Cafe Archives - Relational Coordination Collaborative

February 2026: Relational Education

Addressing the Workforce Crisis with Relational Drivers of Well-Being and Resilience

Facilitator: Jody Hoffer Gittell, Heller School for Social Policy & Management, Brandeis University

Panelists: Anne Douglass, UMass Boston; Mora del Fresno, Instituto Relacional; Pau Quintana, Instituto Relacional; Sofia Pereira, The Relational Lab; Jane Feinberg, Power of Place; Andre Morgan, Beverly Public Schools; Matt Jones, Devon County Schools; Jeff Grim, George Mason University; Brenda Zierler, University of Washington School of Nursing; Tony Suchman, Relationship Centered Health Care

What is relational education? Relational education theory proposes that learning occurs through relationships (Giroux & Penna, 1979; Aspelin, et al, 2020; Gravett, et al, 2024; Plantin Ewe & Fjelkner Pihl, 2024). Relational education is about the competencies that students learn - not just technical but also relational competencies such as the ability to communicate and relate across differences, the ability to engage in systems thinking, and the ability to create integrative solutions to complex problems.

Relational education is also about the way learning happens in a relationally coordinated learning community. According to Instituto Relacional: “We understand that there is no deep learning without meaningful relationships, and that transforming education implies rethinking how we interact in the classroom, among teams, with families and with the environment.” To transform education in the midst of profound industry disruption is likely to require strong relational networks among key stakeholders - leaders, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, employers, and policy makers - with each stakeholder bringing their knowledge and goals to the table in a timely way.

How does relational education work at different stages of learning? How relevant is it in a world dominated by technology, artificial intelligence and political polarization? What might students learn about relationships through design thinking or sports or student clubs or by observing their teachers, professors and educational leaders? From a research perspective, how might we study the impact of relational education on outcomes of interest to multiple stakeholders?

We've invited thought leaders from across the educational continuum to share their work and answer these questions. Our colleagues from Spain, Portugal, UK and Massachusetts have been working to strengthen relational education by building relationships between schools and families, among teachers, among students, and between teachers and students. Other colleagues from New York, Virginia and Washington have been working with multiple stakeholders to embed relational principles into undergraduate and professional education.

Visit Relational Education Innovation Lab here

2025

December: Integrating Social Network Analysis

Integrating Social Network Analysis and Relational Coordination Analysis for Greater Insights

Invited Panelists: Jody Hoffer Gittell, Brandeis University & Relational Coordination Analytics; Scott Soltis, University of Vermont; Sijia Wei, Northwestern University; Heba Ali, Lancaster University & Relational Coordination Analytics; Tom Wolff, Northwestern University; Jim Best, Independent Consultant

We live in an increasingly interdependent world - socially, emotionally, economically, physically, environmentally, biologically and evolutionarily. As a result of interdependence, we need relationships to achieve our desired outcomes, especially in the context of growing complexity. However, relationships are at risk around the world due to the rise of remote work, technologically mediated communication, economic inequality, and political polarization. In this RC Cafe, we focus on two approaches - Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Relational Coordination Analytics (RCA) - that offer theories and methods for exploring relational challenges and solutions.

Despite serving as primary lenses through which relational analytics are explored, the fields of social networks and relational coordination rarely intersect (Khosla, et al, 2016; Gittell & Ali, 2021; Burns, Nembhard & Shortell, 2022; Soltis et al., 2023; Bannya et al., 2023). Network research has pushed consideration of how stakeholders are connected and what flows between them, including knowledge, resources, and more (Kilduff & Tsai, 2003; Grandori & Soda, 1995; Alter & Hage, 1993). While much focus in SNA has been on networks among individuals, Krackhardt (2024) argues there is additional potential for organizational scholars to focus on organizational networks or O-networks - networks between organizational roles - to achieve insights into organizational design (e.g. Kilduff & Brass, 2010). Relational coordination focuses on organizational networks within and between organizations (e.g., Gittell, 2002; Gittell & Weiss, 2004; Caldwell, Roehrich & George, 2017), thus serving as a complement to SNA scholarship. The combination of relational coordination (Gittell, 2002; Gittell et al., 2010) and social networks (Borgatti et al., 2009; Borgatti, 2006; Brass, 1981) has the potential to better describe, assess, and improve the coordination of work in complex organizational systems. Together, they offer the potential to better understand multilevel relational dynamics in organizations.

The aim of this Cafe is to create an approach to relational analytics that jointly employs the theories and methods related to social networks and relational coordination. We will accomplish this goal by bringing leading scholars in each field together to interact with each other and with other academics and practitioners with an interest in the role of relationships in organizations.

September: Division, Cost Pressures and Authoritarian Threats

Relational Coordination as a Response to Division, Cost Pressures and Authoritarian Threats

WATCH VIDEO here

Panelists: Graham Wright (Brandeis University), Anya Rader Wallack (Health Management Associates), Darren McLean (Gold Coast Health), Marta Marques (Relational Lab)

Facilitator: Jody Hoffer Gittell (Brandeis University)

Overview:

We are living in a time of growing divisions and authoritarian tendencies in our organizations and our communities. In this Cafe, we will explore whether and how integrative processes like relational coordination can help leaders respond effectively to these challenges and how to frame it for that purpose.

