It is with regret that GC Organisational Improvement has now closed. We have made great strides over the past few years to bring Wellbeing and Mental Health to the forefront of business needs and requirements.
11/02/2016
With thousands of quality management systems available, IDG’s Stephen Bromley talks us through some of them - what they are, what to look out for and how they can help your business to improve, develop and grow.
If you were to google quality management, you would be faced with a whole host of search results offering quality or management systems standards – many of which quote an array of letters, abbreviations and numbers. And frankly, it can be a bit baffling at first.
But don’t let that put you off as Standards can be extremely useful tools to help you run and manage your business in a better, more efficient and cost effective way.
Understanding the why as well as the how to
Like with most things, you can approach a Standard in two ways. You can use it to support your business objectives and delve deep into your systems, or do things by numbers and only tick the boxes that need to be ticked without really understanding the wider context.
For example, joining a gym just so can talk to your friends about it (rather than go) probably won’t mean you get fitter. But joining and then going for regular workouts with the aim of a healthier lifestyle will bring numerous positive benefits… and you can still talk to your friends about it, but from a more positive, leaner, stronger and fitter perspective.
Management systems standards are exactly the same. If you just want to work towards a standard for the badge, then that’s generally all you will get – meaning you have potentially wasted time, money and effort as you will probably not realise the full benefits. You are also more likely to feel frustrated because the process felt long winded, bureaucratic and generally unhelpful.
But by working with a Standard and understanding why and how it links to your organisational aims as a whole, you will reap much more than the badge in return. For example, you can achieve more insight and relevancy to support your business direction, processes and decisions. The standard will be more helpful and almost a live resource for you to work with rather than just a hurdle to jump every year or so.
Management Systems: 8 Key Benefits
So what can a management systems standard help with? From my experience, I believe they can help with 8 key areas.
So what’s available?
There are literally thousands of different standards out there and too many to even try to explain here. However, IDG supports organisations to work with some of the most recognised – and in my opinion, beneficial – standards. Here’s a brief summary.
So as I mentioned earlier, although management systems and standards can seem baffling don’t let it put you off exploring them. Work with the right standards and in the most beneficial way and they have the potential to really support your business ambitions.
At IDG, we can offer advice, training and guidance to help you explore quality management systems such as those mentioned above, giving you confidence that your investment in the standard is linked to your business performance and ambition.
Alongside implementation packages, we can also help you to explore your organisational culture and behaviours to make sure your systems and why you are introducing them are understood and valued by all.
If you would like to improve your systems with management standards and find out more about the services we can offer to help, please get in touch or explore our Improving Systems pages here.
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