects that require the development
of people to launch a new service or way of working.
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CROSS-PROJECT LEARNING
These are tools that
can facilitate learning across teams and the creation
of 'learning landscapes' to meet strategic considerations.
Uses tools
such as After Action Reviews, Post Project Appraisals,
etc.
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Teams
share a common purpose and their results are more beneficial
and effective than if the memebers had worked separately.
You can use Value
Webs to
assess the impact of team dynamics.
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