Jonell said:
Okay, time to break the cycle...lol. As a new Quality Manager several years back, I was hired to implement ISO 9000:1994. I was told at the time of hire that I would be working with a consultant that they had already hired, which sounded great at the time. To make a long story short, we had our registration audit 3 months after I hired, because the consultant said we were ready (he chose the registrar). I had already expressed serious misgivings with the president/owner of the company about the readiness of the company. Well, we failed the audit miserably, the president/owner fired the consultant, and 6 months later we were registered to ISO.
Jonell
Having been a consultant for (probably too many) years, and having seen a whole host of standards, I must confess to having undertaken assignments which I personally regarded as failures. Fortunately, to fewer than the fingers on one hand do they total.
The "failures" have all occurred for the same reason: lack of top management support. In each case regardless of how hard I worked, how much persuasion I offered and reasoned argument for the business case of a sensible quality program, the CEO failed to provide the drive, leadership, resources etc for the client's staff to do what was required.
Any consultant who claims he or she "will put in the program" is being thoroughly disingenuous. One can advise, one can give case stories, one can assist with the development and improvement of the processes/ systems/ organizational arangements etc., but one CANNOT force the process owners to actually implement the stuff, one CANNOT coerce the CEO into enforcing compliance with the systems etc the client ityself has decided upon for the registration or for the quality program. As much as on those (failure) occasions I YEARNED for the kind of authority that comes with process ownership, that nevers occurs: and that is the sad nature of consulting.
The great puzzle is why did those CEOS bother to engage one's services if they had no intention of moving from the status quo or supporting what was required?
And, those who want the "instant-buy-it-off-the-shelf", ready to go CD of procedures, documents and all that you need assignment are not the ones I ever deal with.
If a consultant "picks" the registrar, that is unprofessional. If the client wants the consultant to "pick a registrar you know will pass us" - run for the hills: your reputation is ultimately at risk.