Finding Our Voice

It is important at Kaiser Permanente that we foster an environment where employees feel they can show up to work as an authentic individual. I work hard to ensure that people feel comfortable to speak freely to me. We may not always agree, but I have always placed tremendous value on the idea that open conversations lead to better decisions.

Lately, I’ve been particularly interested in how we can encourage people to find their voices all across this organization and society at large. It’s one thing to speak up as a reaction to something – either something someone else says or an issue that’s caught your attention – it’s another to speak up because you’ve found your voice and are motivated and excited by what you have to contribute. It’s that kind of culture I want to foster.

I’m always struck by the incredible resources within our organization. There’s no doubt that Kaiser Permanente is full of experts. Whether that expertise is in practicing medicine, information technology or administration, it’s critical to the overall success that we rely on all of that collective brain power to drive us into the future and constantly evolve the way we do things.

To make sure we’re taking full advantage of all this expertise, and to make sure we’re “walking the walk” when it comes to encouraging people to find their voices, we recently launched an internal program called Challenge Possible.

Challenge Possible invited employees to submit ideas on how to transform our approach to health and health care. The first set of challenges focused on three areas we consider priorities as we push ourselves to reimagine health care in the 21st century.

In community health, we asked how we can ensure basic human needs are met to help create more healthy years. For personal health, we asked how to encourage people to live healthy lives that, again, lead to healthy life years. And for the mind, we asked how we can better help children faced with negative life experiences. I’m proud to say we received nearly 3,000 submissions from across the organization and have begun developing some of their ideas.

Soon, we will share details about what transpired, but for now I will say I am so inspired by our employees’ passion and expertise. Their voices are being heard. Challenge Possible is just one part of this overall effort to hear from people across Kaiser Permanente and I know it will make us even stronger. We are creating a new culture that is tapping the power of diversity of thought from our employees and they will have the opportunity to see how their ideas will help transform health care.

I encourage everyone to think about the importance of finding and sharing your voice in your own career. Finding your voice is a driver and motivator that gives you confidence and allows you to see how your contributions make a difference at work and in lives.

If you are a leader within your organization, remind yourself how critical it is to listen and be open to other ways of thinking and different perspectives. When you are invited to a meeting or have an opportunity to speak to your manager or even a senior executive, remember that your voice matters.