The Strategic Quality Manager Handbook is based on a simple premise: to be successful as a quality manager you need to be clear about your purpose, and strategic and proactive about achieving it. The book is all about quality professionals better understanding and navigating the amazingly complex human services' environment so they can maximise their effectiveness. It offers information and tips for surviving and thriving as a quality professional. But mostly, this book is about developing and supporting quality managers who want to build on their operational demands to be proactive and strategic leaders in their organisations and in their field. I've tried to take the lessons I've learned the hard way, over two decades working in and around human services' quality roles, and offer information and ideas for thinking and acting differently - to help others avoid the same pitfalls. The content of this book is a combination of relevant literature, research, my own experience in quality management roles and what I've learned working with quality managers over the last two decades. The principles are common to all healthcare sectors and can be equally well applied across acute, community, aged and mental health services. A range of knowledge, theory and strategies are drawn on, including those you may not find in generic quality management resources, and synthesised and interpreted for application by those in quality management roles. The SQM Handbook is also based on the fact that the quality professional does not exist in a vacuum, but functions in an incredibly complex and challenging environment. Understanding this environment is the first step to operating effectively and proactively within it, and breaking out of a reactive, task-driven quality role. The critical impact of influence on quality managers' effectiveness is explored and a 'quality manager essentials' kit is identified. This book also provides inside knowledge on how to navigate the traps and pitfalls of the complex, constantly evolving environment in which healthcare quality managers work. Ultimately, the SQM Handbook is all about helping human services' quality professionals fulfil their potential - so they can help others do the same.