David Berg is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and an Organizational Psychologist with the Yale School of Medicine. Years ago, I had the privilege of benefitting from David’s expertise as a student in one of his courses. I was struck by how deftly he led his students to important insights about organizations from seemingly mundane day-to-day details of organizational life. 

In this episode we have a stimulating conversation about representational groups; which is any group where the participants represent the perspectives of a particular group, agency, interest etc.  This characterization of groups applies widely from multidisciplinary teams within units, senior executive teams at large organizations to multi-sector coalitions.  I thought some of the insights were particularly illuminating with respect to our coordinated chronic disease work and coalition work in general. 

In this show, we also try an interesting experiment where in the second half, I present a couple of case examples (fictional and dramatized, but realistic I hope nonetheless).  David then offers his perspectives on the key relevant considerations as they pertain to representational groups and dynamics.  I thought it was fun, I hope you find that discussion format useful.

If you want to learn more, visit the resources link on the President’s Challenge podcast webpage to access the link to David’s paper.