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Individual Course

Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care

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Course Length

5 weeks

6–9 hours per week

Featuring faculty from:

Harvard Business School

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health LogoHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Certificate Price:

$ 1,600

Enroll by Jun 25, 2026

Enroll Now

Certificate Price:

$ 1,600

Enroll by Jun 25, 2026

Enroll Now

In this course, experts from Harvard Business School and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health teach learners to implement a strategy for organizational teamwork in health care.

Health care is a team effort. From the front desk administrators to the nurses, doctors, insurers, and even the patients and their families, there are many people involved in an individual’s care. To deliver quality care in today’s fast-paced environment, practitioners and caregivers must go beyond medical problem-solving and rely on effective collaboration and communication skills.

While other businesses may organize around a functional area or project, allowing team members to learn each other's working styles and strengths over time, health care workers often find themselves in ad hoc scenarios, coordinating with near-strangers on life and death situations. As a leader, how do you encourage trust and meet shared goals when teams are formed quickly? How do you strengthen flexibility and collaboration even as team membership and structures fluctuate across departments?

In Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care, leaders in the field of organizational behavior and teamwork, Amy Edmondson, Professor at Harvard Business School, and Michaela Kerrissey, Assistant Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, share their latest research and present their concept of "teaming" as it relates to the health care and life science industries.

Self-Guided

Harvard Online

Industries:

  • Health Care
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Education
  • Other Non-profit
  • David B.
  • Filipe M. L.
  • Elina S.

Global Learning Community

  • Learn from real case studies
  • Do it on your own time
  • Get a certificate, add it to your resume
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Data Science for Business values

Course Syllabus

Learning requirements: There are no prerequisites required to enroll in this course. In order to earn a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Online and Harvard Business School Online, participants must thoughtfully complete all 5 modules, including satisfactory completion of the associated assignments, by stated deadlines.

Download Full Syllabus

Faculty

Industry Experts

Your Instructor

Amy C. Edmondson

Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School

Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society. She has pioneered the concept of psychological safety for over 20 years and was recognized in 2021 as #1 on the Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers.

Your Instructor

Michaela Kerrissey

Michaela Kerrissey is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She conducts research on how teams and organizations innovate, integrate, and perform, with a focus on health care.

Dr. Kerrissey has authored over 30 publications on these topics and has won numerous best-paper awards, such as from the Academy of Management. She designed the Management Science for a New Era course at Harvard’s School of Public Health. In 2023, she was listed on Thinkers50 Radar, a global listing of top management thinkers.

Industry Expert

Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD

CEO, Cleveland Clinic

Learn from the President and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic about how to implement joint problem solving in complex care organizations.

Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.

Industry Expert

Maya Rupert

Campaign Manager

Hear from a top political strategist and campaign manager about how she leads within a teaming structure.

Industry Expert

Trishan Panch, MD, MPH

Founder, Wellframe

Learn from Harvard faculty and founder of Wellframe about the importance of team learning.

Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.

The course was not only superb, well-developed and exceptionally-delivered (teaching styles laced with real-life experiences). This course is already impacting on my professional and personal life; particularly as a father, and on my leadership role at the work place. I am learning every day to be a better leader to myself (first), the team that I lead, everyone around me, and people I will ever meet in my life.

David B.

Biomedical Laboratory Scientist and Laboratory Systems Specialist

It was a fantastic experience. I grew up as a person with this course and will bring this knowledge not only to my work but also to my life. This course goes beyond health care, it is also about humans relationships and how we can mitigate them or improve them.

Filipe M. L.

Medical doctor

I love this course so much. Thank you. It broadens my knowledge in higher level of healthcare organization especially on psychological safety skills, teaming skills, joint-problem solving skills and the principles and practicality to facilitate health care management.

Elina S.

I really enjoyed this and have learned a lot. It is interesting for me that when i look at the Māori world this is often what leadership is focused on, Teaming—how we as a community or as a people can work together to provide a better safer environment for our populations.

Dawson W.

Equity Health Lead –Surgical Services

Learning Path in this topic

Health Care Leadership

Health Care Leadership courses are developed with health care professionals in mind. Harvard University faculty guides you through topics with a specific focus on the current state of the US health care system and how you can apply innovative strategies to make improvements within your organization.

See learning path
Learning Path Health Care

4 Courses available

Health Care Strategy

Jul 15, 2026 • 4-6 hours per week

Align business strategy with challenges of the health care industry

  • Health Care
  • Consulting
  • +2
  • Featured
  • Certificate
Health Care Strategy

Reducing Racial Disparities in Health Care

Aug 26, 2026 • 4–5 hours per week

Deliver high-quality health care to all through organizational change

  • Health Care
  • Government
  • +2
  • Featured
  • Certificate
Reducing Racial Disparities in Health Care

Health Care Economics

Aug 19, 2026 • 3-4 hours a week

Learn what economic forces are shaping the US health care sector

  • Health Care
  • Government
  • +2
  • Featured
  • Certificate
Health Care Economics

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Past Participant Discounts

Learners who have enrolled in at least one qualifying Harvard Online program can receive a 30% discount, automatically applied to the Program Fee upon time of payment.

Learners who have earned a verified certificate for a HarvardX course hosted on the edX platform are eligible to receive a 30% discount using a discount code. Please check your email for a code or contact us.

Nonprofit, Government, Military, and Education Discounts

Eligibility is determined by a prospective learner’s email address, ending in .org, .gov, .mil, or .edu. Interested learners can apply below for the discount and, if eligible, will receive a promo code to enter when completing payment information to enroll in a Harvard Online program.

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FAQs

We offer 30% discounts to past participants of select Harvard Online courses. We also offer discounts on select courses to learners who work in nonprofits, government, military, or education, or are U.S. veterans. You can find more information about current discounts and eligibility on our course policies and discounts page.

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Once you've earned your Certificate of Completion, list it on your resume along with the date of completion:

Harvard Online

Certificate in Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care

[Cohort Start Month and Year]

List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" as follows:

School: Harvard Online

Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program]

Degree: Other; Certificate in Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care

Field of Study: Leave blank

Grade: Complete

Activities and Societies: Leave blank

For the program description on LinkedIn, please use the following:

Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care is an online course that teaches how to articulate and implement effective strategies for teaming in the health care and life sciences industries.

You are expected to complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely way. This includes completing the modules and fully answering the questions in each module between the course start and end dates so that the cohort can move through the course at a similar pace and benefit from social learning opportunities. ⁠In addition to completing modules and assignments, you are expected to provide feedback on other learners’ reflections and contribute to discussions on the platform.

⁠You can set your own daily or weekly routine and adjust it as needed, but to receive your certificate you must complete all modules and assignments by the stated course end date. Learners who do not complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course. No letter grades are assigned for this course; your participation is evaluated on a complete or incomplete basis.

For detailed information about technology and bandwidth requirements, please see our full Harvard Online FAQs.

There is no application required for this course. You can enroll directly through Harvard Online if you are at least 18 years old, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

No specific prerequisite knowledge is required. Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care is an introductory‑level course designed for health care and life sciences professionals who want to develop and implement effective teaming strategies in their organizations.

Upon successful completion of this program, you will receive a digital Certificate of Completion from Harvard Online. Our team reviews all participant coursework after the final deadline in your course, and, once eligibility is confirmed, your Certified Electronic Credential will be delivered to your email address.

You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final deadline in the program.

At the end of the course, you will be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts that were introduced throughout the course. We hope the summary document will serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.

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