Building successful teams

Effective collaboration and a shared sense of belonging are both essential to the success of any team. Unfortunately, the modern working world is often defined by large workloads, tighter timeframes and increased disconnectedness due to a reliance on technology. This means fostering these essential skills has become increasingly difficult.

The Engineering School at UTS discovered how Learning Journeys could help them build on these areas and work towards strengthening the way they learn and work together.

Before participating in their end of year retreat workshops, team members were asked to complete their Learning Journey survey. The goals of the workshops were to provide team members with personalised feedback on their results, to increase communication between staff and to change the culture and practice around solving complex problems.

The results from the Learning Journeys surveys demonstrated the independent and sometimes isolated nature of the work environment. Understanding that learning power flourishes in communities where there is high trust and a shared language, the session facilitator used Learning Journeys as a framework to guide self-directed change in the team’s approach to learning.

While the participants didn’t share their Learning Journeys profile with each other, they discussed what the profiles revealed about their current situation and identified areas where they could stretch their profile drawing on their collective understanding of the learning dispositions.

Using their Learning Journey profile as a framework to guide collaborative learning enabled the group to understand the differences in the way that people learn, understand the world, and that they all have different learning experiences. The key to developing as a team was understanding “not everybody is like me” and that everybody has strengths they can contribute.

The participants enjoyed the activity and took value from investing in professional development together, which in turn helped to build on their sense of belonging. They also reported that having an external facilitator to guide the sessions was useful.

Engaging in this collaborative learning experience also provided team members with the opportunity to see the benefit of implementing similar strategies within their teaching methodology, that is, learning to teach in a different way.

The workshops also provided the opportunity for the participants to reflect on their orientation to learning, that is, their openness to new ideas and challenges and their ability to cope with change within their working environment. Were they too rigidly persistent to learn well, or too fragile and dependent to go on learning when things get difficult?

Learning Journeys can help build and maintain strong teams by improving communication between staff, building professional relationships and fostering a sense of belonging.