Telling your improvement story

Measures and data are the cornerstone of improvement – but bringing those to life requires more than just numbers.  ‘Stories’ are new to Life QI v3 and provide an easy mechanism to share with colleagues of the wider improvement community. You can read more about how Stories are used to share improvements in this article.

Here, we look at the anatomy of a story and how to create one…

When should I create a story?

There is no rule here, and the possibilities are endless - anyone involved in improvement has a story to tell, no matter how big or small! Ideas for when to use stories would be:

• Sharing the results of an improvement effort
• Summarising an experience
• Raising awareness of a subject
• Documenting everyday improvements

Do I need a project to make a story?

Definitely not! Although we expect many improvement stories to originate from projects, you don’t need one to write up a story.  This makes stories ideal for writing up those everyday improvements that never make it to a full QI project.

What should my story include?

There is a standard stories template available, or you can adapt your own. Every story requires a title, synopsis and at least one image. 

Other than that there is no rule about what should be included. Most stories are likely to address the challenge that was faced, the solution applied and the results observed.  In addition, a summary paragraph and overview of any next steps would be useful.

How do I create and format a story?

The story builder provides an adaptable template to compile your story into an easily digestible format – plus, it makes telling your story really fun!  You can add images, embed videos, build charts, or even pull diagrams from your other boards in Life QI.  It’s easy to format your story to ensure it looks great. 

Check out this short video showing our story builder in action…