Sorry FalconJock
I think that you're confusing teamwork with social groupings. If the team are quite comfortable and sitting round discussing work, they're not necessarily doing work. Real teamwork happens when everybody has predefined roles, but if someone's busy or can't cope, the others will rally round to achieve that person's duties so that the consumer doesn't suffer.
OK it could be that there's a 'mentor session' where other more experienced people give guidance on specific problems, but I've seen too many "teams" who are just trying to avoid doing the work they should.