Although the ISO 9001 family of standards requires top management to take specific actions to demonstrate leadership in relation to the quality system, in reality, the concept of leadership in this context is not so much about actions as it is about the mindset that leads to those actions.
Demonstrating leadership with specific reference to all aspects related to quality means adopting a particular way of thinking about quality and how to meet the requirements of reference standards. This mindset also includes demonstrating habits that can influence employees' actions in achieving customer satisfaction. Why is leadership so important in quality, and why does ISO 9001:2015 emphasize this concept so frequently?
Without leadership, the direction in which an organization should move would be left to chance, as managers would focus only on the present—maintaining the system's immediate efficiency and reacting to situations as they arise—without any concern for the future. Leadership, on the other hand, is essential for all organizations that aim to improve their performance over time and continue providing customers with high-quality products and services, even in an ever-changing environment.
Having clarified this, how can leadership be exercised effectively when designing, implementing, and maintaining a quality management system over time? Every member of top management who can be considered competent in their role is accustomed to identifying key stakeholders, understanding their needs, and deciding in which direction to steer the organization to meet these needs while simultaneously achieving business objectives. Similarly, a skilled executive knows how to achieve these goals, which resources to allocate, and so on.
When top management understands the importance of prioritizing quality in decision-making, it means they already possess the necessary mindset to exercise the right kind of leadership required to meet ISO 9001:2015 requirements. However, if executives tend to prioritize profits when making strategic decisions, it is essential to remind them of the importance of satisfying customers by delivering added value.
Generally, when integrity is embraced as a core value and translated into a commitment to working with customers openly, honestly, and transparently, employees naturally follow suit. Values can be easily assessed by examining individual actions and decisions and determining what has been implemented as a result. If there is a misalignment between what is claimed to be important for the organization and what employees actually do, immediate action must be taken to correct it—providing clear examples to follow rather than merely reiterating a set of rules. This is what it means to exercise strong leadership.
Ultimately, it is not crucial for management to know every detail of the ISO 9001:2015 certification requirements, but rather to be capable of driving change, continuously improving quality, guiding employees along this path, and enhancing quality-related outputs.
Let’s now examine the key beliefs that top management should share with their teams—beliefs that, if internalized, will naturally lead to the creation and retention of satisfied customers:
- Profit is a business requirement but not a goal. It is essential for mitigating potential risks associated with business activities and managing potential losses.
- Business activities should be based on doing the right things, and this approach should generate financial returns.
- Financial returns are proportional to the quality of an organization’s products and services.
- Customers seek products and services that meet their needs and expectations, and they are the sole judges of what constitutes good or poor quality.
- The daily application of quality principles and best practices enables an organization to do the right things and deliver high-quality products and services that create satisfied customers.
- Organizations that prioritize quality satisfy customers in a way that also fulfills the expectations of all other stakeholders.
- “Quality” is not the name of a corporate department, nor does it define a specific role or job—it is an outcome. When quality falls below customer expectations, it leads to dissatisfaction.
- An organization's results stem from interactions among people who, in turn, can work effectively together because they share policies, practices, resources, and values applied through a formal system of processes.
- This system, which manages the quality of products and services, is the quality system and is based on ISO 9001:2015.
- ISO 9001:2015 should be adapted to fit the organization, not the other way around.
As you can see, everything outlined above is simply applied common sense. So where do leadership-related issues originate? The problem often arises because many executives are comfortable handling technical matters but far less confident when it comes to human relationships or anything related to people and their ways of working. However, it is crucial to understand that a good top manager must be able to manage people just as effectively as they handle technical challenges—o