Kingfisher

School of Business and Finance

Chapter 11: Team

Learning
Together Everyone Achieves More
1.Understand the
meaning and value of
team learning
2.Differentiate
discussion from
dialogue
3.Internalize the
Learning
dynamics of dialogue Objectives
in our daily lives

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 2
research
Team learning
• The process of aligning and developing the capacities of
a team to create the results its members truly desire
• Starts with “dialogue”, the capacity of members of a
team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine
“thinking together”.
• Vital because teams, not individuals, are the
fundamental learning unit in modern organizations.
• Unless teams can learn, the organization cannot learn.

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 3
research
The Problem

Dysfunctional & Unaligned Teams The fundamental by-products of unaligned

teams are wasted time and energy.

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 4
research
Transformation

Dysfunctional & Unaligned Team Synergistic Team

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 5
research
Out of Alignment
 Wrongly focusing on the
individual visions of each team
member
 When it comes to teamwork, it
is foolish and chaotic to first
empower the individual before
empowering and aligning the
team around the common goals
of learning, discovery and truth
 This kind of meeting is treated
like an individualistic,
competitive, and task-driven
event rather than a playful and
engaging process of learning
and discovery
©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 6
research
Shared Goal – Aligned Goal

LEARNING HOW TO

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 7
research
So how do teams learn how to learn?

Discussion Dialogue

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 8
research
DISCUSSION
There is always an aggressive
strike and someone and
something is on the receiving
end of this strike

Objectives: Exploit a weakness

and win

During a discussion, one might

briefly accept another person’s
argument or POV, but only to
advance one’s own egocentric
motives
©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 9
research
DIALOGUE
Dialogos – Dia (through) & logos
(word/meaning)

Meaning passing and moving through

… a free flow of meaning between
two people

Objectives: Discovery, Insight,

Learning, and Truth

Purpose: To reveal the incoherence

of one’s thought

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 10
research
DIALOGUE
Nobody is trying to win –
when done correctly,
everybody wins.

The depth of learning,

creativity and
understanding achieves
something far greater
than that of any one
individual
©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 11
research
Achieving Effective Dialogue

3 Conditions:

1.Suspending assumptions
2.Colleagueship
3.Facilitation

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 12
research
Suspending Assumptions
 To suspend one’s assumptions means
to hold them, “as it were, ‘hanging in
front of you’, constantly accessible to
questioning and observation by other
members
Becoming fully aware of the
incompleteness of his/her own
individual thought
Requires personal vulnerability,
submission and risks

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 13
research
Colleagueship
• Thinking of one another as
colleagues is important because
thought is participative – even
experimentation
• Willingness to see each other as
colleagues and friends
• Choosing to view adversaries as
“colleagues with different views”
has the greatest benefits
• Leaving title, position, and rank
outside the walls of learning
• Playfulness and Humour patterns
during meetings
©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 14
research
Facilitation
• Spanish facil (easy); latin facilis (easy)
• A facilitator holds the context of
dialogue
• Good process facilitator
>> Helping people maintain
ownership of the process and outcomes
>> Keeping the dialogue moving
>> Drawing the line between
being knowledgeable & helpful and
putting on the “expert” or “doctor” mantle

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 15
research
 The Dynamics of Discussion The Dynamics of Dialogue

The Goal: WIN The Goal: LEARNING, DISCOVERY &

TRUTH
No listening: What will I say next? Deep listening

No facilitator Uses a skilled facilitator as a guide

Hierarchy is strategically and Deal with each other through colleagueship

advantageously used and camaraderie
Defensive of one’s position Suspension of assumptions

Discussion is our natural human default Dialogue takes a lot of practice

Seeks immediate convergence Is patient and embraces divergent thinking

To be used when making a decision To be used while discovering and learning

It is task driven It is playful

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 16
research
Dealing with Conflicts and Defensive Routines
Pandering – appreciating someone’s idea yet no real
intention on following up on the idea

Confrontation – immediately shutting down the person

who generated the idea and dissuades anybody else who
might be thinking of offering one

Sheltering – creating an illusion of protecting someone

from criticism, but, in reality, you are trying to protect
yourself from having to deal with challenging issues

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 17
research
Dealing with Conflicts and Defensive Routines

Solutions:

1. Acknowledge own tendency towards

defensiveness
2. Shared commitment towards learning and
truth
3. Practice the art of dialogue – enhances
creativity
©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 18
research
The Goal

Practice

Systems
Thinking

©DarylEjeilSinlao
TRE
Y 19
research
Think. Speak.
Practice.
Thank You

Maybelle Ann Lopez

Daryl Ejeil Sinlao

Menard Arambulo

TRE
Y 20
research