There’s a reason that Lego has remained so popular over the 70 years since its conception. It’s fun, creative, easy to put together and versatile. There aren’t many people (adults or children) who can resist the urge to push a few blocks together if there’s a Lego set in front of them.
Recently, while building Lego houses with my son, I started thinking about how ISO frameworks fit together in a similar way.
Building your business a block at a time
When you start a business, it can be a little bit like receiving a box of random Lego bricks. You have an idea what you want to build, but not what it will look like at the end. You start putting bricks together, you add to it, change it and occasionally break bits apart to rebuild. You try different things, you adapt, and eventually, you start forming something that almost resembles what you wanted.
As your team grows, they start to add bricks, but they have their own idea of what they are building, and your original structure starts to change and evolve.
Everyone is enjoying playing with the Lego bricks, but without a clear plan, nobody knows what they are aiming for or when they are close to achieving it.
Implementing an ISO framework is like getting a Lego box set. You have a clear picture of what you are building and step by step instructions showing you how to build it.
Imagine your business is made up of Lego bricks, each labelled with something different – HR, H&S, marketing, finance, sales, and so on. You have all the pieces you need; you simply need to fit them together in the right order to create a business that works. The ISO frameworks give you that order.
With Lego, you can adapt. If you don’t have a long brick, you can swap it out for two smaller bricks and still get the same result. This is the same with your ISO framework. You can adapt the framework to meet the needs of your business and still end up with the same result.
Once you have your structure, if bits do come apart or break off, you can rebuild or replace. If you want to swap a piece out, you can take the structure apart methodically and put it back together again with the new piece in place.
One of the best things about Lego is that anyone can enjoy it, no matter what age or ability. The great thing about ISO frameworks is that any business can benefit, no matter what size or industry.
Building your QMS
A Quality Management System (QMS) is a key part of achieving ISO 9001 certification, but even if you don’t want the certificate, having the framework in place provides many benefits. The purpose of it is to ensure you deliver quality products and services to your clients and customers. In doing so, you’ll improve efficiency, productivity and profitability, reduce waste and create a more engaged team.
You may think that implementing a QMS is difficult, but as the Lego analogy shows, you can do it one brick at a time. It’s simply a process driven approach to business.
Rather than sticking bricks together in a random order, you look at which bricks need to fit together to make your business efficient and effective. You’ll probably find that you already have a lot of the pieces you need and that you’ve already got some of them in the right place.
Customer focus
This is the base of your business – the thing you build your Lego on. If there is no demand for your product or services, then it doesn’t matter how good your systems are, you won’t make any money. If you can’t supply what your customers want to the standard they want, then you’ll spend more of your time rectifying problems than solving them.
Your people, your processes and your systems should all be focused on delivering customer satisfaction. Regardless of whether you are thinking about creating a QMS or not, focusing on the customer will benefit your business.
Employee engagement
Too many businesses invest in expensive systems or develop convoluted processes that don’t work. They usually fail because employees don’t engage with the systems, they skip steps in the process, or they change the process to make it more practical.
Implementing ISO frameworks offers you the perfect opportunity to get your employees engaged with your business and the processes behind it.
Think of it as the difference between showing your employees the Lego box so they know what they are building compared to simply asking them to pass you the pieces. As a team, you can build systems that work, brick by brick.
Clear processes
Most businesses have processes they follow, but these aren’t always documented. As more employees join the company, these processes can get watered down. This has an impact on the quality of the product or service that’s being delivered.
Documented processes ensure every employee completes tasks in the same way to the same standard, information is recorded in the same way, and new employees receive consistent training.
Your processes should be refined, adapted and improved as your business grows and evolves.
Data collection and analysis
In business, we keep track of income and expenditure so that we know if we are profitable, but we need to measure other metrics too. If you don’t measure results, how do you know if what you are doing works?
You may already be collecting data such as customer feedback, returns, complaints, marketing metrics, wastage and sales, but are you utilising this data? Do you understand your sales cycle? Do you know what your most common complaints are? Are you taking steps to reduce waste?
A good QMS will allow you to collect and record the right data so that you can use it to make better business decisions.
Continuous improvement
Just like with Lego, once your QMS is in place, you can build on it, add to it, and change it as your business needs change. The fun part is building it together with your team.
Time to upgrade your Lego
One of the best things about Lego is that it is so versatile. You can build anything you want – the only limit is your imagination. In fact, many people prefer building Lego free-range rather than following instructions.
This is all well and good when you really are just playing with Lego, but in business, it’s better to have a guideline.
You might not be ready for ISO certification; you might never want it. That doesn’t mean that you can’t start putting the framework in place. Just like with Lego, once you have the pieces, you can do what you want with them at your own pace.
I’m passionate about helping SMEs get ISO frameworks in place, regardless of whether they want to obtain certification or not. Quality isn’t exclusive to corporations – you don’t have to be turning over billions to build a great business.
Building ISO frameworks may not be quite as much fun as playing with Lego, but watching the pieces come together will be just as satisfying. I view myself as pretty average when it comes to building Lego models, but fortunately, I’m an expert when it comes to ISO frameworks. If you’d like to find out more about how to implement effective systems in your business, then give me a call. Let’s build your business together one brick at a time.
