What teams want: A playbook for success

A UBT sponsor, co-lead and member learns how to get results, whatever your role

MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2010

Karen Clark, O.D, Regional Chief of Optometry, Colorado

Unit-based teams give Kaiser Permanente managers, workers and physicians new ways to engage, build trust and get results. They also require us to work together differently.

I supervise 33 optometrists in 11 clinics in the Colorado region. And as someone who works with UBTs at all levels of participation—as the regional sponsor of 10 local UBTs , the management co-lead of a regional UBT and simply a team member of another—I’ve learned what it takes to be effective in each role.

• As I sponsor: I look for good communication between the co-leads, their team and me, as their sponsor. I’ve found that any problem can be resolved with good communication. I encourage co-leads to ask me questions and to deliver on their commitments to the team.
• As a co-lead: I want my sponsors to have my back, run interference if I encounter a barrier and communicate when the desired goals or outcomes change.
• As a team member: I have seen how difficult it can be to have poor sponsorship and how much work it is to be a co-lead. So I try to honor those roles as best I can—and contribute my own ideas and energy to the work of the team.

How to succeed in your role

Whatever your role, a consistent approach works best. Teams need to discuss and understand our goals for the department and the region. Sometimes requests come down from the top, but our teams figure out how to make them happen. When teams share decision making, they also help carry the load. For example, knowing our goals for improved service and affordability, one of our optometrists discovered that spectacle prescriptions could be entered electronically into KP HealthConnect™ rather than written by hand.

We encouraged him to give it a try at his clinic. Within three days, he went from printing none of his scripts to printing them all. Other teams saw that the change improved our quality and service, and reduced costs. Within six months, all our clinics adopted the practice, and our prescription writing is now 100 percent automated.

Three ways to overcome barriers

UBTs present challenges too. Managers and staff have to process a lot of information and get training in performance improvement and consensus decision making. We often have to work outside our comfort zones and learn new skills. That’s why I am patient and try to help teams learn. (See breakout box at the top of the page.)

Making tangible progress on goals also provides a big push toward faster team development and higher performance. But high performance is only possible when trust, accountability and common purpose are part of that team's culture. That‘s what I work toward in whatever role I play on a team.