In times where connection is often stereotyped as a sign of weakness (McLean et al 2025), let us consider how to reframe the power of integrative processes like relational coordination. Through its focus on timely, accurate, problem-solving communication, relational coordination can help to address problems that seem insurmountable. Through building relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect, relational coordination can arguably help us find integrative solutions to the challenges we face (Gittell & Fletcher, 2019; Wright, 2025).

April: Relational Model of Change

Using the Relational Model of Change in Your Research and Practice

Facilitators:
Jody Hoffer Gittell, Brandeis University, RC Analytics
Wale Olaleye, Brandeis University, RC Analytics

Panelists: Brenda Bond, Suffolk University; Lauren Hajjar, Suffolk University; Darren McLean, Gold Coast Health System; John Paul Stephens, Case Western Reserve University; Jim Best, Independent Consultant; Erika Gebo, Suffolk University; Caroline Logan, Abt Associates

Overview:
Relational coordination theory has inspired numerous change methodologies that have been explored by researchers and practitioners. In this Café, we will focus on the Relational Model of Change, a model that uses relational, structural and work process interventions to strengthen relational coordination and drive desired performance outcomes.

February: Coordinating Ecosystems in the Age of AI

Coordinating Ecosystems in the Age of AI

Facilitators and Panelists: Ina Sebastian, MIT Center for Information Systems Research; Tomaz Sedej, Copenhagen Business School; Kartik Trivedi, University of New Hampshire; Paulo Gomes, Florida International University; Dan Moriarty, Sean Kvindegal, FuseChange

Overview: The Digital Ecosystems Innovation Lab met in January to define common research themes and objectives for 2025. We learned that Innovation Lab members are studying and/or implementing diverse initiatives to improve ecosystem coordination through the use of AI. In this RC Cafe, we will share several real-time cases and facilitate a discussion on the following research themes that have emerged in our Lab:

1) How does AI influence coordination at different ecosystem levels, and how does coordination influence AI design?

2) How does trust shape and influence multi-level coordination and outcomes in an ecosystem, and how can ‘trustless’ architectures (like AI agents and blockchain technologies) enable, constrain, or completely shift these dynamics?

3) Can AI be an agent without agency, because of the way it is developed? Or can it progressively develop its own agency?

2024

December: Integrating Relational Coordination and Social Networks

Integrating Relational Coordination and Social Networks

Learn how others are combining these two analytic approaches and how they can be combined in your own work.

Facilitator: Sijia Wei, Northwestern University

Panelists:

Stephen Shortell, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Jill Marsteller, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health
Jody Hoffer Gittell, The Heller School, Brandeis University; RC Analytics
Heba Naim Ali, The Heller School, Brandeis University; RC Analytics
Al-Karim Samnani, University of Windsor

Background:

We live in a highly interdependent world - socially, emotionally, economically, physically, environmentally, biologically and evolutionarily. “As human beings, we exist as members of collectives and we survive only if we are accepted and recognized by others, starting at birth. We are thus interdependent, both socially and physically, at the most basic level of survival” (Gittell, 2016). As a result of this interdependence, humans need relationships to achieve their desired outcomes. However relationships are at risk around the world due to the rise of remote work, technologically mediated communication, economic inequality and political polarization.

In this Cafe, we explore relational analytics as valuable tools to analyze relationships, their predictors and their outcomes with the goal of understanding how to leverage them more effectively in our research and practice. Despite serving as primary lenses through which relational analytics are explored, the fields of relational coordination and social networks rarely intersect (Soltis, Methot, Gittell & Harris, 2023). The combination of relational coordination (Gittell, 2002; Gittell, Seidner, & Wimbush, 2010) and social networks (Borgatti, Mehra, Brass, & Labianca, 2009; Borgatti, 2006; Brass, 1981) has the potential to better describe, assess, and improve the coordination of work in multi-level organizational systems. Social network analysis provides tools for seeing the structure of relationships while relational coordination provides tools for seeing the content, quality and strength of those relationships along actionable dimensions. Together the two methods may help participants to see the whole together more clearly and design better solutions.

Several innovators have begun this integration, in particular Nidhi Khosla, Jill Marsteller and colleagues (2016), followed by Jody Hoffer Gittell and Heba Naim Ali (2021), then Rob Burns, Ingrid Nembhard and Steve Shortell (2022) and most recently, Scott Soltis and Al-Karim Samnani (2024).

September: Innovations in RC Coaching and Consulting

Innovations in RC Coaching and Consulting

view VIDEO HERE

Tony Suchman, MD, MA, Relationship Centered Health Care
Wale Olaleye, MBA, PhD, Deloitte Human Capital, Relational Coordination Analytics
Jody Hoffer Gittell, PhD, Brandeis University, Relational Coordination Analytics

In this RC Café, we’ll be exploring ways to help people work together more effectively to improve performance. What’s at the learning edge of RC-informed approaches? The state of practice has advanced so far over the last 15 years. It will be both useful and fun to celebrate this progress and push it farther. And we’ll be trying out a new community dialogue format. At the beginning we'll offer some starting thoughts then head into open dialogue, first in small groups then all together.

