Cheryl Mitchell

Position
Credentials
BA, Psychology, Queen’s University; MA, Counselling Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute; PhD, Organizational Systems, Fielding Graduate University
Contact
Expertise
- Design Thinking & Collaborative Processes for Solution-Building in Organizations
- Group Process in Complex Social Systems, specifically Healthcare
- Negative Group Dynamics in Organizations (blame, fundamental attribution error, projection)
As a faculty member at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria, Cheryl Mitchell teaches MBA courses on collaboration, design thinking & innovation, organizational development, and consulting. As well she oversees all MBA Capstone Projects. She is also a Principal Investigator at the Cardiac Network of Canada (CANet), a National Centre of Excellence (NCE), where she researches multi-stakeholder collaboration in national research networks.
Cheryl Mitchell has worked extensively as a freelance consultant and facilitator in the healthcare industry and public service. Her most recent company, Red Ball Solutions, was founded in 2008 in response to the increasingly complex workplace challenges faced by today’s organizations. Cheryl’s initial focus was on experiential team-building and leadership development. Over the past 15 years, this focus has evolved from engagement and strategic planning, through to identity formation, change management and culture development. Her current concentration is on collaborative design and facilitating solutions in complex systems. She has designed and delivered hundreds of group programs to over thirty five thousand participants. Cheryl has a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems, where her dissertation research focused on
blame in the healthcare system. She has a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology with an emphasis on Jungian Depth Psychology. She is also a team coach, and is qualified to deliver a wide range of assessments. Her academic interest in blame, group dynamics that impact collaboration, and group processes that enhance solution-building, ensures that her professional projects are evidence-based and aligned with current research and literature.
Chapters
Mitchell, C. (2015). A vicious cycle: The dynamics of blame in the healthcare workplace. In Leadership studies in healthcare Vol. 4 (pp. 176–209). Santa Barbara: Fielding Monograph Series.Poster Presentations
Mitchell, C., & et al. (2016, September). Stroke Collaborative Results. 2016 Canadian Stroke Congress.Mitchell, C. (2015, January). Blame is not a game: How the vicious cycle of blame in healthcare impedes engagement, innovation and improvement. Winter session conference for Fielding Graduate University.
Presentations
Mitchell, C. L. (2018, June). How Schutzian phenomenology and Jungian analytical psychology inform process facilitating in organizations. 10th International Process Symposium Theme: About Time: Temporality and History in Organization Studies. Porto Carras Greece: Process Organization Studies.Mitchell, C. (2016, February). Creating a Culture Where Ideas Grow. BC Patient Safety & Quality Council Conference.
Mitchell, C. (2015, June). Blame is not a game: How the vicious cycle of blame in healthcare impedes engagement, innovation and improvement. Annual National Conference for the Canadian College of Health Leaders.
Mitchell, C. (2015, August). Enacting the scholar-practitioner role in organization development and change. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
Grants
- Meeting Grant - Provincial Roundtable Meeting, Funded by CANet - NCE (October 1, 2017 - March 31, 2018), awarded October 12, 2017 ($10,000.00), Completed, Fall 2017, PI Cheryl Mitchell
- Collaboration Across Research Networks, Funded by CANet - NCE (March 31, 2017 - March 31, 2019), awarded October 1, 2017 ($45,000.00), Funded - In Progress, Spring 2019, PI Cheryl Mitchell
Courses Taught
- Capstone Integrated Projects (MBA)
- Collaboration in Organizations (MBA)
- Innovation & Design thinking (MBA)
- Consulting Methods (MBA)
- Managing People & Organizations (MBA)
- BC Ferries Leadership Program, Innovation & Change (Executive Programs)