Assessing and improving quality
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CloseAn introduction to assessing and improving quality in your non profit or charitable organisation.
Assessing and improving quality is about learning about what an organisation is doing well and what needs improvement. It is also about using the information to do better.
A quality system is a formal management system intended to strengthen the organisation. A quality assurance system sets out standards, or expectations, that a quality organisation should meet.
Quality standards
Quality standards cover key areas such as:
- leadership
- policies, plans and strategies
- staff and volunteers.
The quality cycle
Assessing and improving quality involves a cycle of activities:
1) Planning for quality: before getting started, it is important for an organisation to plan out its quality work. You need to consider:
- why quality matters to your organisation
- what sort of approach will best suit you
- what resources might be needed
- resources, partnerships and information
- ways of working
- the results of an organisation’s work.
2) Agreeing on quality standards: this means thinking about what your organisation most needs. Different standards and approaches have a different focus. There are a number of options to choose from.
3) Carrying out a quality assessment: quality assessment is about getting a sense of your organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement. It can be done:
- through self-assessment
- by external assessment.
4) Learning and improving: following a quality assessment, the next step is to agree where improvements are most needed and to draw up action plans.
5) Understanding the language of quality improvement: there are a number of key terms that are used when talking about quality improvement.
Useful links
- Charities Evaluation Services
- Institute of Quality Assurance
- Learning and Skills Council
- Proving and improving - a quality and impact toolkit for social enterprise.
- Charities Evaluation Services has produced a new edition of First Steps in Quality. (pdf 230.81kb)
Have your say
Do you use all stages of the cycle? Have you found other systems that work to assess quality?
Share your experience on the Improving performance forum.