RC practitioners will have a chance to compare notes and add to their toolkits. Researchers will have a chance to learn about or enhance the impact of projects and to identify new emerging topics for future studies of RC change. Students can have it all! We hope you’ll join us.

We're a community of researchers and practitioners, constantly striving to learn from each other.
view slides from the cafe

May: Strengthening Networks for Integrated, Equitable Health Care

Strengthening Networks for Integrated, Equitable Health Care

View Video Hereview slides hereChair: Masami Tabata-Kelly (Brandeis University, Brigham & Women’s)

Speaker: Stephen Shortell (UC Berkeley School of Public Health)

Panelists/Commenters:

Jill Marsteller (Johns Hopkins University)
Ingrid Nembhard (Wharton School)
Jennifer Perloff (Brandeis University, Institute for Accountable Care)
Rob Mechanic (Brandeis University, Institute for Accountable Care)

Closing Remarks:

Kathy McDonald (Johns Hopkins University)

It is increasingly apparent that success in a highly interdependent world depends on identifying and strengthening the networks through which value is created. In this Cafe, we will explore a new policy proposal for improving healthcare - The Better Care Plan. Dr. Steve Shortell, one of its creators, will describe it and open up for discussion. How does it work? How does it propose to strengthen networks for integrated equitable healthcare? How does it propose to use relational coordination to certify care teams? How can you get involved? Dr. Shortell is joined by panelists/commenters with expertise in relational coordination, social networks, health system design, and payment models.

April: Addressing the Workforce Crisis

Addressing the Workforce Crisis with Relational Drivers of Well-Being and Resilience

Sherita House and Heba Ali will share how to create worker well-being based on their research - and their lived experiences as clinicians and leaders, facilitated by Casey Heely. We look forward to seeing you there and hearing about your work whether in healthcare, education, human services or tech.

Dr. Sherita House, PhD, RN, is an assistant professor at University of North Carolina Greenboro. Her program of research focuses on health systems interventions to improve care processes and staff outcomes among health care professionals in civilian and military hospitals. Her research addresses improving care coordination among healthcare professionals with interdependent task and complex work processes. She has experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her work has been funded by private foundations and the Tri-Service Nursing Research Program designed to support military nurse scientists on active duty and in the reserves. Dr. House is currently developing and testing relational coordination training interventions to improve staff outcomes with multidisciplinary teams in the clinical setting.

Heba Naim Ali, MBBS, MSc, is a researcher and data analyst with deep expertise in Relational Coordination (RC) and Social Network Analysis (SNA), as well as more traditional analytic methods such as econometrics. Ali is a PhD Candidate at The Heller School at Brandeis University, exploring the organizational and relational factors that shape service delivery and employee well-being in the context of vulnerable populations seeking to live in the community. Ali is co-author of Relational Analytics: Guidebook for Analysis and Action and numerous scholarly articles. She serves Relational Coordination Analytics as Director of Operations and Data Analytics, offering strategic direction for the company as well as hands-on support for clients who seek to incorporate relational coordination data and insights into their improvement projects and their daily operations.

Casey Heely, MHS, RN, BSN, is a PhD in Social Policy student at The Heller School at Brandeis University with a concentration in Health Policy. She received a Master of Health Science degree from Clark University with a concentration in Health Equity. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and a minor in English Journalism from Fairfield University. Following her undergraduate studies, she became a Registered Nurse and worked in Pediatric Intensive Care Units until transitioning to work for a telehealth start-up focused on diagnostic testing in the home. Her research interests include the healthcare workforce, health equity, social determinants of health, and evaluating access to primary and preventative care, especially for underserved populations, within the framework of healthcare and health policy in the United States.

Background
Worker well-being is a challenge for all organizations, especially in times of crisis (Nembhard, Burns & Shortell, 2020). In healthcare, education, social service and other sectors, burnout was already high (Donelan, 2002; Shanafelt et al., 2015) then exacerbated by the pandemic (Dillon et al., 2022), leading to the Great Resignation.

tress has continued as organizations reorganize to meet the needs of their changing environments. How to respond? Relational coordination is one useful response due to its ability to drive quality and efficiency outcomes for organizations while supporting worker well-being and resilience (Bolton et al, 2021). First, relationships facilitate the coordination of work across multiple boundaries, helping workers to accomplish their jobs more effectively with less wasted effort (Gittell, Weinberg, Pfefferle & Bishop, 2008; Weinberg, Lusenhop, Gittell & Kautz, 2007). Secondly, high-quality relationships foster a keen awareness of and attunement to the needs of others (Williams & Dutton, 1999; Dutton, 2003; Dutton & Heaphy, 2003; Dutton & Ragins, 2007).

