Balint Method: One of the variants on dialogue that I find to be particularly effective in the functioning of a team comes out of the world of clinical supervision. Michael Balint applied a set of psychoanalytic perspectives to his work with physicians and other professionals. When engaged, the Balint Group Method (Otten, 2017) typically involves the identification of various internal voices that are operating when a specific physician encounters a particularly difficult and elusive clinical issue. This method can also be applied when a team encounters a challenging issue—clinical or nonclinical. Members of team will find that they are “hearing” multiple voices themselves regarding this issue. The diverse perspectives to be found among team members are identified and articulated. Diverse, often contradictory and at times “shadowy” voices are identified by members of a Balint-oriented team. Members of the team are then assigned specific roles, with each member taking on one of the voices. An enactment of the internal conversation among the voices then takes place with each member of the group verbalizing the voice they have been assigned. They then interact with the other voices in a rich and often insightful dialogue regarding the presenting issue.
The person presenting this issue (or leader of the team) listens to the dialogue and when it is finished reflects on what has been learned. The external enactment of the internal dialogue can be a rich source of learning for members of the team. Critical (often collective) discernment can take place in a supportive, public setting. Personal perspectives are now explicit. No longer held in a tacit manner, personal viewpoints, hopes and fears can now be viewed in a new way by members of the team. I would suggest that this Balint process can be of value when engaged in many settings. I have found this to be the case in my own work with the Balint Method as a process that invites dialogue (Bergquist, 2014).
Attitude
The structure and process of a team resides in the head of those who lead the team and those who work alongside the leader of the team. There is also the matter of heart. How do members of the team feel about working with one another. In the tension-filled world of contemporary health care it is particularly important that members of a team not only support one another but also fully appreciate and utilize the strengths and insights offered by other members of the team.
This perspective on the value and strength inherent in other people is articulated by one of McKenna and Pugno’s (2006, pp. 244-245) leaders who identifies two antithetical management styles:
“I have read a few books on management styles, and they tend to fall into two categories. Either you are trying to make employees or coworkers fix their weaknesses, or, the philosophy I agree with. manage to strengths. I think you can get a lot more value from managing to someone’s strengths than by trying to correct their weaknesses. I like to look at both employees and colleagues, and determine their strengths and what they really like to do. If they like to manage people and if they like to take on complicated tasks, you should give them more and more of that type of project to do. But you should identify early that there are some people who are better followers than leaders, and the leaders lead using different styles. If you can identify the styles and position it within your organization, I think that you can get a lot more out of people.” [Daniel S. Durrie, MD, Ophthalmologist, Durrie Vision Center]
What then is an attitude of appreciation? First, it is important to note that attitudes concern the way in which we see the world in which we live and work. Our attitudes guide the narrative we construct about this world and our reason for being in this world. This narrative can be embedded (and stuck) in the past and in the barriers that make an attractive future seem impossible to achieve. The narrative can instead be constructed around a desirable future to which our collective energy and expertise can be directed.
