#241 Raise your Game With The Leadership Powerup Gameplan

An ISO Management System can't survive without Leadership engagement. It was seen as such an essential aspect that 'Leadership commitment' became a key requirement of many ISO Standards back in 2015 when the Annex SL format was adopted. It's easy to see why. An effective Management System will provide vital information for top management to make decisions on processes, policies and strategic direction. So, how do you get leadership involved with your ISO management system? In this episode, Steph Churchman is joined by Sarah Ball, the Service Improvement Manager at Blackmores, to discuss why leadership involvement is so crucial to effective ISO management, and explains how you can get their buy in whether you've got a mature system or are newly implementing ISO Standards. You'll learn · What is the isologyhub? · What issue is the Leadership Powerup tackling? · Who is the Leadership Powerup aimed at? · What are the six steps in the Leadership Powerup Gameplan? Resources · Isologyhub · What is the Isologyhub? · The Integral Role of Leadership within ISO · Aligning Objectives with Strategic Direction In this episode, we talk about: [02:05] Episode Summary – Blackmores Service Improvement Manager joins Steph on this episode to talk about the crucial role leadership plays in ISO management, and how you can get the most out of their involvement. [00:45] What is the isologyhub? The isologyhub is our online learning platform for all things ISO. Its main feature is the ISO Roadmap, a 7-step guided approach to implementing your own bespoke ISO 14001 compliant Environmental Management System. Since it's creation, it's grown to hold a library of over 200+ ISO related resources. The content available varies from quick accessible content such as ISO templates, ISO handbooks and short from video training we call Coffee Break Training which explain key elements of ISO Standards. This goes onto more in-depth content such as our ISO Pathways which take you through 3 levels of learning to help you progress from Learner to leader in your chosen subject area. There's other exclusive content on there which you can dip into, including ISO templates, training videos and previous workshops covering topics such as ESG and AI management. We also have a number of Gameplans, which are essentially guides where people can work through a particular set of information about a topic and get practical guidance that can be applied within their own organisation. [02:05] What issue is the Leadership Powerup tackling? In the past, it was quite easy for leadership to lose interest in the Management System once it had been implemented. This was in part due to how Standards used to be written, and would result in the system being delegated to specific individuals. In 2015 this, along with a number of other issues, were addressed and a new clause structure was introduced. This means that Leadership Commitment now isn't optional, as it's a direct requirement of all ISO Standards (Clause 5 typically). The Leadership Powerup Gameplan aims to help leadership understand their role in making the Management System effective for the wider business. It helps to assess their current level of commitment and guides you through a path of improvement to get them to be a positive ambassador for the Management System. Where leadership is concerned, it's important to remember that you're leading by example. If you don't care about the Management System, why should anyone else? For those that want more of a deep dive on Leadership's role within ISO, check out a previous podcast. [06:05] Who is the Leadership Powerup aimed at?: As a minimum it should be the individual or team that have day-to-day responsibilities relating to the management system. Ideally you would also want a member of leadership, as you'll need their input to gauge the current level of commitment. [06:50] What are the six steps in The Leadership Powerup?: Step 1: Evaluate Leadership – For this step it's important that you're 100% honest in your reflection of how leadership are currently promoting and engaging with the management system. It includes a workbook to help you self-score, though we recommend getting a team involved who can help shape a full perspective their engagement in reality. The included workbook also contains examples of key causes for a lack of leadership engagement. It walks you through the reasons for these causes, as it's only through understanding why something is happening is when you can seek to resolve the issues. Step 2: Boosting Knowledge - This section works through what good looks like in terms of effective leadership commitment. You need to be able to understand the ideal end point before you can plan on how to get there. Included in this section are key definitions and videos that break down what good looks like for ...