The Centre Quality Improvement Initiative

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The Centre Quality Improvement Initiative
Presentation to Secretarys Partnership
Forum June 2006 Michael WhiteTraining Manager
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Overview

• This presentation will explore
• the concepts of quality assurance and quality
  improvement
• advantages and challenges of various approaches
• emerging government policy development relating
  to quality at federal and state level
• evaluating the outcomes for organisations who
  have engaged in the strategy
• and how we are developing strategies to
  facilitate sectoral improvement through
  cooperative learning, collaboration and
  integration of assurance and improvement
  strategies

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Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare

• Established 1912
• 15 EFT
• 90 current members ranging from gt5 EFT to 500
  EFT
• Engaged in Quality Initiative for over 5 years

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What we are doing -

• Supporting a sector wide aspirational quality
  improvement initiative by ddeveloping integrated
  learning based quality assurance and improvement
  strategy by
• Training senior staff to become the internal
  experts in quality assurance and improvement in
  their organisation
• Learning outcomes and credentialisation are tied
  to completion of organisational audits and self
  assessments using the ABEF and Foundations
  First as the preferred tools
• using to enable organisations to undertake audits
  that meet registration requirements and support
  external audits

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Why focus on quality?

• all members are committed to improving the lives
  of children, young people and their families and
• recognise that do so requires continuous
  improvement to the services offered
• we already do it but call it different things
  e.g. best practice
• community has a reasonable expectation of
  visible and transparent processed
• 95 of members receive funding from more than one
  department/program/source (up to 50 programs in
  larger organisations)
• organisations need to manage the foundational/
  aspirational quality tension
• funders are responsible for managing the risk of
  the programs they fund (foundational quality)
• organisations are responsible for their
  organisational quality (aspirational quality)

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What are the different models of quality
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Links to emerging government policies

• In a context of perceptions of higher risk
  government is focusing on accreditation and
  organisational registration
• Move to establish audit systems particularly in
  relation to services with vulnerable clients
• Growing focus on service integration, cross
  government programs (eg community based intake,
  place based services, one stop service centres)
• Development of government internal improvement
  and assurance systems

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Why focus initially on aspirational quality?

• Aim is to enhance the client experience of
  interaction with the whole organisation

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About the ABEF

• The ABEF describes what an organisation should be
  doing, but not how to do it thats up to the
  organization
• The framework poses a number of questions which
  illuminate the issues facing organisations.
• The framework provides an evaluation mechanism
  which leads to a gap analysis - a measure of
  where the organisation is, against where it wants
  to be in the future.
• Evaluation requires the development of skills to
  define and measure present performance.

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The ABEF approach offers

• A way of building organisational coherence
• Integrates all aspects of management in a single
  unified framework
• we can work on foundational standards at the same
  time
• Culture rather than conformance driven
• No single formula or template - each organisation
  creates its own
• internally driven, values centred approach
• Internationally tested
• When used with the awards process it tests
  achievement through evaluation, independent of
  the sector and of government

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Cycle of continuous improvement
Your Organisation as a System
Australian Business Excellence Framework
Assess the Current State
Assessment Report
Achieve Improvements Outcomes
Identify Strengths and Opportunities for
Improvement
Hold Strengths and Implement Improvement Projects
Prioritise Opportunities for Improvement
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Level of engagement

• Over 300 participants in the Certificate III in
  Business Excellence
• Over 70 progressing to the Certificate IV in
  Organisational Self-assessment.
• Over 30 CSOs are now actively engaged in planning
  and implementing organisational self-assessments
• Accrediation of Graduate Certificate in Community
  Service Excellence commenced to replace previous
  qualifications
• Up to a further 20 CSOs are actively using
  formalised models including QICSA, EQUIP and ISO.

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Sector learning strategies

• Participants share both the challenges and
  successes of implementing quality improvement.
• quarterly Learning Circles enable people with
  carriage of quality improvement to meet and learn
  from each other.
• Yahoo internet group
• Quality Newsletter
• Fora
• Working groups

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What participants say

• Its (the ABEFs) ability to help us articulate
  our aspirations is a major strength of this
  approach. The standards that we are required to
  comply with are often articulated as baseline or
  minimum standards of service delivery, in other
  words good enough service. The ABEF framework
  challenges us to articulate a vision that
  reflects an aspiration for service excellence, in
  other words to be the best we can be.
  Excellence has the potential to go beyond quality
  assurance.
• Doug Dalton, CEO Connections, Former President,
  Centre for Child and Family Welfare Board
• The ABEF is an ideal tool to measure and
  demonstrate the aspirational goals and
  achievements of any organisation.
• Phil Back, Executive Assistant Goulburn Valley
  Family Care

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Adding the assurance tier

• Centre in response to members needs is developing
  a solution to the adoption of multiple audit and
  accreditation systems by government. Critical
  components of such a solution include
• build on existing engagement with organisations
  aspirational quality
• That standards are auditable and share consistent
  frameworks
• that standards can be managed on an
  organisational rather than programmatic level
• that standards developed are auditable

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What is Foundations First?

• A way of designing standards and creating a
  quality audit process for human services
• Links to systems thinking within an organisation
  in which
• All systems and processes required for compliance
  (internally or externally) are identified
• Criteria for compliance are set
• Evidence for compliance is measured

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Foundations First Evidence Matrix
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Combining Quality Improvement and Assurance
Implementation
Organisations engage in sector learning
strategies and share implementation processes
Standards promulgated
CSO engages in QI - identifies appropriate staff
to train
Staff achieve Dip Business (Auditing)
Staff achieve Grad Cert CSE
Standards mapped to Foundations First
CSO staff undertake Training
Improvements from Self assessment and internal
and external audits identified, prioritised and
implemented
Staff undertake internal audits (ABEF Cat 6
Process Control and Improvement activity)
Staff undertake organisational self-assessment
(supported by Centre/CLA/software)
External audits carried out
Commence annual cycle of continuous quality
improvement and seek BEA external evaluation (by
evaluators drawn from industry)
Business Excellence recognition from SAI Global
Organisation registered by Secretary
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Centre Goals -

• By implementing quality improvement and assurance
  strategies in partnership with DHS assist
  community service organisations to
• Develop a values centred approach to quality
• Be efficient by investing in internal capacity
  and expertise
• Manage the foundational/aspirational dynamic
  effectively
• Develop and support CSOs using the model to work
  together to create a culture of quality across
  the sector
• resource the sector by training individuals who
  are skilled to implement quality improvement
• Improve services to clients and be able to
  demonstrate that improvement

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Conclusion

• Quality is for the people using services
• CSOs involved are building a sustainable,
  independent, flexible pathway to improvement
• Supports partnership with government, within
  which compliance with required standards can be
  achieved
• Based on embedding skills in organisation
• Enables collaboration and sector improvement
• Moving beyond the learning organisation to the
  development of a learning sector

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Contact details

• Michael White, Training Manager
• Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
• www.cwav.asn.au
• 03 96141577
• michael.white_at_cwav.asn.au