Upper Management Education to the gist of ISO 9001:2000

[cbeck01]

Well, the people on this site seem to be a literal wealth of information! My question involves the education of Upper Management to the gist of ISO 9001:2000.

I would like to conduct an informational meeting for our Upper Management regarding ISO9001:2000. My challenge is that Upper Management in comprised almost entirely of entrepreneruial personalities (translates to "short attention span!")

Is anyone aware of a Powerpoint presentation or something similar that I can utilize to reach this group in a manner that holds their attention and conveys the information in a quick, concise manner? :

 

[Wes Bucey]

Well, the people on this site seem to be a literal wealth of information! My question involves the education of Upper Management to the gist of ISO 9001:2000.

I would like to conduct an informational meeting for our Upper Management regarding ISO9001:2000. My challenge is that Upper Management in comprised almost entirely of entrepreneruial personalities (translates to "short attention span!")

Is anyone aware of a Powerpoint presentation or something similar that I can utilize to reach this group in a manner that holds their attention and conveys the information in a quick, concise manner? :

"Informational" isn't sufficient for me. What is the driving impetus for this organization to even consider ISO9k2k?

Is it customer mandated or independent desire to achieve a great Quality Management System using ISO9k2k as a Gap Analysis checklist to ensure basic hallmarks of a "competent" system are covered.

If it is customer mandated, the task is simply to point out how seamlessly (or not) ISO Registration can be accomplished and the commitment these Upper Management folk need to give it to make the transition as easy as possible.

If the independent desire is generated by them and they want a strong background to assure them they are making the right choice, it might be judicious to perform a simple gap analysis first and make the focus a REAL one of their business, rather than some theoretical stuff which will put even passionate folk like me into a deep slumber.

When in doubt, always remember Wes Bucey's overriding mantra:
Everyone wants to know
"WIIFM?" (What's In It For Me?)

 

[Jen Kirley]

Wes is right, of course.

Instruction is a good part theater. The instructor must deliver a message that his or her audience will appreciate, or the session is doomed.

You must first decide what that message will be, according to your audience. You know them better than we do. Is ISO something they want? Is the idea to make a system that will run smoothly and profitably? Then talk about that, but leave out details--think of what management will feel is their frame of reference.

If you make a powerpoint presentation, watch out not to make it a boredom mobile! You can insert icons that move such as spinning coins as bullets, and maybe some sounds as appropriate. If you dare, you can use humor. I once had a quality manager that made a presentation on continuous improvement. At the "Check" part he included a picture of a chimp poking at a cell phone, and a caption: "Does the darned thing work??" I would only use a couple of these--that good man had a habit of making his slides too cluttered looking to read and soon lost his message.

So, you're not off the hook. IMO you must design the thing yourself because I think a canned product would be worse than a bad idea for a situation you describe.

 

[Wes Bucey]

To add to Jennifer's comment:

We'd all be happy to review what you come up with and offer suggestions as you gel your thoughts!

 

[Pataha]

To start making a presentation your own, you might go to
https://www.9001-info.com/Intro-to-ISO-9001.aspx
They claim to have "3 PowerPoint Presentations to share with your company."
Just keep going down the page until you get to "Free Beginner's Guide" and sign up.
I just located it, I have not used it nor know if its any good. Does add you to a junk mail list of some sort.

Jennifer - is right in that you need to tailor it for your people.

Craig. - Phx

 

[Jconlake]

More Input

The top of your presentation should include a brief summary of where your competitors are in quality and what their plans seem to be, versus the strategic plan of your employer.

It will be one of the first thing results-oriented managers care about. If you try to sell a new strategy without this info, you will be viewed as incompetent.

 

[Govind]

When in doubt, always remember Wes Bucey's overriding mantra:
Everyone wants to know
"WIIFM?" (What's In It For Me?)

Your upper management may not be totally unaware of ISO9001. More than likely this requirement might have come up in the marketing and or strategic planning discussions.

Unlike other initiatives, ISO 9001 payback is a debate still we continue to carryon for years. Payback is not necessarily in the implementation or Compliance; it is in the effectiveness of implementation and compliance.

"WIIFM?" (What's In It For Me?) is probably the approach I would have taken myself.
Very good points from all the previous contributors.

If you can present Cost of poor Quality and hidden costs in your presentation and talk to relationship between the effectiveness of the system to COPQ, it can help address WIIFM.

To be more real, collect your own data from in process nonconformance, external return, calculate the costs of failure (include administration costs) and add to your slides. You may be able to relate effectives of a ISO9001 requirement to almost every single Systemic failure from your analysis. Try not taking the list too long. Just top 5 modes of failures attributing to 80% of the costs would be sufficient.

Try running your numbers through finance for blessing to enhance the credibility.

Good luck with your efforts.

Regards,
Govind.

 

[Wes Bucey]

The top of your presentation should include a brief summary of where your competitors are in quality and what their plans seem to be, versus the strategic plan of your employer.

It will be one of the first thing results-oriented managers care about. If you try to sell a new strategy without this info, you will be viewed as incompetent.

This is a good concept, but not always the way to deal with "entrepreneurial types" - it is more for the conservatives who are "me too' instead of "me first."

The essence of dealing with an entrepreneur is to show him/her how HE/SHE can be the "benchmark" for other companies to aim at, not just "meeting the competition."

Suffice to say, you need to really know your audience and how it might react based on how they have reacted in the past to implementing "standards." Some entrepreneurs can be very close-minded when it comes to the niceties of established organizations.

 

[Laura M]

I find with upper management, the initial presentation needs to 'take away the fear.' Depending on what they actually know about ISO, they probably expect it to 'interfere' with how they want to 'run the business.'

I sometimes start with asking the question: "If you were going to start a brand new business - make it an ice cream shop - what would you need?"

Then the answers start rolling in "A building (infrastructure), cones, ice cream (purchasing), employees (Human resources) " etc. How will you know if the customer like it? Answer: If they come back. Then I point out that they just listed the 'chapters' of ISO, and that ISO has minimum requirements for these functions, but how they accomplish them is up to them.

I then put the interaction diagram up and focus on the Customer input, Management Responsibility requirements. I touch on the detail of Product Realization. At the end I pose some "Fact or Fiction" questions like "All prints must be stamped 'controlled.'" There is usually follow-up meetings, but for the initial 'kick off' training, this seems to be enough.

 

[Wes Bucey]

I find with upper management, the initial presentation needs to 'take away the fear.' Depending on what they actually know about ISO, they probably expect it to 'interfere' with how they want to 'run the business.'

I sometimes start with asking the question: "If you were going to start a brand new business - make it an ice cream shop - what would you need?"

Then the answers start rolling in "A building (infrastructure), cones, ice cream (purchasing), employees (Human resources) " etc. How will you know if the customer like it? Answer: If they come back. Then I point out that they just listed the 'chapters' of ISO, and that ISO has minimum requirements for these functions, but how they accomplish them is up to them.

I then put the interaction diagram up and focus on the Customer input, Management Responsibility requirements. I touch on the detail of Product Realization. At the end I pose some "Fact or Fiction" questions like "All prints must be stamped 'controlled.'" There is usually follow-up meetings, but for the initial 'kick off' training, this seems to be enough.

I like this approach!
Interaction is so much more preferable to flashing pictures at an audience.

Caveat! You have to be pretty savvy in the subject matter to manage this type of education opportunity.