Stage 1: Align Improvement to Goals
Your desired output at this stage is for the clear scope of the problem you wish to solve and support for the improvement activity.
Creating Your Vision
The process of creating a vision is as important as the outcome – it can be a guiding light!
Stakeholders and the team do not need to have all the detail of what they need to do but may need support to align their actions to the vision they helped develop
Focusing improvement activity around strategic goals
Individual teams are not always best placed to set their work in this wider context
Improvement won’t happen without the energy and enthusiasm of the frontline staff
For maximum system-level benefit, staff energies must be aligned to the organization’s and possibly, the wider community’s vision and strategic aims
Improvement leaders must support improvement activity as well as operational priorities and system strategic goals
Aligning improvement with strategic goals
Strategic aims. Develop transformational aims that connect with the values that bought people into health and social care in the first place. What are the strategic aims of your organization?
Measurable goals. Develop system-level, measurable goals that track progress against these aims. What are you currently measuring?
National targets. Show how externally-set targets sit within the context of the strategic aims to build ownership to delivery. What national targets are impacting your project?
Improvement work. Assess current improvement work against the system-level goals to ensure that effort is focused on areas of the highest priority. How have you done this?
When and How to use the Matrix Tool?
When to use it?
As alignment with your organization’s strategic aims and priorities will be essential to the success of your project you should take the opportunity to use this tool at the outset or “start out” of your project
How to use it?
You may find that working together and using the matrix is in itself beneficial. Within this framework, individual departments, services or organizations can pursue their own priorities whilst seeking whole system solutions and collaboration to problems and issues to support the delivery of seamless care
