ISO9001 in 2021 Week by Week - Week 20 – 7.2 Competence

This is a 52 week discussion of ISO9001:2015. Each week, we discuss a specific clause of the ISO9001:2015 standard in detail and look for ways to trim the fat. (As a member of TAG/TC176, the committee responsible for review and revision of ISO9001, (possible revision in 2023), I’ll keep you posted on what I learn all year!)

(It is strongly recommended that you purchase a copy of ISO9001:2015  for reference).  And, be sure to do your homework!

7.2 Competence

Last week’s discussion was about “organizational knowledge” as a required resource.  We defined what sort of knowledge was required to successfully perform our processes and create a good product/service.  This week, we will discuss how we assess our required organizational knowledge versus what we actually have in terms of competence and then what to do if there are gaps.

This section of the standard is basic, clear and easily understood.  So why do so many organizations struggle in this area?  This is such an area of vulnerability for some organizations, even though the requirement isn’t that difficult.  This section reads as follows:

“The organization shall:

a) determine the necessary competence of person(s) doing work under its control that affects its quality performance;

b) ensure that these persons are competent on the basis of appropriate education, training or experience;

c) where applicable, take actions to acquire the necessary competence, and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken;

d) retain appropriate documented information as evidence of competence.

NOTE:  Applicable actions can include, for example, the provision of training to, the mentoring of, or the reassignment of currently employed persons, or the hiring or contracting of competent persons.”

That’s it.  Pretty simple.  Determine what is needed/necessary.  Ensure persons are competent to meet those needs.  Where there are gaps, fill the gaps.  And maintain records.

Many organizations attempt to use job descriptions to satisfy requirement “a)”.  The assumption is that a job description will describe the duties to be performed by a person, and it is assumed that they will demonstrate competence in those activities.  The job descriptions are typically created and maintained under the human resources department and the human resources department is usually required to produce records of the job descriptions.  This is fine as a place to start, but falls far short of the remainder of the section.  And human resource departments may resist taking on further responsibility for the remaining requirements, leaving them to the quality or operations department to fill in the gaps.

A quality department may often create supplement competence evaluations to satisfy the requirements of the standard, but then there tend to be lots of disconnects.  This model, though very popular, is messy and often frustrating for both the organization and auditors.  There is a great opportunity in this section to tie together both the collection of organizational knowledge (discussed last week) and the assessment of competence against that.

Many companies take this opportunity to create a comprehensive training program that is fully integrated with the quality management system.  It begins with the identification of processes.  Then the processes are described and that becomes the basis of the training program – ensuring the persons performing the work understand the processes and are competent to perform them.  And as persons are chosen and assigned to processes, they are evaluated based on their previous education and experience versus the requirements of the process, and where gaps are identified, they are provided with additional training.

Many companies use an LMS (Learning Management System) to manage their training.  Some still do it manually with a simple spreadsheet or training matrix.  But, the common path looks something like this:

1. Job description (including specific skills)
2. Training needs assessment upon hire (typically an expanded version of the initial job description PLUS a list of specific process maps/procedures/work instructions unique to the organization). Competency (degrees, certifications, years experience, specific software usage, etc may be checked off as complete if it is determined sufficient.
3. Training plan (typically an expanded version of the training needs assessment PLUS columns indicating where the gaps are and how they will be filled). For example, one thing may be a procedure (which may be a video training item), one thing may be an OJT (on-the-job training item), one thing may be a seminar they need to attend, etc.  There are many methods to deliver knowledge and fill gaps so that our team members are competent.
4. Competency evaluation (this can be accomplished a number of ways as well – based on the subject matter, there are a number of ways to confirm competency – pass a quiz, “show” the trainer or supervisor, complete a scavenger hunt (or locate documented information, resources, tools, etc to demonstrate they can successfully perform a task), etc.
5. Training records – whether manual or electronic, all training records should include not only evidence that someone completed the training, but they also demonstrated competence. Missing the competence step will result in noncompliance to the training requirements of ISO9001. 

It is important to carefully describe how individuals are selected, their training needs discovered, those needs fulfilled and that the individuals ultimately demonstrate competence.

This requirement is meant to avoid the common trap of people attending training, signing the “sign in sheet”, but missing the message entirely.  Or the training being inadequate, or the individuals needing more practice before they can be considered actually competent.  Attending training doesn’t guarantee competence.  So, the organization is required to take the extra step.

THIS WEEK’S HOMEWORK

How does your organization approach this topic?  Is your training program fully integrated?  Or do silos still exist?  Is your training aligned with your process-based quality management system?  Or are they running in parallel?  Consider opportunities to streamline your organization to meet these requirements as simply as the requirements themselves are written. 

The bulk of your documented processes, procedures and work instructions should exist for the purpose of delivering knowledge and competence to your team.  Instructional documents outside this purpose should be considered for possible removal.  If no one is using the instructional document, (or doesn’t need training to it), why does it exist?  ISO9001 doesn’t require instructional documents that don’t need to be used by someone, and they don’t mean auditors.   Don’t write documents for your auditors.  Write documents your organization will USE!

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But, if you’re ready for more - if you’re ready to TRANSFORM your organization, we can team up LIVE or VIRTUAL for IMPLEMENTATION of ANY or ALL ISO9001 Clauses.  We’ll lead your team and build a fully compliant foundation for your quality system so you and your team can understand the requirements and have the confidence to continue forward on your ISO9001 journey toward BETTER QUALITY.   World Class Quality, ISO9001 certification, lower costs and higher yields are just the beginning of the benefits of a robust quality system.  Connect with us today and LET'S GET STARTED!

And if you’re in the US in the state of Michigan, I’m offering a great summer SPECIAL with no travel reimbursement for projects completed between US Memorial Day and US Labor Day anywhere in the lower peninsula of Michigan!

And the options don't stop there.  

Watch this 3-minute video about another great resource to accompany this series.   Get the self-directed, on demand, online learning series  ISO9001 in Plain English, today and you'll get:

• A clear understanding of the requirements of ISO9001:2015
• Proven tips to build a robust quality system that's easy to use
• Ways to reduce documentation and paperwork (yes, really!!)

Each video is about 15 minutes and targets a specific element of ISO9001, (with over 6 hours of total content!).  We translate all the gobbledegoop into Plain English you can understand and leverage the requirements to get maximum VALUE from your quality efforts. 

For a deeper dive into the process side of your quality system, get Tribal Knowledge - The Practical Use of ISO, Lean and Six Sigma Together, a simple guide to UNITE ISO9001, lean and Six Sigma to create a robust quality system with better results.  Read what ASQ American Society for Quality – Quality Progress Magazine  had to say about it. 

We look forward to taking this YEAR LONG journey with you.  SUBSCRIBE today and the series will come to you weekly to get you off to a great start and your quality system reinvigorated. 

And join me on my journey to always keep improving!