Frontline managers

Managing in partnership is different from traditional management. You still have responsibility for managing employees’ performance, but when it comes to your department’s performance, the whole team plays a role in making the department a great place to work and to receive care. Frontline employees know where the problems are and have great ideas for solutions. Research shows that managers who engage their teams get better results, and team members are more enthusiastic about implementing the solution because they helped come up with it.

1. Be knowledgeable about the National Agreement. Download the National Agreement or get from your local human resources representative.
2. Get trained on the Labor Management Partnership. See your local learning and development website or our list of regional training contacts.
3. Proactively develop relationships with your union partners. Get to know your shop steward, union representative and other local labor leaders. Check in with them on a regular basis to share information and get their ideas.
4. Model partnership with your union partner. Treat each other with mutual respect. Attend LMP trainings together. Jointly develop meeting agendas and share meeting facilitation responsibilities. Share information, identify problems and develop possible solutions in collaboration.
5. Be accessible to staff. Spend time visiting with people on the front lines. Roam the department on a regular basis. Eat in the lunch room. Implement an “open door” policy for staff members who come by and want to talk.
6. Be open to the ideas of all employees. Encourage people to share ideas and have input on procedures or work flow. Create an environment in which people feel comfortable speaking up. And be open to trying new ways of doing things.
7. Create a structure for dialogue and engagement. Make sure time is set aside for partnership meetings, huddles and training.
8. Tell it like it is. Be open and honest in your communication and transparent with information. Share your department’s budget with team members to get their ideas on reducing costs.
9. Recognize and value employees’ contributions. Go out of your way to acknowledge someone who comes up with or implements an idea that has made the department a better place to work and provide care.
10. Develop employees to become department leaders. If union partners or other team members want to help the department succeed by polishing their problem-solving, meeting management or other skills, encourage and support them in their efforts.

Course description

This course is designed to help frontline staff understand their role in a unit-based team

Path to Performance

Level 1

Duration

4 modules, approximately 1 hour each

Who should attend

This course is intended for KP employees who are represented by a union in the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions

Course requirements

Labor Management Partnership Orientation (LMPO)

Course description

The curriculum is planned around bringing a new manager up to speed on the working environment as it relates to partnership and unit-based teams, and how to take their traditional role and seamlessly integrate it in this new environment. The materials in the class are intended to be a takeaway the participants can use later as a valuable reference tool.

Path to Performance

Level 1

Duration

• 4 modules (classroom)
• 60 minutes, approximately (online)

Who should attend

This course is intended for new managers to a partnership environment.

Course requirements

• Labor Management Partnership Orientation (LMPO)
• Completion of course pre-work prior to class

A unit-based team includes all managers, physicians, dentists and partnership union members in the work unit. All employees in the unit participate and support the team in meeting its goals and objectives.

UBT members

For the team to move up and become high performing, its important for all team members  to:

• complete UBT training
• attend and participate in meetings
• represent the interests and perspectives of others — not just their own
• use UBT processes collaboratively and with an open mind toward mutually acceptable results
• maintain open, direct, and respectful communication
• support partnership principles
• communicate regularly with staff in the department
• honor confidentiality agreements
• actively support all team decisions

Visit the Team Member Engagement toolkit to learn more. 

UBT co-leads

Each UBT has a management and labor co-lead. In departments with physicians, it’s ideal to have a physician co-lead as well. Co-leads organize the team’s meetings and huddles and make sure the team’s performance improvement work stays on track.

The role of UBT co-leads is to:

• advocate for partnership success
• prepare for meetings and huddles
• use appropriate meeting management tools
• communicate early and often
• troubleshoot where appropriate
• act as point person for information
• keep team records
• ensure team is following charter and charter is relevant
• communicate with others (including sponsors and stakeholders)
• make off-line decisions when needed
• build relationships and share expectations with co-lead partner(s)

Visit the Leadership toolkit to learn more. 

UBT sponsors

Sponsors are the go-to people for UBT co-leads, providing resources, guidance and oversight for teams.

The role of UBT sponsors is to:

• review the team’s progress on department’s UBT goals
• promote the use of the Rapid Improvement Model (RIM+) to improve department performance
• support full team engagement
• remove barriers and assist, as needed, with attaining data for team’s performance improvement projects
• recognize the team’s accomplishments
• spread successful practices

Visit the Sponsorship toolkit to learn more. 

Bernie Nadel is director of customer service and call center operations at Patient Financial Services in Southern California. He co-chairs the Regional Operations LMP Council, bringing together 27 business units, including the regional laboratory, central refill pharmacy and optical services.   

None of us was born into a unit-based team. Partnership is learned. Teams and their leaders need guidance and a playbook.

I tell other managers partnership makes my job easier. I have 10 other people helping to come up with solutions. I know some managers are uncomfortable with that approach. They act as though they can opt out of the Labor Management Partnership. It’s as if they said, “I know we have KP HealthConnect™, but I want to use this other computer program.” I say, if you don’t want the LMP, don’t work at Kaiser Permanente. You don’t get to opt out of the company’s policy.

Owning the work

Recently, our UBT went through a list of issues to work on. Call volume is up 30 percent, and we’re figuring out how to deal with that. We are going to do several tests of change. UBT members are gung ho about it. If I were to try to make those changes myself, I’d miss things. I would not get the insights of the people who interact with our members every day. And the people doing the work wouldn’t have the ownership and energy that comes with having a voice. Employees know I believe in partnership—and I give them the time to do it. That is a challenge. But you can’t solve the problems if you don’t invest.  

Not that long ago this call center was a toxic environment. There was low trust and low morale. All that has switched 180 degrees. A big step was my predecessor attending a sponsorship training class, which led her to involving UBTs more in day-to-day operations. I wanted to build on that.  

Taking the first step

LMP is a dance between labor and management, and management has to take the first step. When labor sees that management is serious, that’s when it changes. We’ve shown that you can change the culture.

Recently, we had a meeting with top executives about improving the consumer financial experience. Our UBT representative group prepared a report, and it gave our executives insights they couldn’t get any other way. It was not slick, it was real. I’m grateful to the group for the experience, commitment and knowledge they bring to this work every day.