Three keys to motivate care teams

Some skepticism should be expected from team members who have seen past quality improvement initiatives fall short of the transformative visions that were promised. To motivate them to engage in current initiatives, address their skepticism head-on in three ways:

• Praise individuals who voice skepticism for their honesty,

• Describe how the project could improve patient care, using specific examples (e.g., easily identifying patients whose blood pressure is out of control and systematically tracking their follow-up appointments could improve their health),

• Describe the organizational benefits of the project (e.g., the same quality improvement process used for this project could be used for future initiatives of their own choosing).

Adapted from "10 Ways to Keep Your Quality Improvement Team Motivated."