Wondering how to keep your meetings short and to the point? Stop by Gilroy Medical Offices in Northern California and watch a unit-based team power through its five-minute daily huddle.

On a Tuesday in October, the Family Medicine UBT for Station 1 gathers around a magnetic marker board filled with visual reminders and messages. Medical assistant and SEIU-UHW member Nabi Lopez takes her turn leading team members through the day’s staffing and scheduling assignments, a discussion of where they stand on key clinical goals and upcoming department events.

Exactly five minutes after they gather, a buzzer sounds, and the 10 nurses, physicians, clerks, pharmacists, EVS staff and others head off to start their day.

A new routine

Crisp meetings and high team engagement were not always the norm for the department.

“Prior to using visual boards, our meetings were few and far between,” says SEIU-UHW member Dawn Reyes-Takaki, a medical assistant and member of the original project team. “They were chaotic, filled with complaints and negativity. Staff felt that changes were forced on them with no input.”

Three years ago, a San Jose-based team studied performance improvement techniques in other organizations. One of the ideas that stood out was the use of visual boards. A larger group of managers, workers and improvement advisors agreed on necessary adjustments and a standard format for the boards, and selected Gilroy Medical Offices to test their use.

Last year, the outpatient procedure unit-based team at Capitol Hill Medical Center rewrote the instructions it sends to patients scheduled
for a colonoscopy. A patient who found the earlier directions confusing played a leading role in the process.

The new instructions helped reduce by 20 percent the number of colonoscopies that needed to be repeated. Involving the patient was “a transformational experience
for the team,” says Jennifer Walker, RN, lead UBT consultant and improvement advisor in the Mid-Atlantic States region.

It also showed the power of a new provision of the 2015 National Agreement. 

Creating a better workplace turns cynics into champions of unit-based teams. UBTs give workers represented by a union in the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions a way to lead change. They help workers, managers and physicians better serve Kaiser Permanente members and patients. Yet too many people don’t know they are part of a UBT. Truth is, everyone in the unit is a UBT member. And, as you’ll see in this issue, engaging with your team can change lives—including your own. Read on and see how.

Big picture comes into focus

Kimberly Carolina, clinical assistant, OPEIU Local 2, Neurology (South Baltimore Medical Center, Mid-Atlantic States)

"When we first learned about working in partnership, I thought it would be difficult. I was a little skeptical and reluctant. It was hard to work with management because they’re actually your boss. I was part of a hiring team and felt uncomfortable speaking up to say why I thought certain candidates wouldn’t work.

Working as a team was very new to everyone. I wondered if there would be backlash or repercussions. Some employees didn’t feel secure about their jobs and didn’t feel like they even had a voice. One day, I realized they were the same as I was. I had a fear of speaking up and so did the managers. After I realized that, we were able to move forward. Employees, providers and everyone needed to have a voice. We needed to not only talk, but to make things happen. It’s been a lot of learning, a lot of great experience and growth.

When I first started out I didn’t see how you needed each person and each piece to make the company grow. The puzzle came together for me.

Now the communications piece is there. We work to be effective, efficient and see the broad picture. It’s amazing to see everyone come together with one common goal to fix things, such as patient wait times.

I enjoy it better now. I’m learning more. I like the results I have seen. Partnership is like you had a child two decades ago and they’ve grown up to be a successful person."

Henrietta is on vacation. This guest column is by Michael Aidan, who represents clinical lab scientists and others in Northern California. He chaired the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions executive board in 2014–2015.

Workers—and the unions that represent them—care about performance. Kaiser Permanente employees come to work to ensure patients and members deliver the highest quality of care and service. Everything they do, almost without exception, is focused on this. 

So I was dismayed when I recently attended KP’s Associate Improvement Advisor training, meant specifically for frontline workers, and saw very few union faces at the table. I know that many would want that training. And I believe employers should recognize the benefits—and justice—of having frontline workers with an equal voice in performance improvement.

Our National Agreement provides a vehicle for union workers to be actively engaged in performance
 improvement. Unit-based teams, co-led by union members, are embedded in KP operations. Yet union members run into roadblocks when seeking training or a seat at the strategic planning table. That lessens the contributions all workers could be making—and discourages many from fully engaging with their teams.

Our coalition is stepping up efforts with KP to expand opportunities for workers in performance improvement efforts, enable workers and unions to help shape needed innovations, and build union capacity to give workers the tools and support they need.

This will remove barriers we face that have outlived their time, and enhance patient care and service.