Leadership: The art of getting someone else
to do something you want done
because he wants to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
ISO 9001:2015 has an entirely new layout and some new content. A few weeks ago, we looked at section 4, “Context“. Continuing along in the series, here’s a look at the next section.
ISO 9001:2015 Draft – Section 5 “Leadership”
The entire section borders on an exercise in semantics as this concept is an offshoot of the previous version’s “Management Commitment”, at least as a starting point. There are some definite differences though, so I wouldn’t gloss over it.
The section starts out with “Leadership and commitment” and that it shall be demonstrated. One might ask how – well, specifically by eight methods. I’ve decided not to hash into the three that already exist (almost verbatim) as requirements in ISO 9001:2008, but there are a few differences or at least accentuations of previous focus:
- Promoting awareness of the process approach. An interesting one there. Auditors would expect some level of training. Will likely be a valuable debate as to the difference between “awareness” and “training”. This is an important distinction, because if it is training, then there has to be some measure of training effectiveness.
- Ensuring that the quality management system achieves its intended outputs. Not exactly new, but it does highlight the focus on the process approach. It implies the outputs have to be defined.
- Engaging, directing and supporting persons to contribute to the effectiveness of the quality management system. This should be interesting from an audit perspective; some kind of evidence will need to be present.
- Promoting continual improvement and innovation. I get a small kick out of this one, because it mentions “continual improvement” – when the word “continual” has been stricken from the gospel in the 2015 version. Ultimately, I expect this to read “Promoting improvement and innovation”… and “innovation”? I’m as interested as you are in what one might look for to show innovation. Benchmarking? Innovation in what context? There are some business models that thrive on creating for the status quo. Questions that I hope the next draft iron out.
- Supporting other relevant management roles to demonstrate their leadership as it applies to their areas of responsibility. This is referring to a pass-down effect to avoid islands of leadership within the larger organization.
The next subsection is “Leadership and commitment with respect to the needs and expectations of customers”.
Two main concepts here, “customer focus” and “risks”- both are combined to address the determination of customer requirements including any applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as enhancing customer satisfaction by meeting them.
Really, other than risk – which is more deeply ingrained in another section – not too different than what exists.
Quality policy is within element 5, no big surprises with regard to content. Let’s not worry about it for now.
And lastly, the section contains “organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities” again, nothing new here, other than a focus on intended outputs. Very much an expansion of the old section 5.5 with a few related consolidations from other sections.
There you have it, a quick summary of what is currently in the draft of the next version of ISO 9001. Naturally, the content of the draft is likely to change to some degree, so I wouldn’t make too many changes to your current system or documentation. But it does give a good indicator of what direction the standard is going toward, namely one of simplicity and consistency. How far it gets in that endeavor, remains to be seen.
Thanks for following along – go forth now, and calibrate thyself.
Sal
