unit-based teams

No doubt that a recent article in the Economist will broaden the appeal of the Kaiser Permanente’s model of care delivery and financing to a wide audience. This is critically important as the regulatory implementation of the new health care reform law is getting under way in earnest.

UBT Consultant Niambi Lincoln and National Coordinator Andrea Dooley, both of the Northern California region, urged me to visit a physical therapy unit-based team in South San Francisco. I was able to make the visit recently.

It’s 1986, on the eve of the NASA launch of Challenger. Imagine that we are witness to the frantic last-minute meetings going on, of assembled teams of NASA engineers and NASA decision-makers. The issue: whether or not it’s safe to launch the space shuttle in cold weather. 

We all know too well what happened. This great tragedy should not have happened. Professor Amy Edmonson used the drama of these events to trigger learning in all of us: Teams have lots of complex barriers to good outcomes…and we must learn how to overcome them.

Participants at the Rewards and Recognition workshop this afternoon (March 13) heard how teams that have won Southern California’s quarterly award used the program as inspiration to improve care for Kaiser Permanente members.

Ever wonder why it’s so hard to work with a co-lead or colleague on a certain issue? The information shared at the Leading in Partnership workshop at the 2010 Union Delegate Conference shed some light on this sticky situation.

It’s all about our personality styles.