Champions Chicago Update
Champions × NUH · 6 October 2026
Transforming healthcare from the inside
Update on the Champions programme delivered in Chicago from June 2025 onwards with Union Health Service, a 250-staff, 6-site, $100M/yr outpatient clinic founded in 1955.
Slides 1–3 · what happenedDelivered from June 2025 and ongoing. Independently reviewed at sixteen weeks (October 2025).
Slides 4–5 · future plansBuilding momentum and enabling sustainable transformation.Using Champions Circles to power the Our UHS programme focusing on Our Patients, Our People, Our Operations and Our Future.
1Delivered · 2025
What was the problem?
Walking on thin iceA complete breakdown in trust, staff had checked out, patient Yelp score 1.6/5.
Dysfunctional teamEveryone cared deeply, yet working relationships had become dysfunctional.
Low moraleLeading to a collective sense of failure. “We can’t do it here”.
2Delivered · 2025
What did we do?
Six workshops, a month apart.Time in between to practise, not just to attend.
The sequence is deliberate.Self-awareness first. Then relationships. Then capacity.
Everyone ends by telling their story.Stories of humanity run through the whole programme.
3Evidenced · 16-week review, October 2025 · independent evaluation
The results
Three shifts.Isolation to connection. Judgement to curiosity. Silos to collaboration.
The test was other people.Not whether participants enjoyed it — whether colleagues noticed a difference.
90-Day TransformationInterviews evidenced tangible shifts: micro-behaviour changes leading to macro-culture changes.
4Phase two onwards · year two and beyond (starting January 2027)
Our UHS. One connected journey.
Four Circles a year.Each tied to a theme, a question, and two of the organisation’s values.
Same theme, different conversation.Live it, lead it, model it — by role and influence.
Leadership creates the conditions.The executive doesn’t re-sit the programme. It removes the barriers.
5Phase two onwards · year two and beyond (starting January 2027)
Champions Circles
The power of small groupsTo carry forward and sustain the transformation.
Change at three levels.What I do differently. What we do. What needs to change around us.
Sustaining TransformationHardwiring transformation into everyday culture: how we do things here.
Humanity is a performance multiplier.
“Champions has completely changed the trajectory of UHS, in the best possible way… and the ripple effects are going to be never ending.”
Karah Fogg, Director of Medical Management, Union Health Service, Chicago
Contact: Glen Ford · Contact us
Additional Resources
Below is a short video of the Chicago participants during their Champions journey presentations, December 2025, and the independent evaluation.