Blackmores ISO Consultancy Service: The creators of isology®

An ISO Management System can’t survive without Leadership engagement. It was seen as such an essential aspect that ‘Leadership’ became a key clause of many ISO Standards back in 2015 when the Annex SL format was adopted.

It’s easy to see why. An effective Management System will provide vital information for top management to make decisions on processes, policies and strategic direction.

So, how do you get leadership involved with your ISO management system?

In this episode, Steph Churchman is joined by Sarah Ball, the Service Improvement Manager at Blackmores, to discuss why leadership involvement is so crucial to effective ISO management, and explains how you can get their buy in whether you’ve got a mature system or are newly implementing ISO Standards.

You’ll learn

• What is the isologyhub?
• What issue is the Leadership Powerup tackling?
• Who is the Leadership Powerup aimed at?
• What are the six steps in the Leadership Powerup Gameplan?

Resources

• Isologyhub
• What is the Isologyhub?
• The Integral Role of Leadership within ISO
• Aligning Objectives with Strategic Direction

In this episode, we talk about:

[02:05] Episode Summary – Blackmores Service Improvement Manager joins Steph on this episode to talk about the crucial role leadership plays in ISO management, and how you can get the most out of their involvement.

[00:45] What is the isologyhub? The isologyhub is our online learning platform for all things ISO. Its main feature is the ISO Roadmap, a 7-step guided approach to implementing your own bespoke ISO 14001 compliant Environmental Management System.

Since it’s creation, it’s grown to hold a library of over 200+ ISO related resources. The content available varies from quick accessible content such as ISO templates, ISO handbooks and short from video training we call Coffee Break Training which explain key elements of ISO Standards. This goes onto more in-depth content such as our ISO Pathways which take you through 3 levels of learning to help you progress from Learner to leader in your chosen subject area.

There’s other exclusive content on there which you can dip into, including ISO templates, training videos and previous workshops covering topics such as ESG and AI management.

We also have a number of Gameplans, which are essentially guides where people can work through a particular set of information about a topic and get practical guidance that can be applied within their own organisation.

[02:05] What issue is the Leadership Powerup tackling? In the past, it was quite easy for leadership to lose interest in the Management System once it had been implemented. This was in part due to how Standards used to be written, and would result in the system being delegated to specific individuals.

In 2015 this, along with a number of other issues, were addressed and a new clause structure was introduced. This means that Leadership Commitment now isn’t optional, as it’s a direct requirement of all ISO Standards (Clause 5 typically).  

The Leadership Powerup Gameplan aims to help leadership understand their role in making the Management System effective for the wider business. It helps to assess their current level of commitment and guides you through a path of improvement to get them to be a positive ambassador for the Management System.

Where leadership is concerned, it’s important to remember that you’re leading by example. If you don’t care about the Management System, why should anyone else?

For those that want more of a deep dive on Leadership’s role within ISO, check out a previous podcast.

[06:05] Who is the Leadership Powerup aimed at?: As a minimum it should be the individual or team that have day-to-day responsibilities relating to the management system.

Ideally you would also want a member of leadership, as you’ll need their input to gauge the current level of commitment.

[06:50] What are the six steps in The Leadership Powerup?:

Step 1: Evaluate Leadership – For this step it’s important that you’re 100% honest in your reflection of how leadership are currently promoting and engaging with the management system. It includes a workbook to help you self-score, though we recommend getting a team involved who can help shape a full perspective their engagement in reality. 

The included workbook also contains examples of key causes for a lack of leadership engagement. It walks you through the reasons for these causes, as it’s only through understanding why something is happening is when you can seek to resolve the issues.

Step 2: Boosting Knowledge – This section works through what good looks like in terms of effective leadership commitment. You need to be able to understand the ideal end point before you can plan on how to get there.

Included in this section are key definitions and videos that break down what good looks like for leadership commitment.

Step 3: Planning Your Process – During this step you will plan on how to reach your end goal. By this point you will have assessed your current level of leadership commitment and you will have a good idea of what good looks like.

Included in this step is another workbook that will guide your planning process to answer the following questions:

• What do you want to achieve by the end of the Gameplan?
• What does good leadership engagement look like for us specifically in this business?

There’s also a helpful section on understanding how processes interact, which is a fundamental part of ISO management. It’s about how your business operates as one big system and not as siloed departments and processes. Having leadership understand that big picture so that they can communicate that impacts to certain teams does affect the whole business.

