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We all need camaraderie, a sense of belonging and shared purpose, our “ikigai,” as . This need for purpose and a community of likeminded folks is even more important for health care executives, , particularly in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid ongoing financial and political pressures. �鶹ӳ�� recognizes the immense value and power of social networks for health care leaders and hosts several regional networks for health care organizations across the globe.

In June 2024, building upon years of expertise in quality improvement, �鶹ӳ�� launched a Chief Quality Officer (CQO) Network. This leadership community provides a platform for quality and safety executives worldwide to come together, forge connections, and foster collaboration.

While quality leaders might have found their ikigai in improving the safety and effectiveness of health care, this purpose doesn’t come without challenges. Today’s quality leaders need a space to share ideas, to join in collective advocacy for important health policy issues, to build their own peer mentors, and to be bold in improving health care.

Lisa Harton, Chief Quality Officer at , states the value of the network as, “being part of a collective voice to catalyze national dialogue, having trusted colleagues to identify best practices in terms of quality structure, exposing me to innovative ideas to drive quality and patient safety that I may not be thinking of.”

The CQO Network is a global network with current members from across North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia, and is expanding each day. This diversity of thought and composition of the network is an asset, with quality leaders bringing perspectives from large academic medical centers, federally qualified health centers, publicly funded health care systems, safety net hospitals, hospital boards and more. 

When the CQO Network started in June of 2024, members were treated to an inaugural session with �鶹ӳ�� President Emeritus Dr. Don Berwick and quality and safety pioneer Dr. Brent James. Drs. Berwick and James reviewed the history of quality and safety in health care and shared a list of recommended reading for all quality leaders – books like Managing the Unexpected by Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe and Deming’s The New Economics. Such proximate access to leading thinkers will continue when the Joint Commission International Vice President and Chief Patient Safety Officer Dr. Neelam Dhingra joins for a conversation with network members later in the year. Network members will spotlight their own organizational innovations during a mini-series on safety science in the fall, including topics such as safety management systems, human factors design, and safety leadership competencies.

Beyond the monthly virtual touchpoints, the CQO Network will meet together in-person at the �鶹ӳ�� Forum in December. Convening in-person affords the unique opportunity to collaborate with other global health care leaders, access the latest thinking from subject matter experts from the field, and expand their own knowledge by participating in a specialized CQO-specific learning track.

A key principle of the CQO Network is co-design and co-production. Truly, the network is only as valuable as the ideas and insights of the individuals who comprise it. Programming is agile based upon top-of-mind issues facing leaders today. Future topics the network might explore could include:

• What makes a good CQO? ​
• Defining the role and scope of the CQO​
• Engaging physicians in QI​
• Bridging the quality and equity chasm ​
• Quality teams and staffing models​
• Linking finance and quality

With the mounting pressure on health care leaders to demonstrate results, improve quality and save costs, CQOs need a space where they can let their guard down and lean in to vulnerability, both to get help and to help one another. Today’s CQOs, and all health care leaders, deserve moments to pause, reflect on their shared purpose, and build bonds with colleagues, because these are the communities that allow them to endure and persist in service of meaningful change.

Nikki Tennermann is a Senior Director at �鶹ӳ��.

Photo by Jonathan Erasmus.

Additional information about �鶹ӳ��’s Chief Quality Officer Network, including membership dues, is available here. Please contact Nikki Tennermann at ntennermann@ihi.org to learn about joining the CQO Network.