Relational Coordination Collaborative

Consultants & Coaches

Carrying out change using relational coordination principles and metrics requires skill. As Edgar Schein and Tony Suchman wrote in 2011:

"Such work requires the involvement of skilled coaches or consultants with experience in group dynamics, systems work, conflict resolution, and the teaching of emotional self-management. For all these reasons, we urge you not to tread lightly or naively into the realm of interventions. Be prepared to invest the necessary time and resources and be sure you have access to the skills and experience that the work requires."

Consultants and coaches profiled below are RCC members who are available to support people who are engaging in organization development and performance improvement.  While these consultants/ coaches each have their own approaches, they typically have appreciation for both the relational and technical aspects of improvement, and they typically have expertise in principles and measures such as relational coordination.   These consultants/ coaches have experience in multiple sectors and they operate in multiple countries around the world.  They have earned various credentials including traditional academic degrees and practitioner designations such as Certified RC Professional.

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Marjorie Godfrey

Executive Director and Founder, The Microsystem Academy

Bio.  Margie is Founding Executive Director of The Microsystem Academy. She is a national and international leader of designing and implementing improvement strategies targeting the place where patients, families and care teams meet-the clinical microsystem. Dr. Godfrey began her work in clinical microsystems over 25 years ago and, in 2009, founded The Dartmouth Institute Microsystem Academy (TDIMA) at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine with Dartmouth colleagues, to develop new knowledge and disseminate findings. She was Co-Director of TDIMA with Dr. Tina Foster for 11 years and a Lecturer for nearly 20 years at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.  

Margie’s primary interest is engaging interprofessional health care professionals in learning about and improving local health care delivery systems with a focus on patients, professionals, processes and outcomes. Margie is co-author of the bestselling textbooks, Quality by Design (2007), Quality by Design, 2nd Edition (in press) and Value by Design (2011), and the lead author and architect of the "Clinical Microsystems: A Path to Healthcare Excellence" and the clinicalmicrosystem.org website.

Margie is a Relational Coordination Certified Professional and is the primary investigator in the longest longitudinal study of relational coordination to improve lung transplant care for people with Cystic Fibrosis. She developed the Relational Coordination Workshop (Relational Dimensions of Improvement and Change) with Tony Suchman and has taught the program for 5 years.

Credentials. PhD, MS, BSN, FAAN, RC Certified Professional

Other Areas of Expertise. Interprofessional care, microsystems, implementation, and coaching.

Countries of Operation: US, Sweden

Website: https://clinicalmicrosystem.org/

Krista Hirschmann

Senior Faculty Advisor, Academy of Communication in Healthcare; Founder & CEO of ENHANCE Consulting

Bio.  Krista Hirschmann is a Senior Faculty Advisor with the Academy of Communication in Healthcare, a professional organization that strengthens relational systems by coaching teams and clinicians to communicate efficiently, effectively, and empathically. She earned her PhD at the University of South Florida and her MA at the University of Maine, with both degrees in Communication and an emphasis on interpersonal and organizational dynamics in healthcare. She has a special interest with supporting new leaders in all sectors develop both the technical and relational skillfulness needed for professional systems to thrive. 

Credentials: PhD; RC Certified Professional; Certified Practitioner, Fearless Organization Scan

Other Areas of Expertise. Strengthening team performance, culture, and outcomes with communication skills and systems thinking.

Countries of Operation: US, Canada

Website: https://enhancercc.com 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-hirschmann-phd-5704aa20/

Darren McLean, RCC Board Member

Darren McLean

Principal Advisor, Clinical Teaming, Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service

Bio. 

Credentials.  B.NrSc, MPH, PhD, RC Certified Professional

Countries of Operation.  Australia

Laura Montville

Montville and Company

Bio.  Laura Montville is an Organization Development Consultant and RC Certified Practitioner.  Laura has enjoyed a long tenure with the Relational Coordination community and such has contributed to numerous projects curriculum design, health consulting and interventions including Executive Coaching for CEOs and other senior health care leaders, Team Development and Organization Development Consulting.

Laura has been working in healthcare for over 15 years. Laura also enjoys supporting and consulting to family owned businesses. She grew up and eventually led and bought out her own family's business before attending graduate school for her M.S. in Organization Development. When not working Laura can be found with her husband and family, close to the ocean sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding and in the winter skiing with her 20 year old son and 17 year old daughter. She is an avid outdoor adventurer.

Credentials.  M.S. Organization Development, RC Certified Professional

Other Areas of Expertise.  Health care; family owned business

Countries of Operation.  United States

Website.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramontville03801/

(603) 433-2284
Anthony Suchman, MD

Tony Suchman

Principal and Founder, Relationship Centered Health Care

Bio. Tony Suchman is a retired general internist, health services researcher, educator and organizational change consultant. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and a Visiting Research Scholar at Brandeis University. He earned BA and MD degrees at Cornell University and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in health services research and Behavioral and Psychosocial Medicine at the University of Rochester.  For 16 years he worked on the medical school faculty in Rochester studying and teaching patient-clinician relationships, becoming a leading proponent of Relationship Centered Care. Tony then became interested in the effect of organizational culture on clinical care and medical education. He worked for 5 years as a senior executive in integrated delivery systems and earned an MA in Organizational Change at the University of Hertfordshire (UK).

In 2000, he founded the consulting group Relationship Centered Health Care to advance the practice of Relationship-Centered Administration. Tony pioneered interventional applications of Relational Coordination and is currently exploring RC-based approaches to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion. He has published more than 90 articles and book chapters and two books, most recently Leading Change in Healthcare, co-authored with David Sluyter and Penny Williamson.

Credentials. MD; MA; RC Certified Professional

Other Areas of Expertise. My practice is now limited to supporting consultants in designing and conducting applications of RC in the field.

Website. www.rchcweb.com

Nancy Whitelaw, RCRC Board Vice Chair

Nancy Whitelaw

President and Principal Consultant, Nevans Consulting, Inc.

Credentials.  Master of Science, Nursing; RC Certified Professional

Other Areas of Expertise.  Organizational culture, organizational performance

Countries of Operation.  Canada, US

Website.  LinkedIn Profile