Dear Colleague,
As we wrap up the Better Begins With Us program, we’re excited to share what’s coming next in our Practicing Excellence journey.
Beginning the week of March 9, team members will start the new Advanced Team Collaboration program. This program builds on the foundation established in last year’s Team Collaboration work and continues strengthening the skills needed to foster a highly collaborative, engaged team environment.
Advanced Team Collaboration focuses on six key skills that directly support stronger teamwork:
- Activating a Growth Mindset helps teams stay open to learning, adapt to change and view challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.
- How Teams Communicate strengthens clarity, trust and shared understanding so information flows effectively across roles and settings.
- Respecting Each Other reinforces the importance of valuing different perspectives and experiences to create a culture of inclusion and support.
- Everyone Leading Safety empowers all team members to take ownership of safe practices and speak up when something doesn’t seem right.
- Team & Personal Reliability emphasizes accountability and consistency, both individually and collectively.
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving equips teams to navigate complexity and make sound decisions together.
Together, these skills help teams move from simply working alongside one another to truly working with one another in ways that strengthen collaboration, trust and outcomes.
In addition, our High Reliability Organization (HRO) journey will remain front and center throughout this program. The skills within Advanced Team Collaboration will continue to reinforce behaviors that support safety, clear communication, shared accountability and speaking up – all of which are essential to building and sustaining a culture of reliability.
Deadline to complete Better Begins With Us content
Before we begin this next chapter, please remember that the grace period to stay current with your Better Begins With Us program completions ends on March 2. All skills and tips in the program must be completed by that date to be considered timely.
Thousands of your peers have shown through their words and actions how valuable these personal and professional development opportunities are. Their positive feedback highlights the importance of everyone participating, so moving forward, timely completion is not just encouraged – it is expected.
If a team member is not timely in their completion, corrective action will be taken based on their current step in the disciplinary process. Timely completion will continue to be reflected in annual performance appraisals. This follows the same process that is used when deadlines for annual CBLs are missed.
Why this matters:
The culture we’re working to build – in how we support one another, how we show up each day and, most importantly, the experience we create for our patients – depends on all of us. When every team member engages in the program, we strengthen our workplace and improve the care we provide together.
Practicing Excellence App update coming soon
You should also be on the lookout for an upcoming update to the Practicing Excellence app. On March 2, you will receive an email from Practicing Excellence outlining what’s changing and when those updates will take place.
