Quality Program Roles

1. Quality Program Roles • Quality Council • Overarching responsibility for the Quality Program, and for sponsoring, initiating, and guiding Cross-Functional Improvement Teams • AVC/AVPs • Responsible for participating in the Quality Council, and sponsoring, initiating, and guiding improvement projects within their areas. • Quality Advisor • Responsible for training and coaching improvement teams in his/her organization • Quality Office • Responsible for training and coaching Quality Advisors and Cross-Functional Improvement Teams, and coordinating Quality Council meetings

2. Quality Program Organization Structure Quality Council Vice Chancellor / Vice President, AVC/AVPs, & Quality Leader - Identify high level processes & process owners - Identify and prioritize organization’s improvement goals - Prioritize cross-functional improvement efforts - Monitor cross-functional improvement projects & teams - Celebrate improvement successes Quality Leader & Quality Program Support Staff Quality Office . . . AVC/AVP 1 Quality Council for Cross-Functional Improvement Projects AVC/AVP 2 • - Establish quality • objectives and • metrics • - Prioritize non-cross- • functional improve- • ment projects • - Commission / decom- • mission improvement • teams • - Assign resources to • support improvement • efforts • Monitor improvement • projects & teams • - Celebrate improve- • ment successes Quality Advisor Quality Advisor Improvement Project G Improvement Project D Improvement Project A Improvement Project B Improvement Project H Improvement Project E Improvement Project I Improvement Project F Improvement Project C

3. Improvement Team Roles:Sponsor Executive or key manager sponsoring an Improvement project. Responsibilities include: • Alignment – Ensures projects stay aligned with overall business goals and provides direction when they don’t • Communication – Keeps other members of the Quality Council informed on progress of project • Support – Provides or obtains needed resources, such as time, money, and help from others, for the team

4. Improvement Team Roles:Team Leader The project manager of the Improvement project. Generally, the team member whose organization is expected to be most impacted by the project. Responsibilities include: • Team Coordination – Calls & facilitates meetings, defines meeting agendas, handles or assigns administrative tasks, etc. • Communications – Serves as the contact point for communication between the team and the rest of the organization • Project Documentation – Keeps the official team records including the project plan; oversees preparations for reports and presentations

5. Improvement Team Roles: Quality Advisor A person who has people, technical, & trainingskills, especially in the areas of: • project management • group process • data collection & analysis • problem solving • process improvement Note: If a Quality Advisor is not available, the Team Leader fills this role. Quality Advisors will develop as organizations select people to receive advanced training in these skills. It doesn’t matter whether Quality coaching is delivered by internal consultants, team leaders, managers, or supervisors. It only matters that support is available to help the team be successful.

6. Improvement Team Roles: Quality Advisor Responsibilities include: • Observing first-hand the process or problem under study to understand the challenges faced by the team • Attending team meetings, although they are neither leaders nor team members in order to maintain a neutral position; observing team’s progress and helping team function more effectively • Teaching team members improvement techniques and tools, and guiding team’s effort when technical expertise is needed

7. Improvement Team Roles:Team Member A person who does work on a project. Team members are appointed by the sponsor or guidance team. Usually they work closely with some aspect of the process under study. Responsibilities include: • Participation – The team’s work must be considered a priority instead of an intrusion on their “real” jobs • Contribution – Share knowledge and expertise; not shy about asking what might seem like dumb questions • Openness – Listen to others and be open to their ideas • Assignments – Carry out assignments between meetings; tasks will be selected and planned at team meetings

8. Defining an Improvement Project:Identifying the Team • Sponsor • Team Leader • Often the manager or supervisor responsible for the unit where most of the changes are likely to occur. • Someone interested in solving the problems that prompted the project. • Someone reasonably good at working with individuals and groups. • Quality Advisor • Team Members • What disciplines, work units, or job classifications should be represented on the team? • Ideally, team members should represent each area affected by the improvements and each level of employees affected.

9. Guidelines for Identifying the Team • Team sponsors are responsible for ensuring the needed skills are available on the team; if vital skills are lacking, new players should be recruited or training should be provided to fill the gap • It’s more important for the required skills to be available on the team than that they are provided by a particular role • Core Team vs. Extended Team • Try to keep the core team relatively small, especially for initial improvement projects; large teams complicate a project and increase the project’s overhead time • Everyone who can contribute something worthwhile does not have to be on the core team; the team can always bring in a particular subject matter expert (an extended team member) as the project unfolds