Team Inquiry: Development

Sustained dialogue, collective learning and organisational practice

Creating space for deeper collective inquiry

The ways teams work together develop through experience, relationships, formal responsibilities and established organisational practices. Some questions can be addressed through a concentrated period of discussion. Others are more persistent, involving complex relationships, institutional expectations, differing interpretations or patterns of working that have developed over time. Team Inquiry: Development provides a six-month opportunity for sustained dialogue and collective learning. Drawing upon the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire, we support teams to examine their shared circumstances, question assumptions, explore relationships of power and responsibility, and consider possibilities for developing their collective practice. Rather than treating team development as the application of a standard model, we work with the questions, experiences and organisational realities of the participating team. The extended engagement creates opportunities for inquiry, reflection and practical experimentation to inform one another over time.

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Who is this package for?

Team Inquiry: Development may be appropriate for:

Leadership teams examining their collective practice.
Management groups reconsidering how authority and responsibility are exercised.
Established professional teams exploring recurring organisational tensions.
Teams navigating significant or continuing organisational change.
Groups seeking to strengthen meaningful participation in their ways of working.
Teams interested in developing more collaborative approaches to decision-making and responsibility.

The package is normally designed for an established team or group of four to eight participants. Other arrangements can be discussed according to the nature of the work. Sessions are online, although in person sessions can be arranged for UK-based teams.

What does team inquiry involve?

The engagement begins with an initial contracting and inquiry session. This provides an opportunity to explore the team's circumstances, identify significant shared questions and agree how the facilitated process will operate. Over the following months, regular sessions create space for sustained dialogue and critical reflection. Participants may examine how decisions are made, how authority is exercised, how responsibilities are understood, and how organisational structures and established practices influence the team's work. Different experiences and interpretations are treated as important sources of learning rather than simply obstacles to agreement. The process may also create opportunities for the team to experiment with aspects of its collective practice. For example, participants might reconsider how particular decisions are made, examine arrangements for sharing responsibility or explore different approaches to participation and communication. These possibilities would emerge from the inquiry rather than being prescribed in advance. Periodic reviews allow the team to consider its developing understanding, revisit earlier questions and examine what is being learned through practice. The engagement concludes with a collective development review, identifying significant learning, continuing questions and potential next steps.

What's included?

A six-month facilitated team inquiry.
Twelve facilitated sessions of 2 hours, normally held twice monthly.
An initial team contracting and inquiry session.
Sustained dialogue and facilitated critical inquiry.
Periodic reviews of developing understanding and emerging questions.
Opportunities for collective experimentation and reflection.
A concluding collective development review.

Potential areas for inquiry

The particular focus will depend upon the circumstances and interests of the team. Areas might include: Collective leadership and the exercise of authority. Shared responsibility and accountability. Organisational power and informal hierarchies. Relationships between professional roles and organisational expectations. Decision-making and participation. Communication, disagreement and organisational silence. Team identity, professional cultures and established assumptions. Organisational change and competing priorities. Developing more democratic and collaborative working practices. These are possible starting points, not a fixed curriculum.

From collective reflection to collective practice

A central principle of our approach is that understanding and action develop in relationship with one another. Teams do not operate independently of their organisational circumstances. Their ways of working are shaped by structures, resources, institutional histories, competing interests and relationships of power. A critical approach therefore examines not only how team members relate to one another, but also the conditions within which those relationships develop. The extended duration allows the team to return to questions as its understanding changes, examine the consequences of practical choices and consider further possibilities for collective action. This does not imply that every organisational difficulty can be resolved at team level. Part of the inquiry may involve recognising issues requiring wider organisational involvement or structural change.

Begin a conversation

If your leadership group or professional team would benefit from a sustained period of collective inquiry, we welcome an initial discussion about its circumstances and the possibilities for working together.

Tell us about your goals. We will discuss the right approach with you before agreeing a package and arranging payment.

For a concentrated inquiry into a more clearly defined shared question: