Intended audience:
Unit-based team members, champions, consultants, union representatives, and management and labor leads working in partnership on a range of collaborative issues. This guide can help you escalate unresolved problems, build trust with colleagues, and improve your personal communications skills.

Best used:
Refer to this resource when you are preparing to give feedback and delve deeper into a difficult situation, or to prepare to respond to feedback or a request to discuss an issue.

flyer_Breakthrough Conversations_STATE

When it's time to have a difficult conversation in your work life--or even personal life--use these tips and tools to make it go smoothly. Focus on the five-step STATE skills: share, tell, ask, talk, encourage.

Non-LMP

Done

Read more about Breakthrough Conversations

Fighting the Plague of Too Many Sick Days

Surveying employees about attendance policies
Creating guidelines around sick days, tardiness and dangling (not filling out time cards)
Rewarding successful employees with a formal lunch

What can your team do to reward and recognize one another?

Read more about Fighting the Plague of Too Many Sick Days

A Little Communication Goes a Long Way

Communicating with the team
Asking how the team prefers to communicate or meet
Allowing team members to earn rewards for attendance

What can your team do to improve communication among its members?

scarrpm Tue, 12/13/2016 - 17:34

Read more about A Little Communication Goes a Long Way

A Patient’s Call Deserves a Response—Always

Pairing a nurse with a buddy to help with patient response
Designating backups to the buddies
Communicating with the appropriate nurse the patient’s needs

What can your team do to allocate staff time and attention effectively and strategically?

scarrpm Tue, 12/13/2016 - 17:01

Read more about A Patient’s Call Deserves a Response—Always

Too Many Sick Days? Use Carrots, Not Sticks

Creating a rewards and recognition program for perfect attendance
Educating and coaching staff about attendance, improving communication and rebuilding trust
Creating flexible schedules, approving last-minute vacation requests and working to raise morale

What can your team do to reward and recognize one another?

scarrpm Tue, 12/13/2016 - 10:09

Read more about Too Many Sick Days? Use Carrots, Not Sticks

If the Phone Rings, You Answer

Correcting wrong numbers in the Patient Member Handbook
Handling calls directly instead of routing to call center, adding voice mail and returning messages hourly
Wearing wireless headsets to take calls remotely

What can your team do to look at its work through the eyes of the patient?

Read more about If the Phone Rings, You Answer

Quiet on the Floor. It’s Nap Time

Instituting a regular nap time, testing both 1-3 p.m. and 2-4 p.m. slots
Communicating to staff and families about nap time, to be quiet and posting alerts
Coordinating with other departments to see if adjustments to time period are needed

What can your team do to try out different potiential solutions without being afraid of failure?

Read more about Quiet on the Floor. It’s Nap Time

Five-Minute Fix Sharpens Team Focus

Submitted by Laureen Lazarovici on Wed, 12/07/2016 - 13:49

Region

Northern California

Keywords

Gilroy Medical Offices UBT

Topics

Communication

Hank

Fall 2016

Request Number

sty_Hank49_five minute fix

Long Teaser

Visual boards have made unit-based teams at Gilroy Medical Offices more focused, productive and comfortable sharing ideas. That in turn helps teams deliver better, more affordable care.

Communicator (reporters)

Tracy Silveria

Editor (if known, reporters)

Sherry Crosby

Photos & Artwork (reporters)

Only use image in listings (editors)

not listing only

Status

Developing

Tracking (editors)

12/07/2016 - 12:00

Story content (editors)

Headline (for informational purposes only)

Five-Minute Fix Sharpens Team Focus

Deck

Visual boards show team members what they need to know

Byline

Tracy Silveria

Story body part 1

Wondering how to keep your meetings short and to the point? Stop by Gilroy Medical Offices in Northern California and watch a unit-based team power through its five-minute daily huddle.

On a Tuesday in October, the Family Medicine UBT for Station 1 gathers around a magnetic marker board filled with visual reminders and messages. Medical assistant and SEIU-UHW member Nabi Lopez takes her turn leading team members through the day’s staffing and scheduling assignments, a discussion of where they stand on key clinical goals and upcoming department events.

Exactly five minutes after they gather, a buzzer sounds, and the 10 nurses, physicians, clerks, pharmacists, EVS staff and others head off to start their day.

A new routine

Crisp meetings and high team engagement were not always the norm for the department.

“Prior to using visual boards, our meetings were few and far between,” says SEIU-UHW member Dawn Reyes-Takaki, a medical assistant and member of the original project team. “They were chaotic, filled with complaints and negativity. Staff felt that changes were forced on them with no input.”

Three years ago, a San Jose-based team studied performance improvement techniques in other organizations. One of the ideas that stood out was the use of visual boards. A larger group of managers, workers and improvement advisors agreed on necessary adjustments and a standard format for the boards, and selected Gilroy Medical Offices to test their use.

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