Operational Definition of Improvement

in Improvement Science, Measurement, Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS), Variation

By David M. Williams, Ph.D. “What is YOUR definition of ‘improvement’?” she asked. The leadership team just finished reviewing the improvement efforts from last year. Teams summarized their projects and shared reflections on key learnings and barriers. The team worked together all year, and their investment of time, energy, and desire was evident. Enthusiasm was […]

Using Your Vector of Measures to Guide Action

in Measurement, Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS), Systems, Tools & Methods, Variation

By David M. Williams, Ph.D. Figure. Vector of Measures Displayed in Shewhart Charts Source: Mecklenburg EMS Agency, Charlotte, NC, USA One of the toughest struggles for leaders is figuring out how to focus attention on the work that best serves the customer and will get the desired results. A great place to begin is your […]

Prioritizing Improvement Efforts

in Improvement Science, Knowledge, Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS), Systems, Tools & Methods

By David M. Williams, Ph.D. Making changes to a process is essential to improvement. Improvement efforts require chartering projects that will impact strategic processes requiring design or redesign. Organizations routinely struggle with selecting processes needing improvement and that will achieve the organization’s objectives. What follows is a structured process, using qualitative methods, to support selecting […]

Drilling Down into Aggregate Data

in Improvement Science, Measurement, Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS), Tools & Methods, Variation

By David M. Williams, Ph.D. Every organization tracks a family of measures with data from various moments of time. The list of indicators often blend measures created by leadership with a mix of from other sources like accreditation bodies, regulators, and benchmarking vendors. These data are usually at an aggregate level or minimally stratified by […]

What’s Your Management Method?

in Improvement Science, Leadership, Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS)

By David M. Williams, Ph.D. Source: James L Reinertsen, MD, The Reinertsen Group Recently I sat down with Dr. Jim Reinersten to think about what makes traditional leaders shift to being quality leaders. Dr. Reinersten is a rheumatologist by training and former hospital chief executive. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement […]

How Leaders Decide a Change is Needed

in Improvement Science, Knowledge, Leadership, Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS), Systems

By David M. Williams, Ph.D. Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash Have you ever searched your computer hard drive only to be surprised by the number of files and multiple versions of a similar theme? I have hundreds of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from client engagements, trainings, and conferences I’ve delivered and dozens of Microsoft Word documents of blog […]