1. Accountability
Place you r m essag e h ere. Fo r m axim um i mpact , use two or t hre e se ntenc es.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Leadership Development Program
Personal Development Series

2. Accountability:
Accountability
Rebecca Sharpe, MS
April Kassen, MA, CBA
Terry Nigh, MHRD
Sue Klesath, MOL, BS, RN, CPM
Krystal Hartmann, BSN, RN, CPM
Dan Smith, BSN, RN, CPST
Dannee Schroeder, BA
Target Audience
All members of the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center team.
Purpose
To discuss accountability and its impact on family centered care in the
healthcare environment.
Objectives
• Explain the Question Behind the Question accountability technique and
application in a family-centered care and teamwork-focused heath care
environment.
•
Identify the five Advantage Principles of accountability.
•
Demonstrate the application of the five Advantage Principles by writing
one Question Behind the Question focused on improving family-centered
care, patient safety, or teamwork in a health care environment.
2
Personal Development Series

3. What is Accountability?
?
Create your own working definition.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3
Personal Development Series

4. Accountability?
Is...
Is not...
• Doing something without the
expectation of getting something in return.
• Blaming others.
• Acting on the trust that’s placed
in you.
• Expecting others to handle certain responsibilities.
• Taking ownership of an idea or
situation.
• Looking the other way.
• It’s expected.
• Not speaking up.
• Not doing what is asked of you.
• Own up, admit to it, and learn
from it.
Hospital Case Study
Two departments currently share space. In order to prepare for The Joint Commission’s
Visit, both department’s supplies and processes were being reviewed. In this space that the
departments shared there are medication/supplies boxes in each room. These supply boxes
were being checked over to see if they were fully stocked and organized. After checking
them, the medication boxes were found to have missing supplies and not clearly organized.
After asking a few staff members about whose responsible for stocking and organizing these
boxes, it was clear that one department thought the other department was responsible and
vice versa. The bottom line was, no one was stocking/organizing the medication boxes
because both departments were finger-pointing at the other department.
4
Personal Development Series

5. The Question Behind the Question
Ask: “What” or “How”
Questions should contain the word “I”
Focus on actions
Examples:
How can I better understand my patients/families/customers?
What can I do in my current job to excel?
What can I do to help solve the problem?
How can I help to motivate others?
How can I adapt to the changes in my job?
How can I be more productive today?
What can I do to be my best?
How can I help the organization succeed?
5
Personal Development Series

6. Hospital Case Study– Create a QBQ!
Two departments currently share space. In order to prepare for The Joint Commission’s
Visit, both department’s supplies and processes were being reviewed. In this space that the
departments shared there are medication/supplies boxes in each room. These supply boxes
were being checked over to see if they were fully stocked and organized. After checking
them, the medication boxes were found to have missing supplies and not clearly organized.
After asking a few staff members about whose responsible for stocking and organizing these
boxes, it was clear that one department thought the other department was responsible and
vice versa. The bottom line was, no one was stocking/organizing the medication boxes
because both departments were finger-pointing at the other department.
QBQ
Rewrite the medication box case study into a QBQ!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
6
Personal Development Series

7. Five Advantage Principles
Creativity
Facing an obstacle and coming up with another way to
reach the goal is Creativity at its finest.
What to ask:
What can I do to succeed with the tools I have?
How can I obtain the information required?
What can I do to reach the goal?
Learning
Learning enhances our ability to adapt to change, reach
our goals we’ve set, and become the people we wish to be.
Taking what we learned in the past and applying it to the
present.
What to ask:
What can I do to develop new skills?
How can I adapt to the changing world?
What can I do to be my best?
7
Personal Development Series

8. Five Advantage Principles
Ownership
Facing problems head-on instead of blaming,
complaining, procrastinating, or making excuses.
What to ask:
How can I solve the problem?
How can I help my dept/unit succeed?
How can I rid blame from my life?
Service
Service strengthens relationships and builds
trust. It also promotes feelings of personal
satisfaction and pride that comes from rendering
service to others.
What to ask:
What can I do to understand others’ needs?
How can I serve the customer more?
How can I be a better coach?
8
Personal Development Series

