Learning Teams (PsychSafety, 30 January 2026)

Summary

Often, when we’re trying to improve how work gets done, we start with principles. We agree what we believe in, or are working towards, at a high level, and then figure out how those ideas translate into day-to-day practice. This piece takes a different route.

Instead of beginning with abstract principles, it starts with a concrete practice: Learning Teams, from the world of HOP (Human and Organisational Performance). Through the excellent work of Sam Goodman and others, Learning Teams have evolved into a reasonably well-defined way of bringing people together to learn from everyday work.

By looking closely at how Learning Teams are designed and facilitated, we can surface the deeper principles they rest on – principles that reach far beyond pure safety contexts, and have important things to say about learning, power and psychological safety at work.