What is the process approach, and why is it so important?
I’m a Radio One listener. There, I’ve said it.
Apart from sometimes in the mornings, when the traffic alert breaks through, I just decide to stay with Radio Ulster for a while. Business News, local stuff and that, until I get bored and switch back over.
One morning a few weeks ago was no exception. So that’s how I heard the best ‘Thought for the day’ ever. #Fact
It was the story of a man who owned a Faberge Egg, but had no income. His dilemma was to sell his valuable possession, or to starve. He decided to sell, the moral of the story being that no matter what you have, it is only by using it that it becomes worthwhile.
That got me thinking about the ‘Do’ step of the process approach (Plan, Do, Check, Act), that is a requirement of ISO9001:2015, ISO14001:2015 & ISO45001:2018.
On that basis, organizations need to ‘Do’ what they plan do to be worthwhile.
However, consequently the ‘Plan’ step therefore becomes vital, because if this is incorrect the organization will ‘Do’ something that either won’t keep their customers, or other stakeholders happy or, at the other end of the scale, do something that doesn’t meet their requirements.
As we all know, after we do something, we are best to ‘Check’ that it meets our requirements (the old adage ‘inspect what you expect’). So, after an organization has done what it has planned to do, it should check that it is correct. In practice this could be checking a dimension, completing an Internal Audit, looking at trends of measurements, reports or whatever will provide the information that lets you know if you are doing what you planned to do.
And, some would argue the most important step, is ‘Act’, where the feedback received from the check stage is used to review the original plan, and therefore the next time that a process is completed it takes into account the feedback.
That, I guess, is the process approach. We all do it every day without thinking too much about it. Those organizations that do it well, get better. Those that don’t, stay the same.
Pattersons Consulting provides ISO Consulting Services to businesses throughout the Island of Ireland.
Blog. #ISO9001 #ISO14001 #ISO45001 #ISOConsulting