I Don’t See Nothing Wrong

How often have we heard these words within our organization? Often the evidence is right before the persons eyes and they fail to see it. Perhaps in the hope that the failure to acknowledge it will cause it to go away. Across industries “non-conformities” have come to be recognized as something negative, to be done away with quickly. ISO 9001 2015 training teaches us that a non-conformity is the non-fulfillment of a requirement. It is the system that has failed to meet the requirements and not the individual. Admitting to something being wrong takes courage. A well-implemented system can reduce the amount of courage it takes to admit to a mistake or an incorrectly implemented process. 

Why fix it if it ain’t broke 

Another common phrase you may hear across your organization. Yet another “this is how it’s always been done”. Humans resist change. It causes them to break out of their comfort zone. A common result of completing an ISO 9001 2015 training is personnel returning to their companies to start the mapping of their processes. In this, they may get to hear comments such as those above. Personnel does not want to capture the knowledge in their heads onto a price of paper as it puts their job security at risk. They perceive ISO 9001 as an alien document and the clauses make no sense to them. They do not see the value in audits as auditors are merely seen as policemen out to find fault in what they are doing.  

Is everything really good? 

Non-conformities that are not reported when they occur do not get effective corrective action taken on them and they “magically” occur again and again. Often times a smaller non-conformity unaddressed may lead to a larger non-conformity down the road. ISO 9001 in clause 10.2 asks organizations to implement systemic corrective action by identifying if similar non-conformities can occur in other areas of the system. It asks organizations to assess the root cause(s). ISO 9001 2015 training provided to personnel will educate them on how to interpret the requirements of the system to tailor it to their organization so the changes can be minimal. Organizations can do this by capturing the system as the work is done and not a fictional one. It helps training to be provided to personnel, so they understand their role in the system.  

In conclusion, ISO 9001 2015 training is not a means to complicate the way work is done but by understanding and implementing a system that captures the “as-is” of the organization the changes can be kept to a minimum and small. Once personnel sees how the system benefits them they will learn to admit to things that are going wrong and use a systematic approach to correct them.