Step 4: Deliver Data – This section is all about information. Leaders love data as it helps them to make informed business decisions. This step guides you through what sort of data you should be gathering and how it can be presented to leadership.

This is crucial as it links back to one of the fundamentals of quality management, that being data-driven decision making. This could be in the form of customer feedback or employee feedback, or in other metrics such as health & safety incident etc. It’s all about making the most of this data.

Step 5: Strengthening Strategy – It’s very important that your ISO management system aligns with your businesses’ strategic direction. This is a key way that you can get leadership involved in the management system, as the business direction will already be a key focus for them. Ensuring the management system not only aligns but helps to facilitate that will ensure that it stays at the forefront of their minds.

This step provides you with guidance on how to go about aligning leadership priorities and management system priorities.

Step 6: Consolidating Compliance – This step is about ensuring that you are doing what you say you’re doing. The key part of leadership involvement includes leading by example, such as reviewing policies and updating them if they are no longer working for the business. It’s about continuous review and implementation of key feedback and communication of changes happening within the management system from top management down.

This Gameplan can be useful for businesses where the Management System has been in place for a while and may not require their direct attention once certification has been achieved. In order to drive effective continual improvement, it’s key that they still keep that management system at the core of their activities.

It can also be helpful when there is a change in leadership, and new individuals may not know what their level of involvement should be.

 If you’d like to become a member of the isologyhub, we have an exclusive 20% discount available for listeners, simply Contact Us and quote: Isologyhub20 to claim that discount.

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube |iTunes | Soundcloud | Mailing List

ISO Standards are often a must have due to stakeholder requirements, whether that’s from your customers, investors or regulators.

The need for multiple ISO certifications is also becoming more common, which can become a tricky task to juggle if you’re managing these as separate systems. The solution? An Integrated Management System.

In this episode, Steph Churchman explains what an integrated management system is, how the Annex SL format facilitates integration and the benefits and challenges involved with an IMS.

You’ll learn

• What is an Integrated Management System?
• Why consider an IMS?
• What is the Annex SL format?
• What are the benefits of an IMS?
• What are the challenges of implementing an IMS?

Resources

• Isologyhub

In this episode, we talk about:

[02:05] Episode Summary – Steph explains what an Integrated Management System is, how the Annex SL format makes this possible and dives into the benefits and challenges associated with an IMS.

[02:20] What is an Integrated Management System? Often abbreviated to ‘IMS’, it simply refers to a management system based off certification to or alignment with multiple ISO Standards.

For example, a company may be certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 but will only have 1 Management system rather than 3 sperate systems.

[03:30] What is the Annex SL format? The Annex SL format was applied to most ISO Standards back in 2015. This format helped to create a consistent 10 clause structure which makes it simple to integrate multiple ISO Standards.

Before this was introduced, not all Standard clauses aligned, making it difficult to audit against and combine with other Standards, even if they had similar requirements.

[04:00] The Annex SL 10 Clause Structure explained:–

• The first 3 clauses are explanatory clauses. These give you more context for the purpose of the standards, as well as providing a helpful glossary of terms and definitions that you’ll come across in the Standard. These clauses aren’t audited against
• Clause 4 – Context of the Organisation: This is where you’ll be establishing your scope, your interested parties and looking at where your risks and opportunities are. It’s setting the foundation for your Management system.
• Clause 5 Leadership: This is where you’ll need commitment from top management. They will need to be involved with tasks such as establishing key policies, assigning roles & responsibilities and communicating the Management System once you’re ready to launch it.
• Clause 6 Planning: This is where you will look at the risks and opportunities raised during the context phase and plan what actions you’ll take to address them. This is in addition to setting your business objectives.
• Clause 7 Support: This is where you will establish the resources you have available to create and facilitate the running of the Management system. This clause gives you guidance for considerations such as people, infrastructure, monitoring and measurement needs, competence of staff and key communication requirements.
• Clause 8 Operation: This clause is where the main differences can be found between ISO Standards. It provides guidance on considerations for key processes and procedures relating to the Standard focus. ISO 9001 for example contains a rather chunky clause 8 as it details requirements for products and services, including the development and provision of them. While ISO 27001’s clause 8 focuses more on information security risk assessments and risk treatment plans.
• Clause 9 Performance Evaluation: This is where you establish the who, what and when involved in the monitoring, measurement and evaluation of your management system. This is also where Internal Auditing requirements are detailed.
• Clause 10 Continual Improvement: This is the driving force of all ISO Standards. In this last clause you’ll find requirements for Management review and non-conformity and corrective action. That’s simply about reviewing the effectiveness of the Management system and putting plans in place to correct any non-conformities raised, or act on any of those opportunities for improvement.

