Issue 88 – If you’re an Auditor, what is the best question you can ask?
ISO 9001:2015…
If you’re an Auditor, what is the best question you can ask?
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 87) we discussed the topic of “The ISO Registrar/Certification Body is just another Supplier, right?”, and now in this Newsletter we will discuss “If you’re an Auditor, what is the best question you can ask?“.
The ISO 9001:2015 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
If you’re an Auditor, what is the best question you can ask?… The answer is “it depends”… which are often the two words I respond with most during my auditor training classes. First of all, there probably isn’t “one best question” that an Auditor can ask in any interview, let alone in every company. So much depends on the process being audited and the person being interviewed. In fact it usually requires a “series of good questions” to really be able to assess a process properly. The best advice I can offer, for almost every situation I’ve encountered, is to a) Put the hat of the Customer on (internal or external or both), and b) Use an “input-process-output” approach to guide your audit questions. Over the past 27 years, both of these techniques have helped me to tackle some very complex and challenging processes, as well as get at what is really important during an audit interview.
When I say put the “hat of the Customer on” what I mean is that you need to get into a mindset as if you are the Customer, paying your hard-earned money, out of your pocket, to buy the product or service being sold by the people you are interviewing. This might be difficult if the product is a generic widget or some obscure service, however EVERYONE understands the value of a dollar… so just ask your auditee how much a truck load of those widgets would cost to buy, or how much money would be charged for that service or contract. Understanding the amount of dollars being spent by a Customer (per shipment, per contract, per month, per year) is important to give you some perspective on the size of the transaction. Wouldn’t you spend more time looking over the details of a Bill of Sale for a new car vs a cell phone service contract because of how much money was involved? Getting into this mindset should help you start to ask some of the key questions that a Buyer would normally ask of a Seller. How will the Seller ensure that the product perform as promised? How do they ensure each product is consistently produced? What do they check on each Order and how do they check it? What has their past performance been like? Any guarantees or warranties to back up all these intangible verbal promises?
I also mentioned above that the Customer can be internal to the organization, so understanding how much money is involved doesn’t work as well between the Maintenance Dept and the Production Dept (their Customer). In this case, put the Production Dept hat on and begin asking questions that should be important to them… like, how often does your plan to perform maintenance actually match reality?… or how many times has Production suffered unscheduled downtime due to equipment failure? In this situation, you’ll need to get into a “Production mindset” so you can predict what is important for that department. Wearing the Customer hat makes sure that you are spending time on the really important parts of the process.
When I say use an “input-process-output” approach what I mean is that you need to STOP looking at each paragraph of a Procedure as an isolated task. All the paragraphs should flow together. Think of a Procedure as a “process flow or a stream of activities” that has been written down… at least that’s what a Procedure should be. You will need to pre-read the documents that each area/department uses so you get a feel as to what the sequence (or flow) of the activities are… which you can then use to walk down this stream, or up the stream if you start with the process outputs. I personally like to start with the end in mind, so normally I try to figure out “what is the main output from this process that I’m auditing?”… what is it that they are handing off to the next person or area? Get them to show you examples of the main output (a tangible product/item or an intangible service or report). From there, ask how that item or service was produced? by whom? using what resources? obtained from where? Essentially you are acting like a detective, uncovering all of the activities involved in producing the outputs, by swimming upstream within the process you are auditing, all the way to the process before it.
The magic happens when you combine the two techniques that I’ve described above… that’s when I find that I really enjoy the task of auditing, especially when I can confirm that all the right activities are being all done at the right time, to give the Customers exactly what they asked for with no surprises!
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…
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Need Help?
ISO 9001:2015 Internal Audit Outsourcing (we can do it for you OR with you!)
For cost effectiveness, the Internal Audit function can be outsourced to an external experienced auditor on a periodic basis. This will provide an independent and objective assessment to management, of where process issues may exist, along with identifying opportunities for improvement. It will also provide the evidence needed to satisfy the Internal Audit requirements in the ISO Standards. We have used two different approaches with this service: a) We conduct the entire audit ourselves, or b) We act as the lead auditor, and along with your Team of internal auditors, we complete the entire audit together. This latter approach allows your people to receive guidance and direction from an experienced lead auditor while at the same time maintaining significant involvement in the internal audit process.
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Internal Process Auditor Training for ISO 9001:2015
The two (2) day Internal Process Auditing for ISO 9001:2015 Training Session is focused on a process approach to auditing with the objective being not only to assess conformance of the quality management system, but also to uncover process improvements during an audit. This goes hand in hand with the process auditing requirements found within ISO 19011 and the process approach covered in ISO 9001:2015, which promotes continual process improvement throughout this Standard. An enhanced checklist is developed, and there will be workshops throughout, to reinforce learning, as well as a live, practice audit. If you are looking to meet the ISO 9001:2015 internal audit requirements and to “raise the bar” for your internal audit program then this is the course you should consider.
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Until next time…
Tim Renaud
Helping Business Professionals Reduce Risk and Remove Waste!