FAQs
What is Continuous Improvement?How do we engage our staff in Quality activities?
How do we engage our Board in Quality activities?
What is Continuous Improvement?
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI, CI) is a process whereby service provision and delivery is constantly evaluated and improved in the light of its efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility.
Continuous Improvement involves:
- Progressively increasing value to consumers or participants and other stakeholders through changes designed to better address their individual needs
- Enhancing performance against industry standards
- Commitment to identifying needs and opportunities for improvement in a systematic and planned way.
Continuous Improvement is not a "stop-start" approach to making things better. It forms a central part of a comprehensive management system to constantly improve the way in which your organisation provides services.
A Continuous Improvement process is used to:
- Identify the area or activity that you'd like to make better
- Plan what is needed to be done to bring about that improvement
- Identify the people responsible for the improvements you want to make
- Make the improvement
- Check how well it worked
- Decide what needs to be done next.
Principles common to Continuous Improvement:
a. Responding to consumers and their needs
This includes:
- Increasing the awareness and involvement of consumers or participants in improvement initiatives
- Integration of consumer contributions, feedback or input (comments and complaints) into the quality management system of the organisation
- Shaping the direction, behaviour and culture of the service to be responsive to consumer needs
- A partnership approach between service providers and consumers or participants.
b. Leadership-driven organisational improvement
This means that:
- Improvement is planned and high on the organisation’s agenda and is routinely monitored/reported to the Board of Management
- Contributions from all key stakeholders are part of Quality Improvement
- Improvement initiatives are linked to the mission, vision and values of your organisation.
c. Process and systems focus
Effective processes and systems are needed in order to provide quality service. This principle stresses understanding and managing the way work is done in order to improve it. It also involves looking critically at how your organisation’s work actually gets done, the way various jobs relate and their outcomes.
d. Ongoing use of appropriate data
This principle acts as a support to all of the others. Data provides the material for assessment of a given situation or service. It allows quality and effectiveness to be evaluated and demonstrated. The key point is to ensure the right data (records, forms) is collected and it is used to guide and evaluate improvement efforts.
e. Development and involvement of staff
This principle recognises the vital nature of staff and their contribution to any. Their input and involvement is essential in order to get the best results from the service and any Improvement activity. There is also emphasis on ongoing staff development education to enable continual
Improvement. Again, the importance of this principle is reflected in its inclusion as an expected outcome in every one of the four Accreditation Standards.
f. Quality Improvement and self-assessment as part of the culture
In a mature 'quality' organisation, self-assessment and Continuous Improvement are integrated into the everyday way the works. Planning, reviewing and service development all use good data and self-assessment results as input. In such an organisation, accreditation and other reviews are seen as a validation and external review opportunity. Management, staff and can tell others about the results and achievements acquired through their Continuous Improvement system.
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How do we engage our staff in Quality activities?
Engaging staff in Quality activities can be a slow process but there are a number of ways to help staff think about and participate in Continuous Quality Improvement, such as:
- Establish a work-place Quality Committee
- Have Quality as a standing agenda item in your regular staff meetings
- If you have an established OH&S Committee, include Quality into the TOR
- Think about creating Quality Champions amongst your staff
- Have weekly/fortnightly Quality quizzes and games
- Create a Continuous Quality Improvement Log and ask staff to identify one workplace activity or procedure that could be improved (however small).
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How do we engage our Board in Quality activities?
Having your Board engaged in Quality activities is a way of promoting your organisation as one that is demonstrating its commitment to Quality Improvement. This enhances your organisation’s reputation and can attract funding for a variety of projects.
Your Board has a role in ensuring CQI is routinely applied throughout your oranisation’s activities and can receive feedback about this through such things as reports to the Board and performance monitoring.
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