As a result of both dynamics, relational coordination is a significant predictor of greater job satisfaction, greater work engagement and reduced burnout (e.g. McDermott, et al, 2019; House, Wilmoth & Kitzmiller, 2022; House et al, 2023; Ali et al, 2023).

March: Relational Analytics

Relational Analytics

Innovations in Relational Coordination and Social Network Analysis

Chair: Scott Soltis, LINKS Center for Social Network Analysis, University of Kentucky

Jody Hoffer Gittell, Relational Coordination Collaborative, Brandeis Universitiy
Ajay Mehra, LINKS Center for Social Network Analysis, University of Kentucky
Jill Marsteller, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
Sijia Wei, Integrated Health Services and Outcomes Research, Northwestern University
Heba Naim Ali, Relational Coordination Analytics, Brandeis University

Additional Perspectives

Anindita Roy Bannya, University of New South Wales
Richard Wylde, National Health Service
Christina Yuan, Johns Hopkins University
Ingrid Nembhard, The Wharton School
Jim Best, Independent Consultant

Relational coordination and social networks have much in common though they are rarely used together (Gittell & Ali, 2021; Soltis, et al, 2023). The combination of relational coordination (Gittell, 2002; Gittell, et al., 2010) and social networks (Borgatti, et al., 2009; Brass, 1981) has the potential to better describe, assess, and improve the coordination of work in complex organizational systems, including complex multi-level health systems (Khosla, Marsteller, Hsu & Elliott, 2016; Burns, Nembhard & Shortell, 2022).

In the March RC Cafe we will bridge this gap and begin to innovate towards a future that uses relational coordination and social networks simultaneously. We will start the Cafe with brief primers on relational coordination and social networks from leading scholars in the field, then discuss why and how to integrate the two methods. Participants will break into working groups to discuss different approaches to integrating the two methods, conceptually and/or practically, building on their past, current or future work. We will come back together to share our ideas and to consider whether to develop an integrated approach including visualization tools going forward.

February: Building and Sustaining Relational Coordination at Scale

Building and Sustaining Relational Coordination at Scale

Opportunities for Theory, Research and Practice

Panelists:

Jody Hoffer Gittell, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
Marjorie Godfrey, Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Systems, Univ. of New Hampshire
Dan Slater and Judith Merel, Atrius Health
Shellie Ellis, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Implementation Impact Research Collaborative

Traditional bureaucratic organizations don't work well in dynamic environments, but they have the advantage of being highly scalable and sustainable. Relational organizations are highly effective in dynamic environments, but they are also more challenging to scale and sustain. Relational coordination theory therefore focuses attention on the design of relational structures including shared meetings, shared protocols, shared accountability, shared information systems, boundary spanner roles, and hiring and training for teamwork. These structures are expected to support relational coordination over time and at scale, with growing empirical evidence about how they work (Abu-Rish Blakeney et al, 2019; Bolton, Logan & Gittell, 2021; Gittell, Seidner & Wimbush, 2010; Gittell & Douglass, 2012; Gittell, 2016; Lee & Kim, 2020; McDermott, Conway, Cafferkey, Bosak & Flood, 2019; Siddique et al, 2019).

In this Cafe we explore how to scale and sustain relational coordination using relational structures and practices that are intentionally designed for this purpose. We will hear three examples of how this works in practice, from highly advanced to just starting out:

Margie Godfrey and her team at the Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Systems at University of New Hampshire are in their 6th year of strengthening coordination between the organizations that deliver care to people who are living with cystic fibrosis, with a particular focus on the lung transplant process. They are leading this improvement work across the United States.
Dan Slater, Judith Merel and the primary care practice at Atrius Health are starting their second year of strengthening relational coordination in remote teams that are responsible for patient access, and beginning to expand this work from pediatric to adult primary care.
Shellie Ellis and the precision oncology team at Kansas University Medical Center are developing a toolbox for precision oncology teams to strengthen relational coordination in the diagnosis and delivery of cancer care, starting at the academic medical center with the goal of sharing with rural hospitals around the state.

2023

December: Relationships and Readiness

Relationships and Readiness: Building Relationships Between Health Systems and Communities for Equitable Outcomes

Presenters/Facilitators: Rumana Shams Rabbani (UNC Chapel Hill, CHASM), Jennifer Perloff (Brandeis University), Jody Hoffer Gittell (Brandeis University), Lauren Hajjar (Suffolk University), Abe Wandersman,(The Wandersman Center), Brittany Cook (The Wandersman Center)

How can health systems and community organizations build relational coordination to achieve more equitable outcomes? What role can community health workers play?

Community health workers (CHWs) are defined by the American Public Health Association as liaisons between the community and health systems (APHA, 2023), serving in effect as boundary spanners to build relationships between health systems and communities that are divided by significant power differentials (e.g. Franz et al, 2019; Taylor & Byhoff, 2021). CHWs work with clients and with fellow professionals in health systems and community-based organizations to address underlying causes of poor health such as systemic racism and violence (APHA, 2023) by spanning the social identity and power differentials between the two sectors (Franz et al, 2019; Rabbani, 2019). Given the challenges of the CHW role, it is not surprising that some studies have shown that CHW programs positively impact outcomes (ASTHO, 2023), while other studies have shown little or no impact (Truchil et al, 2013).

