Quality management systems are an area of business everyone concedes is important, as the appropriate ISO accreditations are needed to get on the preferred supplier lists of major companies. However, too many firms see the standards as necessary evils and overlook their other potential benefits.
If businesses spend money to achieve ISO 9001 status, it makes sense to ensure they see some kind of improvements from it. A crucial step towards doing this is to ensure ISO internal auditors receive proper training. This is important for a number of reasons:
They understand what ISO is for
The primary purpose of any kind of staff education is to ensure they know what they are doing and that is certainly the case with ISO auditor training. All too often, internal audits are seen as box-ticking exercises, rather than a method of monitoring quality and identifying improvements. A good ISO training course will help to change that attitude, by giving the internal auditor a genuine understanding of the importance of good management practice. They can then act as a champion for high standards within the business and explain to other staff why they should stick to procedures.
Identifying improvements
If all the internal auditors do is monitor compliance with ISO standards, the benefits of accreditation to the company will be limited. Staff who have received proper quality management system training should be able to do much more than just complete forms that confirm the existing procedures are being used. A skilled internal auditor should also have the ability to analyse information and identify opportunities for improvements. Even relatively small improvements to procedures can result in efficiency savings, ensuring the auditor training courses more than pay for themselves.
Dealing with problems
One issue every diligent internal auditor faces is how to handle any problems they identify. Typically, the process involves having to advise people who are above them in the organisation’s management structure or staff members who are set in their ways. Proper training will help to give internal auditors an idea of the communication strategies they should use to get their point across. This should allow them to avoid confrontation and share ownership of the problem with the relevant manager. Systems work best when the managers who have to follow the procedures on a day-to-day basis have some input in to them, so a skilled auditor should be able to solve problems by allowing others to come up with workable ideas for changes and how to implement them.
Reducing costs
Many businesses choose to use the services of consultancies to carry out internal audits for ISO 9001 and other management systems, such as ISO 14001, ISO 13485 and ISO 27001. This can be effective, but it is an unnecessary expense. Sending staff on high-quality auditor training courses will soon pay for itself, as it will mean there is no need to use external providers for routine audit work. Properly trained internal auditors should also be able to contribute to the efficiency of the business by identifying areas for improvements.
Reputational benefit
ISO accreditation has become a crucial sales tool in the business-to-business marketplace, as many companies require all their suppliers to have the relevant quality, information and environmental management systems in place. As such, firms that have organised proper management system training for their internal auditors are looked on more favourably.
If you are interested in training your internal auditors to the very highest level, Batalas offer ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Courses, ISO 9001 Lead Auditor Training Courses, and ISO 9001 Implementation Workshops.
