From the Desk of Henrietta: Ambassadors at Large

Today, maybe, you have a headache. Or your back hurts. Or you’ve come down with a case of the grumps and merely want to show up, do what you have to do, and roll on home at the appointed hour.

But you don’t.

Why? I suspect because in your heart of hearts, you know that every day, each of us is an ambassador for Kaiser Permanente—at work and away from work, too. And it’s important we represent the organization well.

On one level, this is self-serving: It helps ensure KP has a vibrant future and we continue to have the best jobs in health care.

On another level, it’s pretty cosmic. Given how big and well-known Kaiser Permanente has become, it’s easy to forget that our approach to health care upends U.S. norms. But as we succeed in delivering our brand of health care in this market, others take notice—and begin to adopt our methods. We have the power to revolutionize health care delivery for the benefit of everyone.

So it’s important that KP stay around, and we can do that only if we “grow membership”—by keeping the members we have and attracting new ones.

This issue of Hank explores how the Labor Management Partnership is helping to reach out and bring more members into the KP fold. It lays out how, at every level and layer of the organization, partnership motivates and enables people to step outside their traditional roles to act in ways that benefit us all.

Regardless of our particular job, we each have a part to play, every day, grumps or no grumps, in the work of helping Kaiser Permanente grow bigger and stronger. That means you. And that means me.