The goal of the proposed study is to assess how to strengthen CHWs’ role as boundary spanners between health systems and communities. We propose to test two interventions that are expected to increase CHW ability to play the boundary spanner role. The first intervention is empowerment training, which provides CHWs with new skills to build power in communities and to work more effectively across power differentials between health systems and communities (Rabbani, 2019; 2020). The second intervention provides CHWs with the skills to assess and build relational coordination and readiness between health systems and communities to achieve more equitable outcomes for the populations they serve (Hajjar et al, 2020).

Join us to explore interventions to address the social determinants of health by strengthening relational coordination across sectors that currently lack shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect.

September: Coordinating with AI - Tool or Teammate?

Coordinating with AI - Tool or Teammate?

Presenters/Facilitators: Jennifer Claggett, School of Business, Wake Forest University; Kartik Trivedi, The Heller School, Brandeis University

Artificial intelligence has become deeply ingrained into our lives and our work. While AI is not a recent phenomenon, its ability to engage in deep learning is relatively new and highly disruptive. Kate Kellogg and colleagues (2020) have asked how algorithms change the nature of control at work. How does AI change the way we coordinate our work? And is relational coordination between humans and AI possible? Claggett and Karahanna (2018) argue that algorithms learn through relational coordination with human users, and Trivedi (2023) finds that transparency strengthens trust, potentially strengthening relational coordination between AI and its users. Join us to explore these questions with organizational and policy experts Jennifer Claggett and Kartik Trivedi - and bring your own questions to the conversation!

May: Building Relational Capacity for Resilient Communities

Building Relational Capacity for Resilient Communities

What is resilience and how can we build it at multiple levels by building relational capacity? How long can we ask people to be resilient without fixing the underlying problems, and where does resilience fit as we are trying to transform the world?

As calls for “whole-of-society” approaches to complex challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic (Clarke, Hellowell, O’Hanlon, & Eldridge, 2020), social justice (Zheng, 2020), and authoritarianism grow louder, organizations of all types must be prepared to meet these demands (Bartunek, 2022). Communities often serve as ground zero for stakeholders to collectively respond.

There are no simple solutions for communities that are seeking to respond. Communities have multiple stakeholders at multiple levels, many of whom have competing interests. Approaches to large-scale change often do not account for the relational aspects of change and therefore fail to address underlying issues of siloed accountability, goals and knowledge, and the lack of trust and respect (Bartunek, Halogen & Do, 2011). Prior research suggests that developing strong relationships and organizational structures to support collaboration and coordination across professional, organizational and geographical boundaries is essential, especially developing common understandings, shared goals, shared values, mutual respect and trust (Gittell, 2016; Okhuysen & Bechky, 2009).

But can we get stuck in resilience and fail to engage in transformational change?

April: Building Relational Coordination for Higher Education in a Changing World

Building Relational Coordination for Higher Education in a Changing World

Panelists:

Mary Anne Peabody, University of Southern Maine
Helen Gorgas Goulding, University of Southern Maine
Elizabeth Higgins, University of Southern Maine
Ali Al Fazari, American Hospital Dubai
Jeffrey Grim, University of Iowa
Caroline Shanti, University of Southern Maine

Higher education institutions face pressures to adapt to ever-changing student populations and a constantly evolving landscape of knowledge requirements and policy mandates. State and federal governments along with the philanthropic community have increasingly invested resources to encourage and hold institutions accountable for the success of the students they admit.

The inability of students to access services and resources can be a significant inhibitor to their success. This is especially true for populations of students who have been historically and systemically under-resourced, marginalized, and discriminated against, for example students of color, low-income students, first-generation students, disabled students, LGBTQ students, and immigrant students, especially those who lack familial networks to help navigate policies and structures that can be confusing and daunting. In addition to student success, there are other challenges in higher education such as curricular innovation, campus social climate, faculty and staff retention, research and development, financial sustainability, alumni relations, and external stakeholder relations more broadly.

Relational coordination helps diverse stakeholders achieve their desired outcomes through the development of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect, supported by communication that's frequent, timely, accurate and focused on problem-solving rather than blaming. We propose that strengthening relational coordination between departments and across levels of leadership within higher education institutions, with their broader networks of external stakeholders, and with students themselves, will enable higher education institutions to adapt to the changing environment and more easily achieve their desired outcomes. Join this Cafe to share about and learn about RC interventions that work.

March: Strengthening Relationships for Value Creating Healthcare Systems

Strengthening Relationships for Value Creating Healthcare Systems

Panelists:

Jennifer Perloff, Institute on Healthcare Systems, The Heller School, Brandeis University
Palmira Santos, Institute on Healthcare Systems, The Heller School, Brandeis University
Masami Tabata-Kelly, Institute on Healthcare Systems, The Heller School, Brandeis University
John Chapman, Institute on Healthcare Systems, The Heller School, Brandeis University

The push for more value from healthcare has shined a light on the importance of well-functioning and broadly conceived teams of caregivers (not all currently considered 'healthcare'), and on social factors not previously considered part of the healthcare system such as safe housing, adequate food and adequate financial resources, for impacting patients’ health and well-being.

