Introduction

Learning through teamwork is not your everyday learning activity. It requires lots of resources and time commitment. However, it takes organisational learning to a higher level. For team members, they will have to learn how to work with people from different backgrounds and broaden their perspectives beyond their immediate jobs.

Learning through teamwork requires a real life organisational issue that a team is put together to learn about and solve. This team can be a cross-functional team or a team within a department or function.

7 key steps for cooperative learning through teamwork

1. Get a real life problem that impacts the organisation/ department for the team to solve
   
2. Obtain senior management support for team and goals
   
3. Choose team members based on what they can contribute to the team. Team members should have different strengths and temperaments too.
   
4. Give the team a common goal
   
5. Set up team rules at the start of the process to ensure that team members are committed, accountable, are open to new ideas and respect each other
   Facilitate team development and training (e.g. group problem solving, team dynamics)
   
6. Monitor and review team dynamics & output at various milestones
   
7. Capture and transfer team knowledge to the rest of the organisation