Welcome to No Harm Done Episode 8 hosted by Cathy Balding and Cathy Jones, from Melbourne, Australia. In this ep we take a slightly quirky look at leadership and how recent research relates to leading human services care quality improvement; as well as performance warning bells, the simplicity and importance of introductions and a listener question about the future!
What would you like us to talk about next? Send us a message below!
QQ: Our ‘Quality Quandary’ is Leadership for Engagement: how can you get everyone in your organisation paddling in the same quality direction? Are selflessness, mindfulness and compassion the answer for quality professionals?
RN All In the Mind:http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/leadership-in-mind/10008250
15:50 TLDR:’Too Long Didn’t Read’ in this episode rings the warning bells heard in organisations struggling to achieve high performance.
Vaughn VM, Saint S, Krein SL, Forman JH, Meddings J, Ameling J, et al.Characteristics of healthcare organisations struggling to improve quality: results from a systematic review of qualitative studies. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2018 [epub]. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007573
25:50 DRDR (Did Read – Do Read): We congratulate the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare on producing ‘On the Radar’ for eight years!
- On the Radar is available online, via email or as a PDF or Word document from http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/publications-resources/on-the-radar/
- Editor: Dr Niall Johnson niall.johnson@safetyandquality.gov.au
28:30 LIFE HACK: In this episode Jones relates her top tips for working with Microsoft docs.
36:20 THE POINT: Here we focus on patients/consumers and their perspectives. Yes, this is the entire point of what we do!
In ep 8 Jones introduces two approaches to improve provider/consumer partnerships:
The ACSQHC Question Builder: https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/questionbuilder/
#hellomynameis campaign and story
46:10 FAAAQS (Frequently asked and answered questions). Here we attempt to answer an excellent listener question: What will influence the greatest change in the quality space in the next 5 years?
Tejal K Gandhi, Gary S Kaplan, Lucian Leape, Donald M Berwick, Susan Edgman-Levitan, Amy Edmondson, Gregg S Meyer, David Michaels, Julianne M Morath, Charles Vincent, Robert Wachter Transforming concepts in patient safety: a progress report . BMJ Qual Saf 2018;0:1–8. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007756
Hi there Qualcats,
Aren’t you two just the boost that the flagging quality manager the world over needs? So well done – the obvious joy in your work is inspiring. I have a two hour commute/day taking in the beautiful scenery of the Alpine shire in Victoria’s NE and listen with great interest and often mirth to each episode. I am working my way through the back catalogue so you may have already provided this life hack but on the off chance you haven’t can I please share?
This life hack makes use of the pomodoro technique, the session you have spent with your boss working out your work for the year and the big rocks (episode 2, 2018 Christmas special and the one before I think).
Once you have worked out exactly what your “big rocks” are i.e. the pieces of work that you will have to spend hours on each week/fortnight/monthly etc put these into your calendar as a regular recurring appointment i.e. put large rocks/blocks of time into your calendar (you can then apply the pomodoro technique in that block as you see fit), once you have these in place you can enter your regular meetings (I think of these as small rocks or gravel) and if you have responsibility for the secretariat make regular appointments for agenda setting and minute writing. This way your calendar is mapped out with the items on your to do list; if someone else comes along with a serious ‘extra’ which will take time you can accurately assess when you might get to it and book it into the first available appointment (which the busier you are the longer the wait). You can include the “pissy” things by making them into tasks which pop up as a reminder , I set for about a months time so I can see if still important.
I have found this system has several benefits
It is a really good way of keeping track of your workload – once your calendar is booked you can report back to your boss that your dance card is full,
It keeps me focused on getting my work done and less stressed as I know I have time to get the work done and what doesn’t get done today will get picked up next time.
I probably spend 15 – 30 min/week on calendar maintenance (or shaking the vase about) so I can squeeze a bit more in.
I don’t know whether this is actually helpful for other people – but I know it works for me.
Thanks very much Fiona – we’re glad we’re helping your long, but beautiful commute! Jones has discussed the Pomodoro technique as she is also a fan, but it sounds as if you have the whole calendar maangement thing completely nailed. We’re impressed with your proactivity and organisation – if only all quality managers were more like this there would be fewer of them burning out! I bet you’d also enjoy Brendon Burchard’s time management tips – he’s also a big fan of scheduling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Gal5HjqYY&t=200s Cheers!