Client / Sponsor / Primary Facilitator:	Maury Cotter Office of Quality Improvement University of Wisconsin-Madison
Facilitators:	Top to Bottom, Left to Right James Gray, Darin Harris, Bruce Harville, Daniel Koetke, Kathy Luker Kathleen Paris, Nancy Thayer-Hart, Lori Scroggs, George Watson, Ann Zanzig Office of Quality Improvement University of Wisconsin-Madison

Two Decades of Facilitation Impact

Description

The Office of Quality Improvement (OQI) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was created in 1990 by then Chancellor Donna Shalala.  The purpose is to be a catalyst for continuously improving the university through facilitation and consultation.

The objective was to provide a resource for facilitation and consultancy that would enhance the university’s ability to advance its vision and priorities.

We used the following approach to achieve the project objective.

• Selected and maintained a team of highly skilled consultant/facilitators who help faculty and staff  define their vision and priorities at both the campus and unit levels, as well as approaches to realize outcomes and impact;
• Developed or adapted methodologies to achieve goals and make connections for the purpose of maximizing resources, stimulating innovation and sharing best practices;
• Custom-designed each project to meet the needs of the client group using a variety of facilitation tools and techniques;
• Increased leadership and facilitation capacity by providing training and job aides for leaders such as models, articles and how-to guides;
• Connected people across the campus in learning from each other.

Key Results Achieved

OQI helps University of Wisconsin-Madison clients achieve goals that are important to them. This includes:

• Completing over 250 projects  (involving all 13 schools and colleges) in the last 24 months. Those projects involved:
• Developing new programs and structures or merged structures
• Helping faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines arrive at solutions, plans, and innovations with significant organizational impact.
• Designing and executing approaches that have enabled thousands of voices to be considered and then organizing that input into priorities and strategies and guiding execution to ensure implementation.