Excellence in higher education teaching has become a policy priority of governments worldwide in recent years. In the United Kingdom, for example, the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2016 heralded an unprecedented focus on the quality of teaching. Set against the backdrop of such policy developments and wider global interest in teaching in the higher education sector, this paper discusses the conceptualisation and implementation of an innovative approach to observing teaching and learning as part of a faculty professional development project in an English university. It examines the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of academic staff involved. In reconceptualising and reconfiguring the application of observation as a method by removing it from an assessment domain, the paper argues that this approach has uncovered new opportunities for using observation as a tool of educational inquiry for professional development purposes. This has led to the transformation of observation into a catalyst for developing collegial understanding of what constitutes effective teaching and learning in higher education, as well as providing a collaborative forum for staff to reflect on and share ideas for improving their practice.