As the definition of care and the locus of control begin to shift towards the joint production of health, community actors such as public health departments and social and economic non-profits have increasingly key roles to play. And population health initiatives such as accountable care organizations have tremendous potential to reallocate resources from acute medical care to prevention and social services (Mechanic & Fitch, 2023). But there are very few models for how these disparate sectors can work together.

In this RC Cafe, we will engage with the research and practitioner community to take stock of what we know about using relational coordination, co-production and social networks to build multi-disciplinary teams of care-givers and multi-sector partnerships for equitable value creation (Burns, Nembhard & Shortell, 2022; Gittell & Ali, 2023). We will identify gaps needing research exploration, and explore how to more effectively strengthen these relational dynamics (Bolton, Logan & Gittell, 2021).

February: Innovations in RC Coaching and Consulting

Innovations in RC Coaching and Consulting

Panelists:

Tony Suchman, MD, MA, Relationship Centered Health Care
Wale Olaleye, MBA, PhD, Deloitte Human Capital
Jody Hoffer Gittell, PhD, Brandeis University

In this RC Café, we’ll be exploring ways to help people work together more effectively to improve performance. What’s at the learning edge of RC-informed approaches? The state of practice has advanced so far over the last 15 years. It will be both useful and fun to celebrate this progress and push it farther. And we’ll be trying out a new community dialogue format. At the beginning we’ll offer the floor to anyone who has a thought to contribute and then head into open dialogue.RC practitioners will have a chance to compare notes and add to their toolkits. Researchers will have a chance to learn about or enhance the impact of previous projects and to identify new emerging topics for future studies of RC change. Students can have it all! We hope you’ll join us.

2022

December: Building Relational Ecosystems to Tackle Climate Change

Building Relational Ecosystems to Tackle Climate Change

Featuring

Bram Hendriks, Solve Consulting; Innovation Partners
Harold Alvarez, Royal Dutch Shell; Erasmus University School of Management
Ina Sebastian, MIT Center for Information Systems Research

Facilitator

Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCC, Brandeis University

Our social systems and organizational structures are under stress as they struggle to address the increasingly complex and interdependent challenges such as the transition from fossil to renewable energy. New structures such as inter-organizational collaborations emerge to overcome these grand challenges, where internal and external knowledge is integrated to develop and implement new technologies or products. However, this organizational diversity is like a double-edged sword - while it can be a fountain of creativity and knowledge creation, it can also be a hotbed of coordinating challenges that can fuel conflict and cause projects to fail.

In this Cafe, Harold Alvarez, Digital Integration Lead at Royal Dutch Shell, will share about the need for relational ecosystems to coordinate the transition to clean energy, based on two live cases. Then Bram Hendriks, Innovation Consultant from Innovation Boosters, will show how the highly practical theory of Relational Coordination can support coordination of the relational dynamics of collaborative knowledge creation based on his preliminary work with diverse stakeholders in the energy transition. His findings are outlined in detail in Accelerating the Energy Transition - The Power of Relational Coordination. Ina Sebastian, Research Scientist at MIT Center for Information Research, will use Relational Ecosystems and the Relational Model of Change to comment on the work of Harold and Bram, and to show how we can apply the learning to other complex challenges.

September: Strengthening Networks for High-Value Care

Strengthening Networks for High-Value Care

Featuring

Alice Andrews, The Value Institute for Health and Care, UT Austin
Kenny Cole, Ochsner Health
Zofia Das Gupta, International Consortium on Health Outcomes Measurement
Jennifer Perloff, Research Institute for Accountable Care; Institute on Healthcare Systems, Heller School, Brandeis

Facilitators

Christina Nielsen, International Consortium on Health Outcomes Measurement
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCC, Institute on Healthcare Systems, Heller, Brandeis

Multiple stakeholders are talking about the need to deliver high-value care and avoid the delivery of low-value care. But who decides what high-value care is - and how do we deliver it? According to the Value Institute for Health and Care "value is created by improving the health outcomes that matter most to individuals and families." Others argue that delivering high-value care may require a whole systems approach supported by networks of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect among patients, care providers, and community partners. This RC Cafe features a conversation among leaders from Ochsner Health, The Value Institute for Health and Care, The International Consortium on Health Outcomes Measurement, The Research Institute for Accountable Care, and The Institute on Healthcare Systems at The Heller School, Brandeis University. Open to all members of the RCC and their guests.