[08:00] IMS Benefit #1: Cost Saving – ISO Implementation can get costly, especially if you’re investing in a consultancy to help you in addition to the certification body costs involved in the actual assessment.

You can save money by implementing multiple standards at the same time. At Blackmores, we’re happy to help you implement multiple ISO’s at the same time. This saves on the time spent if you were to do them separately, as we typically combine elements of the selected standards in project days such as during a Gap analysis, document creation and internal audits.

On the certification body side, you can save on assessment days by assessing against an integrated management system, rather than assessing against 2 separate management systems. Many will do their best to accommodate integrated assessment and surveillance audits.

[09:05] IMS Benefit #2: Reduced Duplication and Increased Efficiency – There are elements of a Management system that you can combine to not only save money but also reduce document and process duplication, which leads to a more efficient system.

We’ve seen companies trying to manage separate systems over the years, and often times they end up just causing confusion, or only being adhered to by specific departments within a business. This results in duplicated work as shared elements of compliance are being managed in two different ways, often with slightly different styles of documents.

Save yourself the trouble and headache by integrating all relevant management system documentation into 1 system. It makes it so much easier to update and keep on top of, and to enable it to act as a real tool for continual improvement rather than being thought of as a chore to upkeep.

[10:10] IMS Benefit #3: Improved Communication and Collaboration – An integrated system encourages communication between all elements of your business.

This holistic approach is often broken down into silos for select departments to focus on select objectives, which in turn encourages invested teamwork which will contribute to the business’s success as a whole.

Internal Audits will also allow employees from every level to feedback to the system, highlighting key areas for improvement that could be rolled out. We see a lot of companies leveraging integrated management systems in various ways, often using them as a springboard to launch company wide initiatives that encourage further collaboration.

These are then tracked, monitored and reported on in a similar way to other company objectives, all guided by the processes put in place by the Management system.

[11:20] IMS Benefit #4: Enhanced Risk Management – Integrating multiple Standards will mean you have greater comprehension and risk assessment of multiple different aspects across your business, such as quality, environmental and Health & Safety.

Many start with ISO 9001, as that’s a fantastic solid foundation for a Management system, it builds in all the core policies and procedures needed to run a business smoothly, but it doesn’t touch on the specifics of environmental management or information security. For that, you’d need to integrate other standards to ensure you have robust measures to tackle those other elements.

[12:15] IMS Benefit #5: Streamlined Auditing Processes – Internal Audits act as a good measure of where things are going right and wrong, in addition to being a dummy run for your certification assessment if it’s your first time going through the process.

Internal Audits are also an element which can be combined, this allows you to save time for the auditees, which reduces the amount of disruption they may cause overall. It also reduces the overall amount of audit reports for review, saving a duplication of effort on auditing similar elements across multiple standards.

[13:00] IMS Benefit #6: Better Decision-Making – By having a more unified view of all processes and performance across different management areas, leadership can make more informed decisions.

ISO Standards require a Management Review, which is where you can review audit findings and put plans in place to resolve any non-conformities and address any opportunities for improvement. Don’t forget to highlight any achievements and lessons learned too! As these can be applied elsewhere in the business.

[14:00] IMS Benefit #7: Increased Stakeholder Confidence – ISO Standards are a mark of best practice, they are an internationally recognised seal of approval that proves your commitment to either quality, safety and sustainability.

This competitive advantage will also serve you when going for funding or to tender.

[14:40] IMS Benefit #8: Improved Organizational Performance and Culture – An integrated Management system ensures that everyone is unified in their way of working. It also fosters a culture of continual improvement, that encourages participation from all levels within the business.

Having a central integrated system makes things simple for everyone to understand. No one has to search out different processes for a separate quality and environmental management system, when they could all be combined and stored in 1 location.

