ISO 9001:2015 – Newsletter – Issue 74

Issue 74 – Element 5: Leadership – Why should Management care about it?

ISO 9001:2015…

Element 5: Leadership – Why should Management care about it?

Receiving emails with questions and/or comments from readers of this Newsletter is much appreciated… please continue to do so since it provides me with ideas on what these publications should cover.  In my last Newsletter (ISO 9001:2015 Newsletter Issue 73) we discussed the topic of  “Element 4: Context of the Organization – Anything useful for Top Management?”, and now in this Newsletter we will discuss “Element 5: Leadership – Why should Management care about it?“.

The ISO 9001 Element numbering…

Element 4 – Context of the organization
Element 5 – Leadership
Element 6 – Planning
Element 7 – Support
Element 8 – Operation
Element 9 – Performance evaluation
Element 10 – Improvement

Element 5 – Leadership consists of three (3) Clauses as listed below:

5.1  Leadership and commitment

5.2  Policy

5.3  Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities

Let’s talk about Element 5… As you look at the above list of Clauses it is fairly obvious why Element 5 was called “Leadership”.  It was written by your Customers who spelled out what they expect from the Managers (top; middle; front-line) for those organizations they buy from.  In addition to that reason for Managers to care about this Element, there is also lots of evidence of how “lack of” leadership has shut down many good companies.  So if you believe you already are a good leader, what more does ISO 9001 add?  The first question to ask is: “Are you also a good leader on the topic of Quality?”… which circles back to the question “How important is Quality to your company’s survival?”.  If you think your “leadership” on Quality could use some improvement then Element 5 provides you with multiple ways to do it.

Clause 5.1  – Leadership and Commitment

This Clause contains two sub-clauses, namely 5.1.1 General and 5.1.2 Customer Focus.  This Clause uses the term “Leadership” which sends a strong signal that top management shouldn’t have to be dragged along but rather they should be “leading” the charge towards “Quality”.  The requirements in Clause 5.1 use words such as:

“accountability for the QMS”…

“that quality objectives are… compatible with strategic direction”…

“integration of QMS into the business”…

“promoting risk-based thinking”…

“ability to enhance customer satisfaction is determined and addressed”…

These phrases indicate clearly what is expected from Managers, with the primary expectation being that Managers can’t delegate their Quality responsibilities.  One key requirement found within Clause 5.1 asks that Managers “ensure that the quality management system achieves its intended results”… Another way of looking at this is by asking Managers “what do they expect from their quality management system?”… The answer isn’t always obvious nor unanimous amongst the management team.  If everyone could agree to an answer to that question, then this tool called the QMS could be designed to achieve what management wants from it.

One last comment on Clause 5.1… it dedicates a whole section just on being focused on the Customer, and not just making sure we give them what they want but attempting to delight them (the words used are “enhancing Customer satisfaction”).  Have Managers in the organization ever sat together and brainstormed “how can we delight our Customers?”… not just do whatever to get by but actually surprise them in a good way.  This means really understanding what Customers “want” from your company, which means talking directly to them whenever we interact with “anyone” in their organization… and by the way it’s never just about price.

Clause 5.2  Policy

This Clause contains two sub-clauses, namely 5.2.1 Establishing the Quality Policy and 5.2.2 Communicating the Quality Policy.  Who else besides Managers should be deciding what the “goal” should be for Quality?  That’s what this Clause is about.  If Managers set goals for Sales, for Costs, for Profits… then why not for Quality since it directly affects all of them?  Goal setting was also talked about back in Clause 4.1 (Understanding the organization and its context), with getting alignment amongst the Management Team for what direction to point the company, and this Clause wants Managers to do the same thing on the topic of Quality.  If Managers don’t have a goal or target for Quality then why should they expect their employees to have one?

Clause 5.3  Organizational Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities

This Clause contains no sub-clauses inside of it and really aims at answering “who’s on first and who’s on second?”.  What that means is that Managers need to design the “team” of employees who will operate the quality management system so it can achieve its intended results (Clause 5.1), and it’s overall goal (Clause 5.2).

One important requirement found within Clause 5.3 asks that Managers “ensure that the processes (that affect quality) are delivering their intended outputs”… We saw a similar requirement above in Clause 5.1 and again another way of looking at this is by asking Managers “what do they expect as an output from those processes that impact Quality?”  This is drilling down now even deeper into your business and expecting that Managers will know how to operate the processes that they are specifically responsible for, in their areas.

Be sure to watch for our next Newsletter issue where I will be answering some of the questions that I get from Readers of my Newsletters about how to implement the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 in a specific and practical way, that will also help improve business performance…