Michaela Kerrissey, an assistant professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, specializes in healthcare team dynamics. She delves into the intricate challenges of collaboration in clinical settings and how cultural shifts can redefine teamwork. Michaela emphasizes the significance of clearly defined roles and the need for psychological safety in evolving team environments. She advocates for continuous improvement in team-building practices, highlighting the importance of real-time feedback to enhance team performance in the dynamic healthcare landscape.
Understanding team dynamics and establishing clarity around roles are crucial for effective healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Innovative, short interventions like feedback loops and core team meetings can significantly enhance collaboration without overwhelming healthcare professionals.
Deep dives
Understanding Team Dynamics in Healthcare
In healthcare, the concept of team dynamics is increasingly recognized as essential for effective patient care. Although many professionals express a desire to work in teams, ambiguities remain about who constitutes the team and how roles are defined. Research indicates that even within the same medical group, individuals may have vastly different perceptions of their teammates, leading to inconsistencies in teamwork. This variance can impact healthcare delivery, employee satisfaction, and ultimately patient outcomes, highlighting the need for a clearer understanding of team structures and dynamics in the industry.
Defining Core Teams in Complex Systems
Healthcare professionals often operate within multi-team systems, where they are part of several overlapping teams throughout the day. This complexity makes it challenging to identify core teams responsible for cohesive care delivery, particularly in inpatient settings. Clarity around team membership and roles is crucial to ensure that specialists and caregivers can effectively collaborate. Creating a language to describe these relationships can help healthcare workers understand their contributions to patient care while reducing exhaustion from constant team engagements.
Dynamic Hierarchies and Role Clarity
In healthcare, establishing dynamic hierarchies—where leadership shifts based on expertise relevant to the task at hand—can enhance team effectiveness. Role clarity is vital for individuals to understand not only their own responsibilities but also the roles of their colleagues. By promoting an environment where team members are aware of one another's expertise, organizations can facilitate better collaboration and problem-solving. This adaptability can foster a productive climate in which team members feel safe to express concerns and contribute to the decision-making process, particularly in high-pressure situations.
Innovative Approaches to Team Improvement
To enhance teamwork in healthcare, there's a strong need for innovative strategies that integrate team dynamics into existing workflows. Rather than resorting to time-consuming team-building exercises, organizations should focus on short, actionable interventions that reinforce collaboration and communication in daily practices. Encouraging regular feedback loops, simple debriefs, and the establishment of core team meetings can create a culture of continuous improvement. By embedding these practices within clinical routines, healthcare systems can effectively support their teams while minimizing the burdens on busy professionals.
Michaela Kerrissey, PhD, MS, is an assistant professor of management on the faculty at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. She identifies how healthcare organizations innovate, improve, and integrate services, specifically how teams solve problems that cross organizational boundaries. Her research has been published in leading academic journals in both management and healthcare, such as Administrative Science Quarterly and Health Affairs. She has received Best Paper awards from the Academy of Management and the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research and was listed in 2023 on Thinkers50 Radar, a global ranking of top management thinkers.
Dr. Kerrissey designed the Management Science for a New Era course at the School of Public Health. She also teaches in multiple executive programs at Harvard’s business and medical schools and received the Bok Center award for excellence in teaching.
Dr. Kerrissey holds a BA from Duke University, an MS from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a PhD from Harvard University. She was awarded the Robertson Scholarship at Duke, a Hart Leaders Fellowship, and a Reynolds Fellowship at Harvard. Prior to her academic engagement, she was a consulting team leader at The Bridgespan Group, which was launched by Bain & Company.