Enabling Teams

DRPH 250 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

The DrPH Enabling Change program is premised on the belief that effective public health practitioners must augment traditional research skills and methodologies with learning how to enable positive change at four levels: within themselves, amongst their teams, inside their organizations, and across systems. This course is part two of that sequence; it is preceded by courses in personal mastery (DrPH 240) and communications (DrPH 260) and will be followed by a course on leading change in organizations, in systems, and through movements (DrPH 251).

Enabling Teams is included in recognition that in many public health organizations, teams have emerged as a preferred work arrangement. Under the right conditions, a team's capacity may exceed that of a similar number of individuals working autonomously when the specialized knowledge of team members can be effectively coordinated and leveraged by leadership. As the problems that communities face increase in scope and complexity, delivering change via teams is increasingly necessary.

The Enabling Teams course is also designed to help students prepare for their winter field immersion experience. Students will be introduced to a range of frameworks, models, empirical research, simulations, and case-based discussions, which are focused on collaborative decision-making and the effective use of teams and "teaming" to solve key problems. To aid students who are concurrently planning for their January field immersion experience, which they will engage as small working groups, this course will include "lab" sessions that will enable students to practice applying critical skills related to course concepts and competencies.