As a quality manager, we know one of your top priorities is to make sure your organization is following best practices. Certification to the ISO 9001:2015 Standard helps ensure that customers get consistent, high quality products and services, which in turn brings many benefits to businesses. Understanding the principles of quality management is a vital step toward earning an ISO 9001:2015 certification. The following are some of the basics of our quality managers guide to ISO 9001:2015, based on these principles of leadership.

What is ISO 9001:2015?

ISO 9001 is the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system (QMS). ISO 9001:2015 is the most up-to-date version.

Having ISO 9001:2015 certification generally means that your organization adheres to an internationally recognized standard that requires you to take accountability for problems or potential problems and to constantly and consistently pursue improvement efforts so that you can better satisfy customers.

Quality Managers Guide to ISO 9001:2015: The Seven Quality Management Principles

The following are seven quality management principles as identified by ISO.

1. Customer focus

Providing customers and clients with what they want is important. It is equally important to keep growing by listening to feedback from them. Especially in these quickly changing times, communication with your clients is key to staying relevant. Your clientele will change, and your business should change with it.

2. Leadership

You provide guidance to your team members, and they respect you. That is good, but it is only the first step. Keeping them on track and having them do their work is one thing. Making sure they are genuinely devoted to the success of the company is another. Management is about more than just keeping an eye on technicalities; it is also about being a motivator.

3. Engagement of people

There are several ways to keep your employees involved. Contrary to old-fashioned beliefs, being “bossy” is not one of them. Instead, create an atmosphere of teamwork and self-driven progress. Have your team members evaluate themselves and identify areas where they feel they can improve. The stronger the individuals are, the stronger the business is.

4. Process approach

You do not want chaos. You do want a method. Make sure the steps that should be taken by each employee are clear. Otherwise, you might find people guessing about how things should be done, and that could lead to wasted time and resources. You also want to make certain that different people within the same department are consistent in what they do by following the same processes.

5. Improvement

Improvement should be an all day, every day, by everyone goal. Use all your senses and resources – the ones you were born with as well as the ones on your technological devices – to determine what is working and what is not. If something is benefiting your organization’s growth, that is great; keep doing it and do it even more or better. If not, find out why and then eliminate it or fix it.

6. Relationship management

In addition to maintaining internal relationships, make sure your communication channels with your customers and contractors are going both ways. Regularly reach out to them and find out how you can help them or how they can help you. Ask them for feedback about how things are working and what can be improved. In turn, provide your customers with feedback on improvements that you are doing regarding the products or services you provide. Additionally, for your external providers (i.e., contractors, vendors, suppliers), let them know how you plan to measure their performance.

7. Evidence-based decision making

It is clear that you cannot base your decisions on the toss of a coin. Instead, use common analytical tools, perform financial analysis, obtain inputs from contractors’, and analyze customer reviews to determine ways to strengthen your company and empower your team members.

Contact Trident QMS for Assistance

We know you are working hard to achieve all these goals and are doing a great job. But everyone needs a little help sometimes.

If you want to hear more of our specific tips that complement our quality managers guide to ISO 9001:2015, feel free to contact us. We would love to hear your ideas and provide you with feedback.

We can be reached through our Trident QMS website or by phone at 520-314-4343.