We are nearing the end of our series on ISO 9001 enforcement and beyond. If you skipped the first three pieces, you can catch up on them at etaGLOBAL.

A recurring theme in this series has been that enforcement and excellence are the responsibility of everyone in your company. However, as in any lead-by-example situation, consistency starts with actionable and clear executive leadership.

Consistency All-Around 

Many corporate leaders get tripped up by the continuity factor. This is because working for ISO 9001 certification requires a significant amount of time spent at the drawing board, dreaming, preparing, checking, and implementing.

However, you must still be able to recognize openings “in the moment,” with or without data in front of you. You should return those opportunities to your ISO 9001 standard lab for further analysis and research into their impact on your organization. However, in order to do so, you must first remember them.

Obtaining Valid Executive Buy-In

Any kind of quality control revolution sounds like so much extra work. It’s another challenge to manage, another thing to add to an already overflowing to-do list. Still, ironically, all of this additional effort can make it easy to handle and, in the end, result in less “work” until the systems are in place.

Getting to this degree necessitates genuine executive buy-in. This entails properly planning for management appraisal meetings and making genuine contributions that go beyond appearances. Managers who are not involved in the process and only attend meetings through facetime are not truly committed to the cause. Of course, this also means that they have little ground to stand on when requesting genuine commitment from their teams.  

The best way to go beyond enforcement is to get buy-in from all leaders, including those who aren’t personally interested in setting consistency criteria. Quality should be ingrained in their attitude and leadership style such that it is not viewed as an afterthought.

ISO 9001 Success Requires Engineering Your Leadership

The tone for quality control performance is set by executive leadership. They embody the company’s vision, mission, and values. They set the criteria for good governance and the conditions for progress, and those roles are shared all the way down the ladder.

Generally, transitioning from conformity to perfection is a monumental task that no single individual can attempt. It needs the entire organization to realize a return on investment in quality control. Starting at the tip, like a stone rolling down a hill, would provide you with the requisite impetus to make real strides for all the right reasons.

Companies affiliated with etaGLOBAL, LLC have reached ISO 9001 enforcement and have firsthand knowledge of the challenges and intricacies of achieving quality beyond compliance. Being mindful of your choices and the why behind them will help you handle the transition more effectively and hold holistic excellence at the forefront.