I am struck by how often the rhetorical commitments people make are belied by their actions. This rhetorical commitment, common in the health care industry, comes to mind: practitioners and leaders of all types are universally heard to say: “I am here for the patient.”

If that statement spoken by millions in the industry every day in the U.S. were put into action, the world would be very different .We wouldn’t have17 percent of the nation’s GDP spent on health care—more than twice as much as most of the rest of the world—yet still have 50 million uninsured and another 50 million underinsured. Nor would we face health outcomes that place us at the bottom of the industrial world.

At Kaiser Permanente we have made a commitment to improve the health of our members and the communities that we serve. For the vast majority of us, it is not empty rhetoric. But do we hold ourselves to the same standard in our commitment to making high-performing teams the operating strategy for how we deliver care?

The lessons of pro-sports

In professional sports, coaches and players begin every season with a “commitment to the team.” Yet over the course of the season, the focus of the pundits, the fans and the teams themselves shifts to individual statistics and performance, and team success fades.

In the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles are being heralded as pulling off a “bonanza” in the recent post-lockout free agent shuffle. They are the team to beat for the Super Bowl this season, according to the pundits. The Eagles have had winning teams for a long time under Coach Andy Reid, although they have not won a Super Bowl. Now the expectation is that with the all-stars recently signed to an already good team, it is a no-brainer that Reid can lead the “team” to a championship. Not so fast.

The Green Bay Packers showed the world last year what is meant by a team. Early in the season, they were picked as favorites to contend for the championship. However, starting player after starting player wound up on the disabled list—15 in all. Some were out for most or all of the season. Even with all this adversity, they made the playoffs

They outplayed the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 6, 2011, with a team of recovered starters, rookies and unknown role players, and became champions.

So, while “teamwork” and “teams” are the mantra for sports, over the course of each season, we are often surprised when the teams with the most “talent” don’t win (ever hear of the Yankees and Miami Heat?) 

Is there a ‘star’ system at KP?

We have made a unique commitment to high performing teams at Kaiser Permanente. The challenge, now, is to let those teams shine and not be hindered by individual “stars.”

Our National Agreement states:  

“Working in partnership is the way Kaiser Permanente does business.” And “it requires the sponsorship, commitment, and accountability of labor, management, and medical and dental group leadership to communicate to stakeholders that engagement in Partnership is not optional, but the way that Kaiser Permanente does business.” 

The Agreement asks all employees, managers, and physicians to form unit-based teams to achieve high organizational performance through UBTs. These teams are a systemic improvement effort.

We are in the process of carrying out a region-by-region evaluation of unit-based teams. The executive committee of the LMP strategy group, made up of regional presidents, union leaders and HR and a labor relations executives, is looking at data showing a wide variation across the program in “sponsorship, commitment, and accountability” for teams. This variation continues in the face of overwhelming evidence that our high performing teams have the best outcomes in quality, service, affordability, and best place to work.

It appears that individualistic superstar behaviors are still being promoted in the face of all evidence that this is not the way to win. Team development and team sustainability are not easy. Sometimes they are not even the popular thing to do. But they are the best strategy for improving the performance of the whole organization.

Though the Packers are the champions, it is the Eagles who get all the press these days because they went out and bought talent. I’m betting on the Packers because they have proven they have the ability to be a team.

I’m also betting on our high-performing teams where physicians, managers and employees have taken off the “star status” and made the patient the true focus of their experience and talent.