9. Five Advantage Principles
Trust
It forms the foundation of strong relationships
which are critical to success both at work and at
home.
What to ask:
How can I build their confidence in me?
How can I truly understand you?
How can I better understand the situation?
Medication Box Case Study
Identify the five Advantage Principles in the case study:
Yes = evident
No = missing
Yes No
Creativity
Facing an obstacle and coming up with another way to reach the goal.
Learning
Enhances our ability to adapt to change, reach our goals we’ve set, and become the
people we wish to be. Taking what we learned in the past and applying it to the
present.
Ownership
Facing problems head-on instead of blaming, complaining, procrastinating, or
making excuses.
Service
Strengthens relationships and builds trust. It also promotes feelings of personal
satisfaction and pride that comes from rendering service to others.
Trust
Forms the foundation of strong relationships. Critical to success both at work and
at home.
9
Personal Development Series

10. Rewrite as a QBQ!
Select an example and write one QBQ question that would
promote accountability.
Remember…
Ask: “What” or “How”
Questions should contain the word, “I”
Focus on actions
New QBQ…..
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Note: When writing your QBQ, consider the 5 principles: Check Yes, if you took the
principle into consideration while writing your QBQ.
Yes
Creativity
Learning
Ownership
Service
Trust
10
Personal Development Series

11. Action Planning
1. Identify an accountability example in your own department:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Develop a QBQ Question:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What action do you plan on taking in the next 30 days:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
References
Connors, Roger & Smith, Tom (1999) Journey to the Emerald City. New York,
NY: Prentice Hall Press.
Connors, Roger, Hickman, Craig & Smith, Tom (1994) The Oz Principle New York,
NY: Prentice Hall Press.
Miller, John G. (2006). Flipping the Switch. New York, NY, G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Miller, John G. (2001). QBQ! The Question Behind the Question. Denver, CO:
Denver Press.
Sanborn, Mark. (2006).You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How anyone, anywhere, can make a positive difference. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
11
Personal Development Series

12. References Available for Check Out
Miller, John G. (2006). Flipping the Switch.
New York, NY, G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Miller, John G. (2001). QBQ! The Question
Behind the Question. Denver, CO:
Denver Press.
Sanborn, Mark. (2006).You Don’t Need a Title to
be a Leader: How anyone, anywhere, can
make a positive difference. New York, NY:
Random House, Inc.
To reserve a book, contact Organization Development at ext. 6004.
The book will be sent via inner office mail in 5-7 business days.
12
Personal Development Series

13. Accountability Examples:
Work is divided among areas by alpha split. Typically there are two
people who share the responsibility of one area. In one area, we had
a conflict of two important time constraints. One of the workers was
working on a project with a fast approaching deadline. In that area,
there also was a report that needed to be worked ASAP.
Worker A was not working on the project, so she completed her alpha
split and then proceeded to hound Worker B to complete her portion
ASAP.
Worker B explained that she had the other project as a priority, but
Worker A continued to state that she could not work the rest of the
report because she would only work her alpha split, and continued on
that the report needed to be worked ASAP.
I had a staff member assigned to my area. She was found doing
homework most of the day in the corner of the lollipop. I noticed her
peers were stressed with their work loads as she continued to do her
homework. Later in the shift I knew I had to set the example so I addressed it with the employee. I asked her if she was doing her homework and she stated she was trying but found herself getting interrupted a lot.
A patient’s sibling wanted to play with a toy that made noise. The
batteries had died and the child was upset. He started to play with
another toy. The parent asked an employee if the batteries could be
replaced. The employee stated that they didn't know where the batteries were located and they weren’t responsible for the toys in the
waiting area.
13
Personal Development Series

14. Accountability Examples:
A refrigerator is shared among several staff members. One particular
employee typically makes ice cubes so there are ice cubes for everyone. There has been a couple of times when folks have taken ice
cubes and not filled up the ice cube trays and replenished the supply.
Some people feel that it is an unwritten rule that the one particular
employee is in charge of the ice cube trays.
Several family members were gathered in a pre-surgical room with
their son who was scheduled for surgery that day. The room was
crowded. Two of his grandparents were from Missouri and both were
using walkers. An employee was overheard saying to the grandparents that we have a policy restricting the number of chairs in a room
at one time and there would be no more chairs brought into the room.
The Annual Mandatory Review completion date was quickly approaching. An employee decided to put off completing their requirements closer to the deadline. Their plan was to come into work early
and complete them all at once. The completion date came and went
and the employee still had not completed all of the requirements.
Their manager began to call/email the employee to remind them of
their requirements. Three weeks after the completion date deadline,
the employee’s Vice President was informed of their non-compliance.
14
Personal Development Series