Team Learning Behaviour is an ongoing process of reflection and action, characterised by asking questions, seeking feedback, experimenting, reflecting on results, and discussing errors or unexpected outcome of actions. These behaviours have been found to be most effective when it comes to teams learning and improving their performance. 

Although team learning behaviour is based on individual learning, it exceeds the sum of the individual learning of team members. In other words, everyone in a team benefits from the learning of their colleagues.

Research shows that team learning behaviour relates to better team performance. Additionally, teams that exhibit learning behaviours also provide an environment where team members feel psychologically safe (i.e., they are comfortable expressing and being themselves), allowing thus team members to thrive in the workplace.

There are a wide variety of sources to learn more about team learning behaviour. Below we cite some of our favourites.

Academic Articles

• Grasping the dynamic complexity of team learning: An integrative model for effective team learning in organisations
• Psychological safety and learning behaviour in work teams
• Social and cognitive factors driving teamwork in collaborative learning environments: Team learning beliefs and behaviours

 Online articles / Publications

• Speeding up team learning

Team Learning Behaviour is measured using the survey validated by several researchers, including Piet Van den Bossche and colleagues. The measure consists of nine statements describing different team behaviours such as sharing information and asking questions.

1. On this team, I share a lot of relevant information and ideas I have.
2. Team members are listening carefully to each other.
3. If something is unclear, we ask each other questions.
4. Team members elaborate on each other’s information and ideas.
5. Information from team members is complemented with information from other team members.
6. Team members openly draw conclusions from the ideas that are discussed on the team.
7. This team tends to handle differences of opinions by addressing them directly.
8. Comments on ideas are acted upon within the team.
9. Opinions and ideas of team members are verified by asking each other critical questions.

In TeamScan, team learning behaviour is calculated by combining the individual answers of all the team members. Once these individual answers are combined, team-level scores are calculated.

Team learning behaviours, such as asking questions, seeking feedback, experimenting, reflecting on results, and discussing errors or unexpected outcomes of actions, improve the performance of the team. Research shows that these behaviours are greatly influenced by leadership. Therefore, in order to achieve team learning behaviour, two types of leadership behaviours should be exhibited: shared leadership (leadership distributed among team members) and vertical leadership (leadership embodied in the team leader). Here are two examples of how to develop team learning behaviour by working on the leadership in your team.

Shared leadership

Foster shared leadership in the team by sharing information, asking clarifying questions and elaborating on each other’s ideas.

Vertical leadership

Work on your leadership in the team by listening carefully, encouraging information sharing, and ensuring that actions based on shared conclusions are acted upon.