If your company has ISO9001 certification you may have struggled to set mandatory quality objectives. All too often a business throws together some objectives for the purpose of getting the certificate, without really wanting to achieve them. This is known as the ‘set and forget’ methodology. Rarely do they achieve their objectives.
It is hard to make something meaningful when the motivation behind it is not coming from within the company. Or is it?
Here are some key steps to help find meaningful objectives that will inspire your team.
Ask Your Team
You’d be surprised how much insight you will get from opening up to suggestions from the whole team. This requires a bit more work to filter through to the good ones but engaging the team in that process is very powerful. A facilitator can make this step easier.
Known Problems
YWhere in the business are there gaps or delays? Where are the mistakes happening? Where is time wasted or rework required? This is where you should be and probably are focusing your efforts. Make sure you have defined a clear goal for what you want to improve.
Not too Many
If you are coming from the ‘set and forget’ camp, why not try setting just one objective for your team for the next quarter. Tell all your team that one objective and regularly check progress against. Assign someone responsible for measuring if you achieve it. Don’t leave it a year to review.
What is Your Dream?
You have a dream for your business or company department. What is it? What is required to get there? Be bold and use it to set objectives each quarter leading toward that dream.
These are just a few quick tips on setting quality objectives for ISO certification. However, the same goes for safety objectives or any other area where your business may be certified.