Abstract
Unit-based councils (UBCs) are a viable way to advance shared governance principles in workplace settings to exact change (Guanci & Medeiros, 2018). The UBC may consist of some or all staff from a unit, or staff from multiple units within an organization. Leadership is tasked with advising and supporting council activities as a nuanced way for decision-making at the front-line level, without relinquishing decisions best made at higher management levels (Orton, 2021). Occupational health (OH) may be overlooked as an area to implement UBCs due to size, workload, and composition of multiple teams often distributed across an organization. However, considering the collaborative nature of the interdisciplinary OH team (Foster-Chang, 2021, p. 16), opportunities exist for effective UBCs in OH settings.
Planning is a key step when establishing a UBC, as implementation of this shared governance strategy requires not only valuable time commitments, but development of strategies to safeguard team buy-in and accountability. By-laws are useful at this stage to clearly define the team, overarching goals, and responsibilities (Guanci & Medeiros, 2018). Team champions, as noted by Miech et al. (2018), are commonly used to promote and motivate participation among peers. Team champions are therefore recommended to assist in spreading and promoting the UBC as well. Leadership is further tasked to anticipate additional strategies to secure resources and support for members to do the job and lead change (Orton, 2021). Leaders should be ready to provide justification in the face of time and budget constraints during a COVID surge, for example, to protect time for UBC tasks prior to implementation. Failing to properly plan for potential barriers can result in unnecessary setbacks.
The implementation of interdisciplinary UBCs within an organization, especially when composed of multidisciplinary OH members distributed across locations, can be challenging. However, the use of carefully considered technological applications can be pivotal in bringing dispersed teams together. Feitosa and Salas (2020) suggest the increased use of technology, such as videoconference calls (e.g., Zoom), can promote continued team engagement when person-to-person interactions are restricted. Doing so enhances the opportunity for each team member to be heard and to be an active participant in establishing change.
Regardless of the location of the UBC team members and means by which they connect, critical teamwork interactions and collaboration are possible and should be assessed. The UBC agenda is distributed to council members a week prior to the meeting to enhance preparation and further promote input from the varied perspectives and experiences of UBC team members (Guanci & Medeiros, 2018, p. 24). The UBC agenda should outline the ideas generated and adopted by the OH team members. Examples of agenda topics include development of an OH sharepoint site to improve communication of OH services and education resources to employees and leadership, the implementation of monthly OH peer review to promote standardized documentation, and the review of OH policies and processes that require updates or annual review. Finally, the agenda lists the responsible party/parties, goals, and deadlines to aide in evaluation of progress.
The evidence supporting UBCs is well documented, yet there is a paucity of its use in OH settings. Occupational health professionals have an opportunity to increase interdisciplinary team engagement and decision-making within their organization to affect change that is meaningful to the team, even across distributed sites. With appropriate planning, implementation, and evaluation, UBCs can be a valuable part of change management in OH settings.
