Group Learning

Cameron PatersonE: cpaterso@shore.nsw.edu.au

T: cpaterso

Think of a group that you are (or were) part of that learned really well . . . what made it function so well?

Marshmallow challenge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_yKBitO8M

Training group members to function as such prior to group engagement can improve interactions and increase productivity.

The Race

• 400-600 miles, non-stop Primal Quest Adventure Race

• Multi-disciplinary, expert teams • Unknown terrain, multiple routes• Challenges: mental and physical exhaustion,

navigational errors, injury• 75-95 teams each year• 55% of teams do not finish• Avg age=37, Avg exp=5.5 yrs• $250,000 purse

Map of Race

Day 1-2

Day 4-5

2004 Race Overview

50%

70% Conditional Claims

Assertive Claims

TeamPerformance

HighLow

30%

How do claims of knowing vary across teams?

   

   

       

                          

        ?              

 

 

 

 

   

? ?  

     

         

  ?     ?

           

  ? ? ?  

           

? ? ? ? ?

Team talk “let’s”“we”

Conflict is normal, inherent, and essential to community practice and organisational learning.

Which one holds more stuff?

“When a group is working well, we learn to listen to and respect diverse points of view, to share and exchange knowledge, and to clarify, modify, and extend our own thinking.”

Project Zero

IDEO shopping cart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M66ZU2PCIcM

“Leadership can be – and at its best, often is – a shared activity. Anyone and everyone who clarifies a team’s direction, improves its strategy, secures organizational support for it, or provides coaching that improves its performance is providing leadership.”

Professor Richard Hackman

How can leaders support group learning?Designing cultures that allows these dynamics to exist

generatively

Roles

Language

Routines

Artifacts

80% of professional knowledge is built informally.