In order to bring your change idea as to life, your community needs an ecosystem that’s capable of choosing, testing, and scaling improvements. Below we list behaviors of highly effective improvement teams; incorporate them into your work to create an ecosystem for system-level change.
Review the five behaviors below and consider if your team’s current practice is strong or weak. Where weak, identify one action step you can take to begin practicing the behavior (choose from the change ideas below or create one of your own). If there is an area in which you need significant improvement, consider running an improvement project for it.
Access a Word-based version of the Systems Improvement Engine Scorecard and Worksheet that you can use with your team.
Practices:
Every meeting begins by restating your team’s shared aim or purpose
In every meeting you review data to evaluate progress toward your aim
Commitments, big and small, are directly asked for and written down, then leadership holds team members accountable for them. You have an agreement about what will happen if you don’t follow through
Each meeting’s agenda is created thoughtfully, and for each agenda item there is a set time and expected deliverable
Meetings are used exclusively to make decisions or discuss complex information that cannot be conveyed via email
Meetings are designed and facilitated to accommodate a wide range of lived experiences, skill levels and age groups
Change Ideas
Review changes and tests at meetings
Develop community agreements and progressively check in on how the group is adhering to agreed upon communication norms, encouraging honest feedback and accountability to upholding group expectations
Ensure all Core Team members receive Mockingbird training in YYA engagement and how to avoid adultism
Continually ask, “Do we think these changes will get us to our aim?”
Clarify and agree how you will hold each accountable as a group
Is there a consistent process you can create for flagging when things aren’t working? Maybe a standing place at the end of your agenda that asks this question?
At the end of meetings have a standing agenda items to review the commitments that were made by each person and the date when these will be completed. Designate someone to take these notes and send them out to the group directly after the meeting. Consider making these a part of your regular communication going out to stakeholders.
During meetings, note actions that were not completed or commitments where there was no follow through, especially if it was you! Revisit whether the person making the commitment still has time to follow through and if there’s anyway the group could support those tasks getting completed. If not, consider whether someone else needs to take responsibility for that action item.
Problem-solving is as much about a mindset and the culture of your meetings as it is about action
When problems are surfaced, identify the stakeholders who need to be a part of the conversation, then design a process for developing and testing a solution.
Leadership teams look for ways they can clear the path and support front-line staff to be more effective in their work.
Use broad communication channels, like a regular email or newsletters, to circulate info to relevant stakeholders; get info dumps out of your meetings! Include data and improvement project updates (have team members send status updates on the tests that were run and associated activity since the last meeting to preserve meeting time for discussion and problem solving). Include next steps and indications of how readers can support.