2020

June: Organizational Resilience in the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond

Organizational Resilience in the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond

Featuring
Kenny Cole, Ochsner Health
Rushika Fernandopulle, Iora Health
Alice Andrews, Value Institute for Health and Care
Heather Gilmartin, Denver/Seattle Center for Innovation, Veterans Health Administration
Jen Perloff, Institute on Healthcare Systems, Brandeis University

Facilitator
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University

Resilience - the ability to “recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change” - is a valuable asset in times of crisis. Positive relationships provide resilience by affecting the hormonal, cardiovascular and immune systems of the body, thus enhancing health and well-being (Dutton & Heaphy, 2003, Positive Organizational Scholarship). Positive relationships also provide organizational resilience by affecting our ability to share information and coordinate work under pressure.

A handful of studies have shown that financial factors are also critically important for organizational resilience. A post-9/11 study of airlines showed that resilience requires both relational and financial reserves (Gittell, Cameron, Rivas & Liu, 2006, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science).

In the June Cafe, we will explore health system resilience in the face of the pandemic and ask which models are most resilient both relationally and financially. We consider value-based care models that rely less on low-value elective surgeries, and focus more resources on building high quality relationships with patients to achieve wellness, supported by high levels of relational coordination among care providers and high levels of relational leadership. How can we rebuild our health systems in a way that is more relational, more inclusive, and more resilient?

May: Relational Society - Are We All in This Together?

Relational Society - Are We All in This Together?

Featuring
Shyamal Sharma, RCRC Brandeis University
Robert Kahn, Cincinnati Childrens Hospital
Jacob Storch, Joint Action Analytics
Ninna Meier, Aalborg University

Facilitator
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University

Relational Society is a state of generalized reciprocity and robust social capital, created through goodwill, empathetic fellowship and virtuous social interactions among all entities, whether individuals or organizations, in a community as parts of a whole. Thus, we are a product of our environment in every small and large measure, individually and collectively.

Organizations are embedded in this larger social context and it is currently at grave risk. In a pandemic, the moral and economic imperatives of the solidarity of the human condition belong most urgently in the context of health care. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the U.S. was already struggling with health disparities arising from social determinants of health that put minorities and low-income populations at risk of adverse health outcomes, severely compromising their quality of life and overall well-being.

The pandemic has laid bare these inequalities, calling our attention to the urgent need for rebalancing of social values toward a more sustainable, more relational society, in addition to our evolutionary survival as a species in the longer term. We are ultimately bound by a common destiny and it is in our hands how we shape it; we are all in this together.

In this RC Cafe, we come together to learn how some of our RCRC partners are advancing these ideals through their tireless efforts, as they evolve within their local context during this historic crisis and beyond.

April: The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership

The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership

Presenters
Rosa Carrillo, Carrillo & Associates Safety Leadership Consulting
David Christenson, Paradigm Human Performance, The Taos Institute
Skip Grieser, Air Traffic Controller (Retired); Colorado State University
Nate Woods, GE Aviation Ethiopia, Antioch University

Discussant
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University

The Coronavirus has helped us to appreciate our common capabilities and limitations in very new ways. Interest in safety and health from our global, national, and local community is surfacing in response to this new threat. We plan to introduce the latest perspectives on safety and health in a complex, fast changing environment.

Communication failures are at the heart of most health, safety and environmental incidents. Thus, trust and transparency are essential to surviving this pandemic. How do holistic relational perspectives help us understand others and collaborate with a genuine interest in addressing common issues? How can leaders respond?

Relational coordination can provide a general framework to focus and start positive conversations that reveal interdependence and build relationships. Adding appreciative inquiry to the dialogue helps to bring out the specifics that generate empathy and efficacy. Emotional and social intelligence learning opportunities may surface.

Principles from humble inquiry, psychological safety, high reliability organizing, human organization performance, safety differently, and resilience engineering shape social relations within families, neighborhoods, as well as workplace tribes. These perspectives can help to enhance physical safety by strengthening connections across traditional tribal boundaries and common polarities.

In short, while crisis intensifies risk, it also provides an opportunity for leaders to strengthen relationships. Join us to learn and share lessons for creating workplaces and communities that are psychologically and physically safe.

March: Extreme Teaming and RC - Substitutes or Complements for Solving Ill-Structured Problems?

Extreme Teaming and RC - Substitutes or Complements for Solving Ill-Structured Problems?

Presenters
Carsten Hornstrup, Joint Action Analytics
Daniel Massie, Norwegian Business School

Discussants
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University
Ragnhild Kvålshaugen, Norwegian Business School

Relational approaches to coordination are well-suited for addressing ill-structured problems (ISPs). ISPs are problems that are blurred, do not have a clear solution pathway, can productively be understood from diverse perspectives and are riddled with uncertainty, complexity and interdependencies (Simon, 1973). Two streams of research; Relational Coordination Theory (Gittell, 2002) and Extreme Teaming (Edmondson & Harvey, 2018), offer insights into collective coordination processes of coping with ISPs.

Relational Coordination Theory illuminates coordination as a mutually reinforcing process of communicating and relating for task integration (Gittell, 2002), especially impactful under conditions of high uncertainty, interdependence and time constraints. RC is a network of ties between roles and/or organizations that enables participants to see and act in terms of the whole. There is strong empirical support for both the outcomes of relational coordination and the management practices that help to support it, such as shared accountability, shared rewards, relational job design and relational leadership (e.g. Gittell, Seidner & Wimbush, 2010; Gittell & Douglass, 2012).

