Recent blog posts

The best kept secret in the quality world is....

Something that might sound surprisingly simple and basic, but it really is the differentiator between my clients who see the results they want and those who don't. Here's the secret: ✔️ Systems that are created with and for people work better than systems created for audits and auditors. If you...

What kind of quality culture do you have?

For me, there are different kinds of quality culture. ✔️ Compliance ✔️ Excellence ✔️ Precedence Compliant organisations see the value of meeting standards and requirements but lack the motivation to do more. Excellent organisations strive to exceed customer requirements. A culture of precedence puts quality as a priority above all...

Know the purpose of your quality team

Sometimes it seems that quality is all about policies, procedures, audits, and paperwork. When did it stop being about people? ? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ?????????? ?? ????????? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?????????? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ????. ?? ????? ???????: To pass audits...

Quality Improvement starts with compliance

Improvement is the cornerstone of a quality-management system. To measure improvement, you need a starting point: you need to know exactly what level of service you are providing now so you can track that you are getting better. I advise people to start with the basics, start by looking at...

Why its time to review your procedures

If you are drowning in paperwork, struggling under the weight of too many outdated procedures whilst worrying that risks aren't being managed, perhaps it’s time to review your document framework? The key to review? ? Know what you need ? Get rid of what you don't ? Consolidate Don't leave...

Three signs your quality system isn't working

I don't like seeing clients coming to me when they received a raft of unexpected non-conformance at audit. Oftentimes, they're burned out, completely over 'quality’ and reach out to us for our services just in the nick of time. So, to avoid a quality crisis, here are 3 signs to...

Want a quality culture? Be more like Alice

Building a culture of quality means that you must provide opportunities for people to raise issues, concerns and improvements and actively encourage them to talk about opportunities in their own tasks and duties. A quality culture means leaders listen to opportunities and never dismiss them, even when similar strategies may...

Certification Audits don't always focus on quality outcomes

Freek Vermeulen argues that ISO 9000, ‘in the long run, can have a severe negative impact on a firm because it hampers innovation’. And it’s not just ISO, I would argue many standards have the same effect. If you have had an external audit chances are you have been told...

Show the value of quality - measure it

Many leaders assume their people deliver good quality without measuring it. One simple way to sell the value of quality is to ensure you are collecting data to measure the effectiveness of quality systems. Common measures of quality include: ✔️ Profit and loss ✔️ Failure or reject rates ✔️ Level...

Your quality plan is like a jigsaw, here's how to complete it faster

If you’ve ever done a jigsaw and judging by the ABC article more of us have during Lockdown, you will probably have a system. In my family we separate the corners, the edges and the main pieces. We place the corners first, finish the edges and then group the rest...