ISO9001:2015 Quick Wins – No. 1 – Context
Many of you will have already gone through the transition process to ISO9001:2015, however how many of you will fully understand what benefits the new version of the standard could bring to your organization?
In this short series entitled ISO9001:2015 Quick Wins, I explore with you some of these benefits that are not always apparent, some of which may be simple to implement, yet will be long-lasting and will really allow you to maximize your ISO9001 Certification.
I have helped over one hundred organizations prepare for transition to ISO9001:2015, and without fail the Context of the organization clause (Clause 4.0) is the most challenging to comprehend. Using terminology like Internal and External issues, and Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties, it is hardly surprising.
Most find it difficult to understand why they need to do this and, certainly at the outset, end up preparing something that they think will get them through an audit! However, Context is the driver for pretty much everything the organization does. If a business gets this wrong, everything they do will be wrong.
A Quick win to get Clause 4.1 right, to identify all Internal and External Issues, is to generate a SWOT and PESTLE Analysis for your business. Similarly, a Quick Win to get Clause 4.2 right, to identify the relevant needs and expectations of Interested Parties, is to generate a list of all those who may have an interest in something you as a business does, alongside their relevant needs. Both of the above should be reviewed periodically, as things always change. However, this is a much more important thing to do than merely being conformant with ISO9001.
So, let us look at why this is important.
This weekend I’m taking part in an event called the Celtic Warrior Challenge in Mullingar, Westmeath.
For a while now I’ve been aiming to do a multi-day event, and this one fits the bill. There are a number of combinations of sport and distance offered by the event, from a full Iron Man involving a swim of 3.8km, followed by a cycle of 180km and then a full marathon, to a 10km run.
Before finally deciding on the event, and sport/distance, I considered a number of things including: what I wanted to get out of it; my current running, cycling and swimming ability; how to get there; when I need to get there; where to stay; timings of the races; what I need to bring; what the weather is likely to be; and also, whether it was a road or trail course. I had a few conversations with my friends who were also making the trip, and with the event organizer, to see if there was anything in particular I needed to take into account, and then started to get a plan together.
The final decision, based on the above, was to do two back-to-back half marathons. We decided to camp in the end as it’s free, and maybe more craic, so obviously we’ve all been keeping an eye on the forecast as it gets closer. I’m driving down after work on Friday, so it’s likely we’ll arrive late and we’ll need to be speedy at getting the tent erected or it will be dark. And then there’s the packing…at least I have an idea what to bring.
This is a non-work example of identifying internal and external issues, like travel time, race start time and weather, and identifying the needs and expectations of interested parties, in this case the event organizer and friends. The fact that we were keeping an eye on the weather is also an example of monitoring the issues and expectations. Without doing this, I wouldn’t have been able to make any decisions based on facts and any plan that would have been generated would have been a poorer plan.
And if I had not looked at what the issues were, or the needs of interested parties, picked an event and just turned up, I wouldn’t have a plan in mind. This increases my chances of being: late, ill-prepared, wearing the wrong clothes, nowhere to stay, and wearing the wrong shoes!
Whilst there will be different issues and interested parties and needs in a work situation, the concept remains the same – if this review is not completed, any future plan, or anything the business does, will be poorer.
My contention is that all good businesses who are satisfying their customers do this anyway, in some way or another. It makes sense to look at what might impact on your business, so that you can ensure that you deliver the best product and service. However, what many businesses may benefit from is two things:
Firstly, to specifically focus on their internal and external issues through something like a SWOT or PESTLE Analysis, or both. This will make sure that as many issues as possible are identified
Secondly, to generate a list of interested parties, alongside their relevant needs and a decision as to what is to be done about these, if anything
This is what ISO9001:2015 requires, or as I prefer to say, this is a great idea for delivering a better service for your Customers, that just happens to mean you’ll be conformant with ISO9001:2015. This will also, as we will see in a later Blog, logically lead on to an analysis of Risk and establishing Objectives based on internal and external issues and the needs and expectations of interested parties.
In the next article in the series, ISO9001:2015 Quick Wins – No. 2 – Leadership, we look at how to be a better Leader using some of the ideas from ISO9001:2015.
