Quality Improvement Team Leadership - Essay Example

Running head: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TEAM LEADERSHIP Quality Improvement Team Leadership Christopher Lopez Grand Canyon HLT-340V January 12, 2012AbstractThe role of a manager in a respiratory care department must include continuous work in developing the characteristics of a team which will positively impact performance. Strong intra-personal skills and the ability to motivate people will play a role in the daily productivity of employees. The discourse outlines the procedure, which the manager may adapt to assure the high performance of his team.

Quality Improvement Team Leadership Patient care is of utmost importance in any department in a hospital. As a respiratory care department manager, it is one’s responsibility to ensure that patient care is the team’s priority. It is therefore essential that as manager, one will serve as the leader who will inspire his team towards the achievement of the goals of the department. “Leadership involves efforts by senior leadership and management leading by example to integrate quality improvement into the strategic planning process and throughout the entire organization and to promote quality values and QI techniques in work practices” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, n.d.).

The first step is choosing who will compose the team. Working with teams is not an easy task because of the diverse personalities that a manager has to deal with. It is a major challenge for a manager to be able to make his team work cohesively in spite of their differences. The diversity of the team members should not be a hindrance to the team’s quality output. Rather, the uniqueness of each individual’s knowledge and skills must be brought to full use and combined with the other talents and skills of the other members of the team to create a synergy (Schwarz, 1999).

The next step that one must undertake therefore is to know each member and identify his strengths and weaknesses. It is one’s duty as a manager to introduce the team members to each other and specify the role each one has to play in the team (Schwarz, 1999). After choosing the composition of the team, the next step that one should take is to make sure that the objectives and goals of the department are clear and understood by each member of the team. If the objectives are not clear to the members, it would be impossible to have a shared vision for the department.

As manager, one must make sure that the team is focused towards the primary mission of the team. Having established the objectives of the team, it will then be ready to develop strategies that are compatible with the team’s goals. Since the team is supposed to work on a quality improvement project, it must first evaluate the current quality improvement system of the department. This should serve as the baseline for improving the design and operations of the system. Team guidelines are the next items that must be established.

As manager, one has to create guidelines regarding the team’s decision-making procedures and proper team behaviors (Schwarz, 1999). Having set the guidelines, one must ensure that they are clearly understood and that these guidelines are acceptable to the team. Each team member must respect each others’ views and positions to maintain the cohesion of the team. Although there may be varied opinions, as manager, one must be able to manage the conflict making sure that no one member dominates the team.

Even with a common framework in place, it is almost certain that problems will still be encountered in the day to day flow of work. Consequently, regular meetings must be scheduled to clarify things. These meetings will be instrumental in providing feedback and getting suggestions from team members. The meetings will also encourage the members to express their thoughts and ideas about work-related matters. The meetings will further familiarize the members of the team with the leadership style of the manager which will be to the manager and the team members’ advantage.

It will help create a harmonious relationship which will positively impact on the success of the project. The meetings may serve as a venue for initiating possible changes in the guidelines that were previously outlined. Mentoring and training are other activities which may be part of the regular meetings. The manager may schedule a specific meeting day for training of his team. The meeting will then be a learning process for the team members which will help improve their performance. Another important aspect of managing teams is that of recognizing the accomplishments of both the individuals and the team as a whole.

Giving recognition to the team serves as a motivation to perform well and even do better in the future. In order to make it easier to recognize outstanding job executions, performance evaluation methods must also be established. An evaluation of the team’s performance ensures that the team is on the right track and at the same time, the progress of the team is measured. Managing a team is never easy, be it a department in a hospital or any other department in an organization. However, one believes that it is the job of the manager to inspire the team and drive them towards the attainment of a common objective.

There are several methods which one may employ to guarantee the excellent performance of his team. What is essential is that the team is focused and convinced that each one is vital to the success of the group. Conclusion The leader knows that, over time, the power of the team will add significant value to the task only if attention is paid to team management (Varkey, 2010). Therefore, the essential skills of the respiratory department manager must include strong communication, enthusiasm, and a commitment to co-workers.

ReferencesNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (n.d.). A leadership guide to quality improvement for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems. Retrieved January 11, 2012, from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Web site: http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/ems/leaderguide/Schwarz, M. (1999, April). A team approach to quality improvement. Retrieved January 11, 2012, from American Academy of Family Physicians Web site: http://www.aafp.org/fpm/1999/0400/p25.htmlVarkey, P. (Ed.). (2010). Medical quality management theory and practice.

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