ABSTRACT
Taking any new product to market can be a struggle, especially if it is innovative, ahead of tis time, or it challenges the status quo. Getting people to change or adapt their behaviour, without them being able to fully identify an immediately apparent reason or need, can be met with resistance and scepticism; why do we need this….what we already have works fine?
And so it is with the Team Academy model. Why should we give up on an ages-old pedagogical model of teaching which is embraced worldwide? A model of the sage on the stage where the teacher is the expert, the curriculum is decided, controlled and measured and the success of institution and pupil is based on outputs. In the world of work, little changes, and organisations large and small look to training advisors and consultants to provide solutions to growth requirements.
But what if we are being myopic and ignoring the inevitable? What if there is an evolutionary moment that suggests that change in the way that we look for learning is not only inevitable but necessary? Emerging literature and commentary would suggest that team learning is not just a new thing but an inescapable and necessary response to a world where uncertainty, change and complexity demand responses that cannot wait for an expert to prescribe a single or universally accepted solution.
So what is the point of Team Academy? Is it just an interesting an innovative educational model that will amuse minds and provide research activities for academics until another flavour of the month emerges, or is it something far broader than this? Is it indeed part of an evolutionary, learning necessity – a phenomenon whose time is now?
What could a global Team Academy Network look like? What would be its purpose? Why should we promote it? Is this a black art that is to remain in the domain of academia? Is it a virus that has already been released?
Or is it an antidote to a much deeper, embedded problem in that the way we teach is not wholly appropriate for tomorrow's world?
