Teaming is all about fostering a healthy working culture. It takes time and effort, but there are helpful practices to build strong, high-functioning teams.

University of Utah’s Support Services makes learning a part of their routine. Director Dustin Banks considers his book club the most important meeting he attends. Why? Because it brings together Support Services’ diverse leadership group — customer service, hospital operators, environmental services, volunteers, interpreters and security — to learn and grow as a team.

Accelerate frequently chronicles the hard work of building and nurturing teams because we believe that real teams are the antidote to the chaos of modern medicine (in the words of Dr. Tom Lee). Here, we highlight a necessary ingredient of high-performing teams: compelling vision.

Telecommuting is a novel work mode for many of us in health care. Veteran telecommuter Christian Sherwood shares her tips for navigating the uncharted waters of taking our work and teams offsite.

It’s been quite a year—but we made it! The Accelerate Team is celebrating the small wins with some big engagement from across the globe. Thank you to all 158 contributors who shared valuable insights with the U of U Health community in 2021.

Patient care starts and ends with connection, whether it's in-person or virtual. Chief Medical Information Officer Maia Hightower, Medical Assistant Eileen Prats, and Physician Assistant Christin Van Dine share how a five element virtual visit is built on person-to-person human connection.

Pause practices are frequently used in the medical setting immediately following a traumatic event. The Resiliency Center’s Jean Whitlock shares a pause practice for 2020 to help teams recognize how far they’ve come—so we can all move forward together.

Most of us don’t feel empowered to influence the decisions made about our work. The Shared Governance Advancement Team, a group of frontline nurses and leaders at U of U Health who aim to advance nursing professional practice, introduce a simple framework (The 3 D’s) that empowers each and every team member to influence local decision-making.

Department of Surgery collaborators Courtney Lauer, Erin Heath, and Christina Choate share their process for establishing a culture of collaboration that facilitates communication across teams, fosters shared goals, and creates an atmosphere where failure is an opportunity to learn.