Editor’s letter: Whose reality is it, anyway?

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2011

Get answers to the quiz

• How did you score? [Story]

Myths are useful when they help people understand their world. They get in the way when they prop up and lend an air of truth to outdated ideas. Fourteen years in, it’s troubling there are some persistent myths, the latter kind, about the Labor Management Partnership.

Partnership is not a diabolical management scheme to hoodwink union members (one school of thought), and it doesn’t exist to create a workplace where union interests rule (another school). While it brings changes, managers are still accountable for staff members’ performance and unions still have a duty to represent their members. Misunderstanding partnership basics like these undermines our ability to produce superior health care outcomes.

All of us have notions we’d change if we examined them closely. Read this issue with an open mind, and if some myths ring true—keep reading. See what your colleagues have to say. And just for fun, test your LMP savvy with this quiz (more than one answer may be correct).

1. The 2010 National Agreement is:
a)     A set of suggestions.
b)     A binding contract, affecting more than 75 percent of Kaiser Permanente’s workforce, signed by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, and all the Permanente Medical Groups.

2. When someone says they are “working in partnership,” it means the person is:
a)     A wolf in sheep’s clothing, likely to use what you say against you.
b)     Interested in making sure everyone involved has an opportunity to speak up and discuss how the work can be done best.
c)     Will pretend to listen but do whatever s/he wants.

3. Which of the following best describes unit-based teams?
a)     A core mechanism for improving organization performance.
b)     A natural work group of supervisors, care providers and staff members.
c)     The operating model for Kaiser Permanente.

4. In unit-based teams, managers are expected to:
a)     Coach, facilitate and support staff members.
b)     Direct the work in a top-down fashion.
c)     Use interest-based procedures to represent management priorities.

5. In unit-based teams, union stewards are expected to:
a)     Help in problem solving, leading the unit and designing work processes.
b)     Represent co-workers through interest-based procedures. 

6. Using the Value Compass as a guide to decision making:
a)     Isn’t optional—it’s part of the National Agreement.
b)     Reminds us that value comes by improving in all four points.
c)     Keeps the focus on our members and patients’ needs.

Check your answers here—and watch for the new video, “Management 101: Partnership ties my hands.” And send an email to hank@kp.org with your thoughts on partnership.

And, read the Letters to the editor from the Fall 2011 issue of Hank.