We all need to assess how well our system is working. It’s a requirement in section 9 of all the new Standards and it’s just a good thing to do for a business. One thing that is often overlooked when putting measurements into place is the effect they have on behaviour. And if you doubt […]
Are Your Measurements Killing Performance? Read More »
This topic has been batted around for over 30 years, since the first version of ISO 9001 was released. For organizations that like LOTS of documentation these words open up a whole world of possibilities for mountains of documents. The fact of the matter is, ISO allows for any type and amount of documented information.
Process vs Procedure – the battle continues! Read More »
If you look up the definition for ‘communication’ you’ll see that it involves sending a message then having the sender ensure that the message was received and understood the way the sender intended. ‘Sending an e-mail’ is NOT ‘communication’. It is simply ‘sending a message’. E-mails are often misinterpreted and if action is required by
Communication: Is Anyone Listening? Read More »
We need to focus on our users when we’re designing and improving our management systems. This may seem obvious, but you’d be amazed at how many times a client will ask, “Will the auditor accept this?”. Of course we want to get certified, but if we are sure of the requirements and decide what we
Whose Management System is it, anyway? Read More »
“What’s in it for me?” is a question everybody asks at one time or another. You’d think ‘What goes around comes around’ would be enough to engage and contribute, but not everyone believes in Karma. So if you feel that employee engagement would help your organization (I can guarantee it will!) and you want to
Employee engagement – WIIFM? Read More »
Not all of the managers that I’ve met over the years have been able to actually demonstrate that they are meeting the requirements of the ‘Leadership’ section of the Standard. On a few occasions I’ve run a training course and as an exercise, we took the requirements from Clause 5 and turned them into a
Management Commitment – Fact or Fiction? Read More »
When we think of getting value out of Internal Audits, sometimes we draw a blank. Or we think that asking if everyone’s following their procedures will do the trick. Here are 3 ways to get more value out of our Internal Audits: Use your flowcharts as the audit path This helps us make sure everything’s
Supercharge your Internal Audits Read More »
One way to simplify your management system is to reduce the number of super-detailed text-based procedures. Once they are in place, you might be temped to audit simply to see if everyone’s following them. This causes two problems. The first problem is that the ‘follow the procedures or else’ message creates a culture of fear.
Give your employees credit for having a brain Read More »
It’s all about the risk, these days, and the better we manage it, the better off we are, period! The new Standard calls for it, yes, but it’s just good business practice to assess where the potholes are in our workflow and steer clear of them. Every hour of proactive planning will save 10 hours
…if you choose ‘Operator error’ as the cause of your latest non-conformance. When Ishikawa introduced the world to his ‘Fishbone’ for doing root cause analysis, his research showed that employees in organizations make errors, of course, but only about 6% of the time. The other 94% of the time, the error is caused by a
You’ll be right 6% of the time… Read More »
