Enhancing quality improvement team effectiveness

Quality improvement teams are different from other work groups in their purpose, leadership, membership, training, procedures, and dynamics. To have effective quality improvement teams, health care organizations must focus on six key process variables, with particular attention to group dynamics. Quality improvement teams progress through the "traditional" stages of team development--forming, storming, norming, and performing--with a "special stage" of closing. Within each stage, there are two core dimensions--team process ("relationship" issues) and the project itself ("task" issues)--and critical tasks that need to be performed by the Quality Council, team members, team leader, and the facilitator.