An integrated management system approach also allows for you to collaborate across multiple different focus areas such as quality, safety and sustainability. Objectives for each can be siloed and focused on by select departments, but can still be contributed to from any part of the business.

Be open about the results in different areas of the business and encourage suggestions for improvement, this is how you’ll foster a culture of continuous Improvement.

[16:05] IMS Challenge #1: Initial set-up and resourcing – Implementing ISO Standards aren’t a small task. If you’re implementing multiple ISO Standards from the start, you’ll need to consider the people, time and expertise needed to complete the task.

This may include the assistance of a dedicated ISO consultancy, as they’ll have the expertise to guide you through the process smoothly. At Blackmores, we can help you implement an IMS that is bespoke to the way you work. It may be tempting to go with an out of the box solution, but these would need tailoring to be at all effective and likely won’t get you past certification with a UKAS accredited Certification Body.

Learn about the differences between a UKAS and Non-UKAS accredited Certification Body on one of our previous podcasts.

[17:30] IMS Challenge #2: Resistance to change – People will be used to working a certain way, often siloed into systems unique to their departments. Or if you’ve already held 1 ISO certification, integrating others will mean change to that existing system that others may not be open to at first. It will involve either new or updated policies and procedures that will take some time for everyone to adapt to.

The key here is communication. Not only to communicate the change, but allow people to voice any concerns they have about new ways of working. You may also need to issue additional training to help others adapt.

[18:20] IMS Challenge #3: Lack of top leadership commitment – If you want people to care about the management system, commitment to it needs to come from the top down. If the leadership doesn’t care about it, why should anyone else?

Any good leadership should want a holistic approach for monitoring various elements of the business, if only to make more informed decisions. An integrated Management system can provide the base to facilitate this, and it’s in leaderships best interest to keep ahead of any emerging challenges or opportunities that can be leveraged.

[19:10] IMS Challenge #4: Integration of IT systems and data – Integrating your management system may require the integration of IT systems and existing data. If you have separate management systems currently, they may be operating on different databases or formats that may be difficult to combine.

In some cases, an integrated management system is a good opportunity to refresh the way you work, it could be seen as a chance to look at other tech options out there that could be more cost effective or introduce new much needed functionality.

[19:50] IMS Challenge #5: Maintaining Scope and Avoiding Over-Complication – There is a risk that you may try to bite off a bit more than you can chew when integrating management systems.

We recommend starting with a smaller scope, as this acts as a good test that can be rolled out to the wider business if it’s effective. Many may start with just one site and then seek to roll out the changes to the wider business over the course of a few years.

This is definitely an approach we encourage, as each location will have its own teething problems to work through, which is much more manageable when tackled in chunks at a time rather than all at once.

If you’d like any assistance with Integrated Management System Implementation, feel free to get in touch with us, we’d be happy to help.

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube |iTunes | Soundcloud | Mailing List

Do you find keeping up with regular annual ISO tasks a struggle?

It’s easy to let ISO maintenance slip through the cracks, especially if it’s in addition to your primary job role.

If this sounds familiar, then you should consider outsourcing certain areas of your ISO management system to be managed by ISO experts.

Today, Mel explains the areas that should be managed in-house, the areas that can be outsourced, and the ISO support plan we offer to help businesses outsource aspects of their management systems.

You’ll learn

• How long ISO certifications are valid.
• Why businesses outsource some areas of their management system.
• The different ISO areas you can outsource.
• How to maintain quality when outsourcing internal audits.
• The importance of quantifying the results of your management system.
• The importance of employee engagement in your ISO management system.

Resources

• Need support with revamping your Management System? check out our ISO Support Plan
• Need guidance and support with ISO Standards? isologyhub

In this episode, we talk about:

[01:38] How long ISO certifications are valid and the ISO support plan we provide.

[02:38] Why businesses outsource certain aspects of their management system.

[03:34] What areas you can outsource and what you should keep in-house.

[04:48] Health and safety requirements and risk management needs.

[06:03] The most popular ISO areas that can be outsourced.

[09:27] How to optimise performance through updating management systems.

[09:57] The importance of being able to quantify the results of ISO systems.

[10:54] How to outsource the facilitation of your management review.

[12:15] Employee engagement training that can be outsourced.

Just a reminder, we’re offering 6 months free access to the isologyhub for anyone who signs up to an ISO Support Plan!

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube |iTunes | Soundcloud