Personal Skills and Qualities

Moving an organisation into a new management situation demands a lot from the quality manager or leadership. New strategic directions affect all parts of the organisation. Actually, new strategy involves all your people – directly or indirectly. So, a fundamental tenet of good management comes through awareness and deployment of good organisational skill.

Getting to know ISO Standards

Good “Management Standards” are available to help you improve your organisation. Known as Management Systems, these “Standards” are internationally recognised. They are also externally audited to maintain international consistency between certified organisation.

Each Standard aims to meet the needs of specialist and general organisations. Consequently, both production and service environments are covered. The lead management standard is the International Standard for Quality Management (ISO 9001). This standard is the most general approach to management Quality Systems. So, that is the standard that many companies work toward as the start of their ISO journey

There are a range of other standards that incorporate Quality Management Principles, including…

• API Q1, Q2 & ISO 29001 – Oil & Gas
• Environmental (ISO 14001)
• AS 9100 & AS 9120 – Aerospace
• Health & Safety (ISO 45001)
• EN 1090 – Steel, Construction Prod Regs. & CE Mark/ UKCA Logo
• IT Service Management (ISO 20000)
• Food Safety (ISO 22000)
• Information Security (ISO 27001)
• Medical Devices (ISO 13485)

These ISO standards add clarity to the structure of the organisation. That clarity propagates through the organisational policies, procedures, processes and goals. In addition, they help the manager define ways of continuously improving the organisation for the future.

Other aspects of these systems help the organisation meet its goals in a verified, organised and evidence-based way. Together, international standards each form part of an ecology of management structures and performance. As a result, the ISO standards impact nearly every part of the business. Consequently, they work together in a system of checks and balances to bring stability and consistency to all parts of the operation. So, it is worth thinking strategically about the future of your business and ISO Standards.

MANAGING QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (QMS)

The Leadership in any organisation fulfil a lot of different roles within the scope of the QMS and its exacting standards. So, what qualities should we look for in an ideal Quality Management leader for an organisation? Below, we have set out some of the most important facets of the Quality Leader…

HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

• Lead by example. Your people must see your honesty and integrity. Further, you must stand by it as a principle. It provides a foundation. Indeed, from a position of honesty and integrity, you can build organisational success. However, honesty and integrity rely on continuous and open demonstrations to keep your people aspiring to that lead.

VISION AND PURPOSE

• Great leaders go above and beyond simple boundaries. They have a clear understanding of what to do, how to do it and to move the organisation constantly toward it. Purpose defines an organisation. Driving toward it, requires a clear vision of the goal ahead. Further, that vison should include staff involvement and all the organisation’s resources to get the most out of your commitment and investment.

CONFIDENCE

• The voice of command must be firm, wise and committed – this shows through with an air of confidence. So, ensure your people see your confidence, help them share it. Remember, “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” ~ Theodore M. Hesburgh

CONSISTENCY

• Aristotle, the Greek philosopher said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Searching for Quality is about a habitual commitment to attaining excellence through continuous improvement.

INSPIRING FOR OTHERS

• “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams.

COMMITTED AND PASSIONATE

• Let your passion show. Commit to, and rigorously pursue, organisational goals. Others will follow where success and passion lead to clear and appropriate goals.

GOOD COMMUNICATOR

• Inspiring leaders clearly communicate goals. They enable their people to listen. Subsequently, they help their people find ways to achieve those goals. Do everything you can to articulate your goals and your plan for reaching your them. Remember, clarity of purpose and clarity of communication go together. Also remember, communication should be two-way. So, a good communicator should also be a good listener.

GREAT COACH

• “A good objective of leadership is to help those, who are doing poorly, to do well and to help those, who are doing well, to do even better.” ~ Jim Rohn. Significantly, a leader teaches their team why something should happen and guides them on how to do it. Emphasising ‘why’ is crucial. It will ensure solutions are better and sustainable and will transfer to other situations. Nurture your team, capitalise on their strengths and show them how to excel.

DECISION MAKING CAPABILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITY

• Research, consult, consider and decide! Take decisive actions and prepare to accept the blame for mistakes. Learn by those mistakes. Remember, all effective leaders learned the hard way! Ironically, but logically, success builds upon early mistakes.

DELEGATION AND EMPOWERMENT

• Focus on key responsibilities and give the rest to the others. Do not micromanage – it causes resentment. Ultimately, a leader must delegate, support and empower. Your people will respond positively if they feel empowered and will rise to meet the challenges they are given.

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

• Consider new angles. Nearly every problem has a number of solutions. So, different approaches and unique ways to do things often pay off. Inspire your team to innovate. Help them to think creatively and to continuously strive for perfection. Creativity and Innovation becomes a power house if you help it flourish. Ultimately, once you unleash these two essentials, your organisation will stand out from the rest.

EMPATHY

• “Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering…” ~ Oprah Winfrey

RESILIENCE

• Have a positive and resilient approach. Great leaders rally their people when times are tough and they focus on the solutions, not the problems. So, stand up to the problems. Do not hide them, or hide from them. Instead, use the quality system to seek out opportunities for ways to fight for success. At the same time, help your people to be resiliant too. Your business will be much stronger if you and you people stand together.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

• Balance your own emotions. Great managers demonstrate sensitive social awareness. However, they also prepare to manage conflict. So, ensure a balanced approach. Connect with people on an emotional level but appeal to higher values. Ultimately, success comes when people see fairness and the ability to balance emotional accounts for the benefit of all your people.

HUMILITY

• The greatest managers accept the position reluctantly. They act with humble appreciation of the contribution of others and value the achievements of their team. Try to ensure the recognition of the achievements of others comes first. Remember, truly inspiring leaders are not driven to lead people. Instead, they strive to serve them and help them achieve.

SHARING AND TRANSPARENCY

• Openly share ideas and information. Your team will appreciate it and your followers will see value in it. Seek to give appropriate recognition for achievement and share it openly. It is important to realise that transparency in all your actions will show you to be clear, visible, trustworthy and empowering. In fact, sharing and transparency reveal the effectiveness of all the other qualities of the manager.

PERSONAL QUALITIES – AN EXAMPLE TO YOUR PEOPLE

Perhaps it is obvious, possibly a cliché, but leadership is mostly about setting an example. The Quality Manager / Leader has a responsibility to either ‘be’ all the above, or obviously aspiring and learning to have the above qualities. As John F. Kennedy said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” The qualities set out above will help you move your people into more organised way of working and do it in a way that brings them along with you.

If you want to be a Quality Manager / Leader, you must aspire to personal standards that portray the Standards you want achieve with your organisation.

ISO Standards will push you higher

At CHARTER4 we have assisted many organisations gain certification under ISO Standards. We focus on the important aspects of leadership because you, the manager, will lead your business into a new era. That will push your boundaries and challenge you on new levels. However, it is that challenge that you will find will also lift your company’s goals to new heights and take your business to a new level.

ISO Standards bring a new level of professionalism and skill to the leaders and managers. For our part, we know our methods help those managers. We have worked with many managers over more than 20 years who have personally grown and developed as they have become more experienced in ISO standards. However, our special emphasis is also on ensuring a return on investment for the hard work and time it takes to achieve ISO standards. That return on investment is essential if you are to get the most out of your journey. In fact, it is a fundamental principle for us that you, “Improve your business, rather than just comply”. Uniquely, this focus will not only improve your management, but also help you achieve your business goals.

If you would like to know more about ways we can help you move move to new levels, simply press one of the buttons below.