ISO9001:2015 Quick Wins – No. 3 – Planning
The next in this series of ISO9001:2015 Quick Wins, explores the simple to implement, yet long-lasting benefits from Clause 3 of ISO9001:2015, Planning.
This is where the real work begins to take shape, where the decisions are made regarding the shape of the business, and where the future of the business is decided.
In simple terms, ISO9001:2015 says that an organization should determine: what it’s issues and the needs of its interested parties are (as we looked at in Quick Win No. 1), look at the likelihood of these happening, and generate Objectives that will deliver its long-term aims.
And, as Gregg Wallace from MasterChef might have said: “It [really] doesn’t get much tougher than this…” Yes, there may be some technicalities around different ways to go about it, however the basic premise really is that simple.
To explain a little…
Earlier this year I took part in the fantastic Hill and Dale series of races, organized by NewcastleAC (Newcastleac.co.uk). There were eleven races in the series, and whilst unfortunately I was only able to race 5 of them…next year I’ll be going for them all.
The series involves a weekly race up and down a mountain in the Mournes. It is hilly, yes, however it is also fantastic craic.
As with anything in that area, there is a level of risk associated with it, and whilst just about everyone taking part has their own goals, the goal of NewcastleAC seems to be to provide a series of races as safely as possible for competitors who want to race in the Mournes.
With this goal in mind, I presume that NewcastleAC looked at what their main issues were in putting on such a series, what they had already in terms of resources, and what they needed from elsewhere, and who would be impacted by the event. They are likely to have had a view as to what the risks might be, and put what they could in place to minimize these, and as the years went on reviewed these risks, perhaps adding opportunities. Some objectives that may have emerged over the years may have been: to ensure that it is organized with a community feel; a way that minimizes the need for lengthy registration at the start and hassle at the end, yet provides each competitor with their own accurate race time; or minimizing paper through the use of technology.
Through these objectives NewcastleAC now uses their website to register for the series, barcode scanning of competitor numbers is used to reduce time at the start/finish and after each event the prize-giving is held in a local hostelry, promoting that community feeling.
Quick Win No. 3: most businesses in the private sector have strategic objectives that are financially based, perhaps increasing profit, turnover, or turnover in new markets or with new products, all within a defined period. Whatever the strategic objective(s), the business should look at their SWOT and PESTLE, and what their interested parties want, and after assessing any risks or opportunities, generate a set of short-term Objectives that will deliver their strategic objective(s). That is what NewcastleAC did when they wanted to deliver their Strategic Objective of putting on a race series in the Mournes, and some of their short-term Objectives, based on the risks and opportunities, are identified above. Simples.
Photo credits: Mark Weir and CMCM.
In the next article in the series, ISO9001:2015 Quick Wins – No. 4 – Support, we look at how an organization manages their Resources, how they ensure that they are using personnel who are Competent, and how they communicate with their Resource pool, using some of the ideas from ISO9001:2015.
