“A Business System to minimise unintended and maximise intended outcomes”

Ever wondered why, after poor business performance, the subsequent investigation usually reveals that some people knew about the risks before they materialised.

Just think about well known disasters such as Deepwater Horizon, Stafford Hospital, Pike River, the Financial crisis.  In all these cases subsequent investigations highlighted methods of work and people’s behaviour that contributed, either partially or significantly, to the event taking place.  Whilst this is partially caused by compliance failures, they are more frequently systemic or behavioural ones.

QUALITY – OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE & MINIMIZING RISK
Quality is all about optimising performance, as determined by  the organisation, be that through increased profit margins, more satisfied customers or better motivated staff.

It is also about minimising the risk of failure in achieving these aims. By the time an unintended event happens and poor performance appears on a spreadsheet or KPI it is too late – we can’t go back and undo the past.

This increased focus on managing risk and prevention within the overall business system and its processes is key to the changing face of ISO9001:2015.  ISO9001 is clearly evolving to be a strategic business performance issue, linked directly to business results.  It provides guidance on how any organisation can run their business, a quality management system that is dedicated to preventing or maximising the delivery of overall business performance.  There are a number of key differences from previous versions that help to achieve this goal:

• Less reliance on documents and more emphasis on the reality of how the ‘business as normal’ takes place.  ISO9001:2015 recognises that this “Reality” cannot be fully documented, mapped or written down, but it is what needs to be managed.

• Much stronger emphasis on understanding the wider business environment in which an organisation works.  It stresses a greater need to manage how this wider environment is interpreted, understood and translated into goals and business outcomes desired by customers and the business itself

• Defining the key business processes needed for the organisation to be successful, into which traditional product and service quality activities sit alongside everything else that happens in the business and whose combined performance delivers results

• Auditing the ‘reality’, to identify the level of effectiveness or degree of risk to the delivery of the organisations goals and the defined business outcomes.

ISO9001:2015 represents a step change in Quality Management, with a move away from a narrow focus on detail and tick boxing to the strategic focus of prevention of poor performance, encompassing everything an organisation does to deliver results. It recognises that Quality deliverables to Customers cannot be achieved except in the context of the whole business.

ISO9001:2015 provides a pathway for the journey towards a Sustainable business.

Bio:

Ian has developed a unique online added value audit methodology that helps organisation understand the impact of how people behave on the risk to delivery of objectives, outcomes and governance requirements.  By the time poor performance appears on a KPI it is late.  Ian also runs a UKAS accredited CB to prove that certification can be different and delivers training on behalf of CQI, also representing them on the ISO9000 working group considering management system concepts.

Ian is not a consultant but provides guidance, help and support in maturing and optimising the investment organisations make in management systems and auditing generally.