Alignment means the arrangement of something in a straight line or in appropriate relative positions. Within the Angyaq Quality System, we discuss strategic alignment, which refers to when goals are cascaded throughout the organization from the vision of the boardroom to frontline employees. Strategic alignment happens when the long-term vision and mission of what the organization is striving to accomplish is turned into annual plans and goals for all departments and team members throughout the entire organization. This ensures collaboration on goal work and awareness of organizational performance.

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The goal of the Angyaq Quality System (AQS) is to increase the patient and employee experience by engaging employees in improving quality. Most people agree this is a worthwhile endeavor and can see how the AQS system can help us on our mission: Working together to achieve excellent health.

However, all the new vocabulary around AQS can be daunting. It can sometimes feel like learning a new language.

The reason AQS introduces new language is because AQS systems (based on Lean principles originated by Toyota and widely adopted in healthcare) are different from the traditional ways of doing business. These new words describe processes and events that simply don’t exist outside of an organization embracing Lean principles. 

“This new language helps to stimulate the thinking of people and reinforce the change that is happening, challenging the existing paradigms and breaking the status quo,” explains one expert.

Most people will pick up new terms along the way. However, to help, we highlight a new word each month.