The Art and Science of Managing Quality Improvement Teams

2. THE TEAM
 “A specially constituted group chosen to address
an issue that impacts operations of a process.”
Usually consists of five to eight people
 The team is the basic unit of quality structures.
 No single individual can improve quality.
 Managing teams is an art and science.
 Success in managing quality teams is the
foundation of any quality improvement initiative

3. WHEN A TEAM IS NEEDED?
 To achieve a common purpose and better results
than individuals working alone would achieve;
 To maximize the expertise and perspectives
available in the organization;
 When a planned change or new process design will
impact current work practice.
 When the problem or process has many "owners" of
its complexity or outcomes;
 When resistance to change is high, but change is
inevitable.

4. STAGES OF TEAM GROWTH

5. MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY
 Helps the team secure needed resources
(time, budget, expertise)
 Works with team leader to secure
support from other department
 Assures that the team comes up with an
“implementable solution”

6. TEAM RESPONSIBILITY
 Describe the specific problems/opportunities
 Gather and analyze data
 Identify root causes
 Develop alternative processes
 Apply alternative processes and track
results
 Feedback helpful experiences (lessons
learned)

7. TEAM LEADER
Role
• Guide team to reach established goal (s)
• Provides direction and support to Team
Key Responsibilities
• Coordinates & conducts Team meetings
• Encourages member participation
• Interacts with QM/PI Committee on Team
issues/programs
• Functions as an equal Team Member

8. MEETING MANAGEMENT
QUALITIES OF THE CHAIR
 Vision: The ability to imagine the meeting in your
head before it takes place and to align the meeting
with the fundamental goals of the group, the cause,
or the organization.
 People Skills: Managing a meeting is managing
people: Motivating and leading in a positive way;
 Listening and hearing what meeting members are
saying;
 Sensing when there is confusion or harmony,
discord, or agreement;

9.  Bringing people and ideas together in a
constructive way.
 Wisdom - The ability to Accept people as they are,
not as you would like them to be;
 Flexibility : Adhering to the fundamental goals of
the meeting but permitting a deviation if it appears
that such will more clearly move the meeting group
toward the desired goal.
MEETING MANAGEMENT
QUALITIES OF THE CHAIR

10. TEAM FACILITATOR
Role
• Promotes effective team dynamics
• Serves as consultant/coach to the Team
Key Responsibilities
• Provide training in QI concepts & methods
• Assist team members in building strengths
• Assist Team Leader in team process

11.  Not a member of the team,
 Keep the team focused
 Seek opinions of all team members
 Coordinate ideas and test for consensus
 Assist team in applying Ql tools and techniques
 Summarize key points
 Provide feedback to the team
TEAM FACILITATOR

12. TEAM MEMBER
Role
• Shares knowledge & expertise of process/issues
Key Responsibilities
• Active participant in team process
• Performs assignments
• Represents/communicates with the work group

13. THE ROLE AT THE HEALTHCARE
QUALITY PROFESSIONAL
 The healthcare quality professional is
predominantly a coordinator of the “team
process”
 He or she is the resource person, a centralized
repository for both receipt and dissemination of
information about the organization's quality
strategy, structure, processes, and outcomes.
 In team coordination he or she may oversee
multiple teams and activities; orchestrate
information flow to the Quality Council, governing
body, and organization; and may serve as trainer
and/or facilitator for certain teams.

14.  There are occasions when the healthcare
quality professional is asked to serve as team
leader, but these should be rare requests,
such as when the organizationwide quality
strategy is being redesigned and the quality
professional is the obvious expert closest to
the issue.
 The quality professional may serve as a team
member on certain systemwide strategic
initiatives or the organization's strategic
planning team.
THE ROLE AT THE HEALTHCARE
QUALITY PROFESSIONAL

15. MEETING PROCESS STEPS
 Clarify the objective of the meeting;
 Review roles of participants;
 Review and clarify the agenda;
 Work through agenda items;
 Review meeting documentation and decisions;
 Plan next steps and agenda;
 Evaluate the meeting (what went well and what to
improve)

16. Fundamental Principles of
Meeting Management
 Envision what is going to happen
 Define the role of the Chair in relation to the other
meeting members;
 Prepare a working Agenda
 Arrange for minutes to be taken;
 Arrive early;
 Unite with the group; Start on time;
 Begin the meeting with confidence and strength.

17.  Get announcements out of the way as quickly as
possible;
 State the purpose, objectives, and estimated time for
the meeting;
 Do not draw attention to someone entering late;
 Restrict interruptions
 Restate the objectives periodically;
 Remain impartial or at least demonstrate an
appearance of impartiality; Separate fact from beliefs
and opinions;
Fundamental Principles of
Meeting Management

18.  Be sensitive to the time and the feelings and
comfort needs of the group;
 Be on the lookout for emotional buildups;
 Seek contributions;
 Make people feel important;
 Clarify;
 Take on one issue or task at a time;
 Protect the weak;
Fundamental Principles of
Meeting Management

19.  Divide big problems into sub-problems and address
them separately whenever possible;
 Keep the meeting moving;
 End the meeting by summarizing accomplishments,
relationship to the original intent of the meeting,
and review the next steps;
 Try to end the meeting on time.
Fundamental Principles of
Meeting Management

20. EVALUATING TEAM
PERFORMANCE
Develop measures to evaluate performance in three
areas:
• Task completion: How did we meet our objectives?
• Team dynamics: How did we perform together?
• Individual performance: What did I contribute?
Develop performance measures to:
• Assess progress at each stage of the task;
• Measure team performance;
• Evaluate overall effectiveness in task and personal
achievements.

22. BRAINSTORMING
 It’s a tool used by teams to bring out the ideas of
every individual & present them in an orderly
fashion to the rest of the team.
 Benefits:
1. It encourages creativity.
2. It equalizes the involvement of all team members.
3. It fosters the sense of ownership.

23. No Criticism
Build
On
Each
Others
Ideas
Quantity Not
Quality
Wild &
Exagg
erated
Ideas
Set The
Rules
Set A
Time
Limit
State
The
Problem
Collect
The
Ideas
Record
Without
Duplica-
tion
BRAINSTORMING

24.  It’s a pictorial representation
displaying the actual sequence of
steps and their interrelationships
in a specific process in order to
identify hand-offs, inefficiencies,
redundancies, inspections, and
waiting steps & ideal sequence of
steps, once the actual process is
known.
FLOW CHART

25. FISHBONE DIAGRAM
 It’s a tool generally used to gather all possible
causes as an overview.
 The ultimate goal being to uncover the root cause
of a problem.

26.  It’s a graph with limit lines called control lines.
 It’s used to detect any change in the process that
should be evident by any abnormal points listed on
the graph.
CONTROL CHART

27. MULTIVOTING
 Process to select or narrow a set of
items where each member to express
“strength of opinions” through voting.
 List all items & Count them
 Rank order the items based on total
votes received
 Repeat the process until clear
prioritization can be viewed