In the previous post of our ISO 9001 series, we concluded by emphasizing that merely achieving ISO 9001 compliance is insufficient. Rather, businesses must be able to go beyond and beyond and consider how the improvements they are making to become compliant impact their ability to succeed.

In other words, enforcement does not guarantee success in the same way as publishing a novel does not guarantee it would sell.

You may be wondering why this is important.

But even organizations that have achieved ISO 9001 compliance will fail. This typically occurs because the procedures and structures you put in place do not provide the consumers with fast and reliable value.

Building a basis of knowledge is the best way to go past enforcement. This is the reason for ISO 9001 certification, and it is more important than the certification itself.

Principles Over Practices

One of the most common reasons for ISO 9001 failure is a focus on the what rather than the why.

Practices are carried out exactly as expected, but the explanation why a procedure was created in the first place is often overlooked. This can have a dangerous and suffocating impact on the company, resulting in excessive paperwork, bloated procedures, forms, and other roadblocks. These may exist solely to ensure compliance, but they do little to help the company thrive or progress toward greater goals.

There is a significant distinction between controlling consistency and managing for quality. Organizations who wish to cultivate a culture of excellence should strive for the latter: as systems are structured for efficiency rather than just conformity, customer loyalty and market success becomes inevitable byproducts of the method.

Moving From Compliance to Excellence

Companies who wish to go beyond compliance to achieve quality must consider the complexities that surround ISO 9001 implementation, not just the compliance criteria themselves.

Assume the organization aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Instead of tackling these emissions explicitly, consider what causes greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. In this situation, you move from monitoring to stopping pollution.

From an enforcement standpoint, this could imply comprehending that you get the figures you do when calculating emissions. Analyzing how to control emissions, what services, and who would be able to assist.

In brief, going past conformity necessitates a comprehensive approach to consistency. It’s the distinction between waiting for an audit and always being ready for an audit, for example, when you’ve put in place the right procedures and staff.

This helps you to treat the underlying causes of problems rather than just the signs, making meaningful change easier to achieve.

In the final installment of our ISO 9001 series, we’ll look at what corporate performance looks like and the importance of executive engagement in delivering stable, repeatable results.