Becoming a QI coach – when a badge is not enough

Photo by Jamie Templeton on Unsplash

I’ve been teaching and coaching QI for over 10 years now, and learning it myself for over 15 – so does this make me a slow learner?

Whilst Quality Improvement (QI) isn’t rocket science, it IS rooted in improvement science, and as with any science, it includes a method and practice that requires more than can be committed to memory.

In my years doing QI, learning through practice has been a critical factor in enabling me to help so many others put it into their practice. And if I’m a slow learner, I’m not alone. My hunger to continue to learn and improve how I understand change and improvement is alive and well.

Completing my own QI project helped me grow my confidence, explore the technical and softer skills needed to make change happen. It was during this journey that the idea of Improve ONE thing® started to come into focus.

Using this approach I now have over ten years of experience working alongside others and supporting 1000’s of NHS staff, patients, parents and care home staff to use QI in their own practice. I am the QI topic expert alongside them as they bring to bear their extensive clinical expertise and deep knowledge of their own work. Whilst I’m their coach I look to transfer some of what I’ve learnt to them and create a space where they can fail safely and learn fast using the Model for Improvement and other QI tools and techniques to take small steps forward.

Through national programmes an increasing number of people are ‘QI badged’ and this has some benefits too: The language of QI is better recognised, organisations have invested in the concept, and more staff now know that some methods for change are better than others. They understand that different types of measurement exist, and that the softer skills of engagement and influence are as important as the technical skills, tools and techniques.

However, there are some clear gaps too. Of the thousand+ staff who have a QI badge, signs of deep learning is limited and evidence of impact remains sketchy. Whilst many I meet are proud of their QI badge, and some are happy to ‘teach’ from the front, many more are privately anxious about leading and supporting others. 

However, all is not lost!  I also know that through my work and that of my colleagues we can reactivate people, help them retrieve their QI mojo and coach them to put their knowledge into practice, one step at a time. Seeing individuals grow is amazing. Seeing them grow to become confident QI coaches to support others is super exciting.

I’m proud to be a QI coach and make a difference!