How Not to Fail at ISO9001–Dear ISO Coordinator

Congratulations on being named to your new job.  I wrote a book for you, and it’s about to be published. You can thank me later. If it makes you feel any better, there are a million active ISO certificates in the world, so there are a million of you. Check back later on jimshell.com for more info. Enough about me.

You’ve been assigned the job of implementing the ISO program at your place and/or are taking it over from some previous person. It’s a chance for you to be the hero in your business, by the way, and even though it’s a little daunting at the moment, you will figure it out soon enough.

Who am I to be telling you this?

I am your future ISO auditor. I am the fellow that is going to come in and audit you soon enough. I have done this about 500-ish times, I will count later. In addition to knowing the standard, I also have a few stories to tell. I have seen some stuff. You probably won’t be assigned to me, personally, but it will probably be someone like me.

By the way, I “get audited” which is to say, i am also the quality manager at a little place, and i am on the other side of the desk. It is an interesting experience.

Who You Are

Well, if you’re reading this it is likely that you are not the boss. I know this from experience

I am writing this as if you are the person within your organization that is trying to implement an ISO9001 registration. Also “you” may be one of the process owners, or other personnel trying to establish an ISO system or maybe just improve one.

So when I say “you” it is from the point of view of me, the auditor trying to give “you” the auditee a little guidance into the mindset and requirements of the standard.

How Not to Fail at ISO9001

I am sure you would rather have me cut to the chase, and lay this out to you up front, so I will.

The Five ISO9001 Essentials

First of all, you need to have top management commitment. I have written a letter to the boss, which I will show you later. Chances are he or she was ambivalent as to whether or not to pursue this project in the first place. Anyway, now that the decision has been made, he or she needs to support it.

Secondly, you need to have support from the “process owners.” Who are these people? Well, the sales manager was probably one of the people that were pushing this project, so you have a natural ally there. The Purchasing Manager, in most professionally run businesses should be on board with you. That leaves the Design, HR and Production managers, and you may face some resistance.  Get clear statements of support from the boss. They need clear communications.

“Support” means “cooperation” and “prioritization”. During the course of this, you may ask them to put in various programs and procedures that don’t already exist, or if they do exist, they may need some update and disciplined enforcement.

It is likely that you got your job by being conscientious, rather than by being an enforcer. Am I right? I read people for a living.

Anyway, if you ask them to do something, and they say “yeah, yeah, I will get to it when I get a chance” that is a signal to the universe.  If you want to scroll forward to clause 6.2.2 there is a really good set of guidelines to follow to get anything done.  Go to the boss first, and lay this out to him, and if he says the same thing, you know what you have.

Prepare to deal with something called “Resistance.” The fellow Stephen Pressfield invented this. You can look him up. It is the universal force that keeps things the same. That exchange you had with the process owner above is an example of it. “When I get a chance” is a telltale sign.  I can give you more examples.

Even in established systems, you will find “resistance” to doing the things that have already been committed to, because of the perception that it is extra work. That’s because it is. But, you know what’s worse? Calling customers on the phone to tell them their product is recalled, or hauling company records into a truck to be taken to court. 

Keep in mind that everyone wants you to succeed. The registrar, me, your auditor, your customers, and the boss are all on the same page. It is openly stated in the system that’s the case. It may require some patience on your part, and persistence, but at the end you will be fine.

Well, that’s about it for now. We’ll check back later to see how you’re doing.

Jim