ISO 9001:2015 – Newsletter – Issue 85

Issue 85 – “Management Review”, is there a better way to handle it?

ISO 9001:2015…

“Management Review”, is there a better way to handle it?

I appreciate receiving emails with questions and/or comments from readers of this Newsletter… please continue to do so since it provides me with direction on where to aim the content of these publications.  In my last Newsletter (ISO 9001:2015 Newsletter Issue 84) we discussed the topic of  “Risk, what’s the big deal?”, and now in this Newsletter we will discuss “Management Review, is there a better way to handle 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

Clause 9.3  Management Review consists of three (3) Sub-Clauses as listed below:

9.3.1  General

9.3.2  Management Review Inputs

9.3.3  Management Review Outputs

If you just want to do the minimum, then simply have one (1) Management Review meeting, once per year, making sure your agenda topics cover 9.3.2 a) to f), and then have a list of at least three (3) actions going forward that handle 9.3.3 a) to c).  Oh and make sure that you have a quorum of top management people attend it.  This approach will get you a check-mark on the Auditors list but most probably will be seen as very ineffective and inefficient by the attendees, even if you manage to get it all done in a couple of hours.

My approach is always to see if how you actually run your business would satisfy the requirements in ISO 9001, and I’d suggest that 80% of the time it does because if you’ve managed to stay in business longer than a year, then you’ve likely found a way to deliver consistent Quality to your Customers… and that’s really the end goal of ISO 9001.  Let’s start with the “intent” of Management Review.  In order to run a successful business you need to develop a good Plan and then execute it successfully.  You won’t know if your Plan was good or if it was implemented effectively unless you track your progress along the way.  That’s really all this section is asking companies to do.

Start by looking at what you currently do to manage your business on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year basis.  Make a list of all those “activities” you use to run the business.  Now compare your list against all of the items stated in 9.3.2 a) to f) [meeting inputs].  See which “activities” in fact address each of them.  In some cases you’ll find that two different “activities” cover the same ISO 9001 requirement.  In other instances you may find that you have no “activities” that address an item.

Use your results from this comparison as input into your Management Review Meeting (annual or quarterly).  Prepare a summary of the business results covering the time period from the last Management Review Meeting.  Have the group of Managers discuss whether the “activities” they use to run the business, fully addresses each item within 9.3.2 a) to f).  Make meeting notes summarizing their discussions.  For those items that had blanks or no existing “activities” then engage the group to address it during this meeting.

Repeat the same approach for the three items listed in 9.3.3 a) to c) [meeting outputs].  Again existing “activities” may have already taken actions in these areas, in which case make a note in the minutes to that effect.  If there is a blank, then have the Managers identify what decisions or actions should be taken to address it.  Conducting meetings in this way should make your management team even more effective in how they run the business.

NOTE:  Even if you have four (4) Management Review Meetings each year, you still only have to show evidence that each item in 9.3.2 (a to f) was discussed at least ONCE sometime during ONE of those 4 meetings, and that you have at least ONE action item for each of 9.3.3 a) to c), over a 12 month period.

Something you should keep in mind… a key benefit of a once a quarter, or once a year, Management Review Meeting allows top management to take the “long” view of the running of their business (if they don’t do this already in Strategic Planning sessions).  This is important because all too often Managers have their head down trying to handle all the daily demands and they never get a chance to poke their head up above the weeds to double check what direction they are going in.  Reviewing business results over multiple months can give a Manager a better perspective of what’s happening, and where action is needed.

Taking the “meeting” approach described above will allow the management team to pause and take a look at the big picture, spending more time talking about the important parts of their business, and less time repeating previous meeting discussions, as well as less time re-hashing of topics that have already been discussed.  I can’t promise you a shorter Management Review Meeting but it will definitely feel more productive for the participants.