Working in partnership and creating a collaborative, high-functioning team requires specific skills, and the LMP Learning program offers a variety of training opportunities—online and in person—to ensure UBT members, co-leads and sponsors can be successful. Different trainings are recommended at different levels of the Path to Performance and cover areas such as problem solving, decision making and performance improvement.
Unit-based teams (UBTs) are transforming Kaiser Permanente by changing the roles of union members and managers and creating an environment in which all employees are encouraged to think critically about problem solving and work innovations. They were launched in 2005 as part of that year’s National Agreement. The people who negotiated the agreement envisioned UBTs as a way to improve care by tapping into the knowledge and experience of frontline staff, managers and physicians. The Partnership unions have since reaffirmed UBTs as a platform for improvement in each National Agreement.
UBTs use a performance improvement method called the Rapid Improvement Model (RIM+). It’s a quick way of improving work processes that allows teams to make a small change, test and evaluate it, and then adopt it if it works — or reject it if it doesn’t.
Use these three questions to guide your team’s efforts to improve quality, service and affordability, and to make your department a great place to work:
Visit the Use of Tools toolkit to learn more.
The plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycle is part of the Rapid Improvement Model. It allows teams to rapidly test a change on a small scale. Risk taking is encouraged and failures are okay because the team learns from them.
The steps are:
Then start preparing a plan for the next test!
In addition to PDSAs, there are a diversity of performance improvement tools — process maps, fishbone diagrams and more — that can help teams understand what’s not working about their team processes and which are the best ideas for improving them. The How-To Guide on performance improvement is a great place to start exploring performance improvement tools that go beyond PDSAs.
In the course of doing performance improvement work, team members use specific methods to help them make decisions and understand one another’s point of view.
Teams use consensus decision making to decide things like which project the team is going to tackle and which improvement idea is going to be tested first. Consensus is a form of group decision making that is often used in collaborative work. Because everyone discusses the issues to be decided, the group benefits from the knowledge and experience of all members. Consensus occurs when every member of the group supports the decision.
Interest-based problem solving is a process that addresses individual and group differences. Participants work together to reach agreement by sharing information and remaining creative and flexible, rather than by taking adversarial positions.
The four steps to interest-based problem solving are:
Visit the Team Member Engagement toolkit to learn more about consensus decision making and interest-based problem solving.
UBT members, co-leads, sponsors and all employees can learn more about Labor Management Partnership and unit-based team processes by taking trainings in LMP orientation, consensus decision making, interest-based problem solving and the Rapid Improvement Model. There is also a co-leads workshop for UBT co-leads, and a training in effective sponsorship for UBT sponsors. Learn more about available trainings by consulting the Learning Portal of this website or by contacting your team’s UBT consultant.
In addition to offering trainings, every region has consultants who provide support to unit-based teams. Though they go by a variety of titles depending on the region, these consultants can help teams become more proficient, get necessary training and overcome obstacles. Union partnership representatives offer similar guidance. If you’re not sure who your UBT consultant or union partnership representative is, contact your regional LMP co-leads.
A unit-based team includes all managers, physicians, dentists and partnership union members in the work unit. All employees in the unit participate and support the team in meeting its goals and objectives.
For the team to move up and become high performing, its important for all team members to:
Visit the Team Member Engagement toolkit to learn more.
Each UBT has a management and labor co-lead. In departments with physicians, it’s ideal to have a physician co-lead as well. Co-leads organize the team’s meetings and huddles and make sure the team’s performance improvement work stays on track.
The role of UBT co-leads is to:
Visit the Leadership toolkit to learn more.
Sponsors are the go-to people for UBT co-leads, providing resources, guidance and oversight for teams.
The role of UBT sponsors is to:
Visit the Sponsorship toolkit to learn more.
Stepping up as a leader of your department’s unit-based team—as a UBT co-lead or a UBT health and safety champion—means you’ll be guiding the team to make your department a great place to work and to receive care. You’ll lead meetings, facilitate partnership processes like interest-based problem solving, coach team members and advocate for the team’s success. You’ll also help the team develop along the Path to Performance.
