Qualities, Values and Skills of a QI Coach

• Dealing with Ambiguity – can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

• Comfort working with all types of health care workers – can deal comfortably with managers, doctors, nurses, and administrators; can present to senior managers without undue tension and nervousness; understands how the various professionals think and work; can determine the best way to get things done with them by selecting the most appropriate language and responding to their needs; can craft approaches likely to be seen as appropriate and positive

• Innovation Management – is good at bringing the creative ideas of others to market; has good judgement about which creative ideas and suggestions will work; has a sense about managing the creative process of others; can facilitate effective brainstorming; can project how potential ideas may play out in the marketplace.

• Integrity and Trust – is widely trusted; is seen as a direct, objective individual; can present the unvarnished truth in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; doesn’t misrepresent him/herself for personal gain.

• Intellectual Horsepower – is bright and intelligent; deals with concepts and complexity comfortably; described as intellectually sharp, capable, yet practical and agile.

• Motivating Others – creates a climate in which people want to do their best; can motivate many kinds of direct reports and team or project members; can assess each person’s hot button and use it to get the best out of him/her; pushes tasks and decisions down; empowers others; invites input from each person and shares ownership and visibility; makes each individual feel his/her work is important; is someone people like working for and with.

• Learning on the Fly – learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both success and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of an issue.

• Presentation Skills – is effective in a variety of formal presentation settings: one-on-one, small and large groups, with peers, direct reports, and bosses; is effective both inside and outside the organization, on both cool data and hot controversial topics; commands attention and can manage group process during the presentation; can change approaches tactics midstream when something isn’t working.

• Process management – is good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done; knows how to organize people and activities; understands how to separate and combine tasks into efficient work flow; knows what to measure and how to measure it; can see opportunities for synergy and integration; can simplify complex processes; gets more out of fewer resources.

• Problem Solving – uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.

• Drive For Results – can be counted on to meet goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very results oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for maintain focus on results.

• Technical Learning – picks up on new subject matter quickly; is good at learning new industry company, product, or technical knowledge; does well in technical courses and seminars.