Extreme Teaming (ET) describes a process and principles for effectively integrating diverse professionals and skill sets around complex challenges. ET provides relevant insights for understanding how teams come together and productively carry out problem-solving (Edmondson & Harvey, 2017). This is especially important when dealing with ISPs. The integration of different professional perspectives, knowledge sets and capabilities, in finding competent and innovative solutions, is helping professionals to engage as a collective, in solving the most pressing and complex problems (Edmondson & Harvey, 2017). Extreme teaming gives us a good understanding of how diverse cross professional teams can come together to productively engage in problem-solving processes and helps us understand how cross-professional and cross-organizational team-based arrangements, with fluid membership, can develop a capacity for coordination and act as a collective.

February: Addressing Social Determinants of Health: A Multi-Stakeholder Coordination Challenge

Addressing Social Determinants of Health: A Multi-Stakeholder Coordination Challenge

Featuring
Bill Gunn, NH Region 1 Integrated Delivery Network
Erin Fair Taylor and Sally Retecki, Care Oregon

Discussants
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University
Shyamal Sharma, Brandeis University

Addressing the social determinants of health is a cost-effective way to achieve health outcomes. But our knowledge of how to do so is still in early stages of development, particularly in the U.S. compared to traditional approaches, addressing the social determinants requires coordination across a wider array of stakeholders - for example primary care, behavioral health, hospitals, schools, family services, youth services, public safety, and employers.

In this RC Cafe, we will learn about efforts by our partners to address social determinants of health in New Hampshire, New York, Oregon and beyond. They will share insights about the multi-stakeholder coordination that has been central to their success, and about the challenges that still remain. All partners are welcome to register - bring your questions, ideas and experiences to share!

January: Building Relational Leadership in Organizations and Networks

Building Relational Leadership in Organizations and Networks

Featuring
Ole Dalvang, Joint Action Analytics
Khwezi Mbolekwa, Collaborative Leadership Works
Anne Douglass, University of Massachusetts

Discussants
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University
John Paul Stephens, Case Western Reserve University

Relational leaders create connections based on shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect with others and among others. By doing so, they become role models and create the foundation for strengthening relational coordination throughout their organizations and beyond. Experts from the RCRC community will present in the January RC Cafe about their experiences with relational leadership, from their perspective as researchers, consultants and leaders. We anticipate a dynamic session with short presentations followed by an open discussion.

2019

December: High-Reliability Organizing: Exploring Synergies with Relational Coordination

High-Reliability Organizing - Exploring Synergies with Relational Coordination

Featuring
Karlene Roberts, University of California, Berkeley
Peter Martelli, Suffolk University

Discussants
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University
David Christenson, Christenson & Associates

High reliability organizing is a way of organizing work that seeks to achieve consistent results under high stakes conditions. In the December RC Cafe, our presenters will explore the synergies between high reliability organizing and relational coordination. Together we will explore the importance of frequent, timely, accurate and problem-solving communication, supported by shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect across key roles, for enabling high reliability organizing to occur. All partners are welcome to register. Bring your questions, ideas and experiences to share!

November: Engaging Communities in RC Interventions

Engaging Communities in RC Interventions

Featuring
Brenda Bond and Erika Gebo, Suffolk University
Keri Randolph, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Discussant
Lauren Hajjar, Suffolk University

Relational coordination is increasingly in demand as a framework for interventions. RC interventions have most often been carried out at the unit level in large multi-organizational systems, as documented in Transforming Relationships for High Performance (Gittell, 2016), in Purposeful Interprofessional Team Intervention Improves Relational Coordination Among Advanced Heart Failure Team (Blakeney, et al, 2019) and in Communication and Relationship Dynamics in the Operating Room (Toring, et al, 2019). But other settings are possible too. In this Cafe, we will hear from colleagues who are engaging whole communities in RC interventions. We will ask, what kinds of challenges can you address using the RC framework at the community level, and what does the process look like?

October: Organizing Care through Hub and Spoke Models

Organizing Care through Hub and Spoke Models - The Role of Relational Coordination

Featuring
Steve Martino, Veterans Health Administration
Brenda Fenton, Veterans Health Administration
Ninna Meier, Aalborg University

Discussant
Jody Hoffer Gittell, RCRC, Brandeis University

Hub and spoke networks are often used by organizations to efficiently increase access to services, perhaps most famously in the airline industry. In this Cafe, we will explore the use of hub and spoke networks for health and human service delivery. What are the benefits and challenges of these networks? What do we know about the role of relational coordination in their success?

Join us Thursday afternoon to hear from Brenda Fenton and Steve Martino about organizing pain care through a hub and spoke model in the Veteran's Administration, and from Ninna Meier about organizing cancer care through a similar model in Northern Denmark. Learn how this model applies to your work!

See More Cafe Archives

Please LOGIN to your account to see the complete list of archived videos available.