Quality Program Roles
 Quality Council
– Overarching responsibility for the Quality Program, and
for sponsoring, initiating, and guiding Cross-Functional
Improvement Teams
 AVC/AVPs
– Responsible for participating in the Quality Council, and
sponsoring, initiating, and guiding improvement projects
within their areas.
 Quality Advisor
– Responsible for training and coaching improvement
teams in his/her organization
 Quality Office
– Responsible for training and coaching Quality Advisors
and Cross-Functional Improvement Teams, and
coordinating Quality Council meetings
Quality Program
Organization Structure
Quality Council
Quality Leader &
Quality Program
Support Staff
Vice Chancellor / Vice President,
AVC/AVPs, & Quality Leader
- Identify high level processes & process owners
- Identify and prioritize organization’s improvement goals
- Prioritize cross-functional improvement efforts
- Monitor cross-functional improvement projects & teams
- Celebrate improvement successes
Quality
Office
...
AVC/AVP 1
- Establish
quality
Quality
objectives and
Advisor
metrics
- Prioritize non-crossfunctional improvement projects
- Commission / decommission improvement
teams
- Assign resources to
support improvement
efforts
- Monitor improvement
projects & teams
- Celebrate improvement successes
AVC/AVP 2
Quality
Advisor
Quality Council for CrossFunctional Improvement Projects
Improvement
Project G
Improvement
Project D
Improvement
Project A
Improvement
Project H
Improvement
Project E
Improvement
Project B
Improvement
Project I
Improvement
Project F
Improvement
Project C
Improvement Team Roles:
Sponsor
Executive or key manager sponsoring an Improvement
project. Responsibilities include:
 Alignment – Ensures projects stay aligned with overall
business goals and provides direction when they don’t
 Communication – Keeps other members of the Quality
Council informed on progress of project
 Support – Provides or obtains needed resources, such
as time, money, and help from others, for the team
Improvement Team Roles:
Team Leader
The project manager of the Improvement project. Generally,
the team member whose organization is expected to be
most impacted by the project. Responsibilities include:
 Team Coordination – Calls & facilitates meetings,
defines meeting agendas, handles or assigns
administrative tasks, etc.
 Communications – Serves as the contact point for
communication between the team and the rest of the
organization
 Project Documentation – Keeps the official team
records including the project plan; oversees
preparations for reports and presentations
Improvement Team Roles:
Quality Advisor
A person who has people, technical, & training skills,
especially in the areas of:





project management
group process
data collection & analysis
problem solving
process improvement
Note: If a Quality Advisor is not available, the Team Leader
fills this role. Quality Advisors will develop as organizations
select people to receive advanced training in these skills.
It doesn’t matter whether Quality coaching is delivered by
internal consultants, team leaders, managers, or supervisors.
It only matters that support is available to help the team be
successful.
Improvement Team Roles:
Quality Advisor
Responsibilities include:
 Observing first-hand the process or problem under study
to understand the challenges faced by the team
 Attending team meetings, although they are neither
leaders nor team members in order to maintain a neutral
position; observing team’s progress and helping team
function more effectively
 Teaching team members improvement techniques and
tools, and guiding team’s effort when technical expertise
is needed
Improvement Team Roles:
Team Member
A person who does work on a project. Team members are
appointed by the sponsor or guidance team. Usually they
work closely with some aspect of the process under study.
Responsibilities include:
 Participation – The team’s work must be considered a
priority instead of an intrusion on their “real” jobs
 Contribution – Share knowledge and expertise; not shy
about asking what might seem like dumb questions
 Openness – Listen to others and be open to their ideas
 Assignments – Carry out assignments between meetings;
tasks will be selected and planned at team meetings
Defining an Improvement Project:
Identifying the Team
 Sponsor
 Team Leader
– Often the manager or supervisor responsible for the unit
where most of the changes are likely to occur.
– Someone interested in solving the problems that prompted
the project.
– Someone reasonably good at working with individuals and
groups.
 Quality Advisor
 Team Members
– What disciplines, work units, or job classifications should be
represented on the team?
– Ideally, team members should represent each area affected
by the improvements and each level of employees affected.
Guidelines for
Identifying the Team
 Team sponsors are responsible for ensuring the needed
skills are available on the team; if vital skills are lacking,
new players should be recruited or training should be
provided to fill the gap
 It’s more important for the required skills to be available
on the team than that they are provided by a particular
role
 Core Team vs. Extended Team
– Try to keep the core team relatively small, especially for
initial improvement projects; large teams complicate a
project and increase the project’s overhead time
– Everyone who can contribute something worthwhile does
not have to be on the core team; the team can always bring
in a particular subject matter expert (an extended team
member) as the project unfolds