Ecolink Inc. is small company, but you couldn’t find a Fortune 100 company that takes its organizational culture more seriously. Located in Tucker, Georgia, Ecolink (www.ecolink.com) develops and formulates industrial degreasers and solvents. Maybe not a glamorous business, but Ecolink long ago saw an opportunity to leverage its environmental stewardship and help customers make smart choices. “Sustainability is simply the right thing to do,” the company President, John Roudebush, explained. “Secondly, it gives us a huge opportunity to tap into new business. We get a lot of new customers by saying, ‘We’re here to sell you less and safer chemicals.’ It’s a message the really resonates with the environmental, health, and safety community.” The focus on reduction of environmental impacts became one of the driving themes of Ecolink’s business. When the company implemented ISO 9001, they wanted a quality policy that really set the tone for their business practices and strategy. Environmentalism was one of the key principles that was stressed. Never mind that it was a “quality” policy, the point was that this was a major part of their business strategy and it needed to be highlighted in their policy. As John Roudebush led the company through the development of the quality policy, other important themes emerged. These included work-life balance, positive karma, and high integrity and ethics. The final result was a wide-ranging and unique quality policy that truly fit the organization it was written for.
John Roudebush decided that he wanted to go one step further than the quality policy. What sort of employee behaviors would reinforce the principles this company was founded on? This led to the development of the Ecolink Behavioral/Cultural Norms. They represented a natural extension of the quality policy, but defined actions and behaviors that could be put into practice every minute of the day. Over the years the Behavioral/Cultural Norms grew to 25 specific actions that reinforced the organizational culture that John Roudebush was trying to establish. These included such things as “Check your ego at the door,” “Do what’s best for the client,” and “Create a feeling of warmth in every interaction.” In order to make sure every employee understands the Behavioral/Cultural Norms, Ecolink maintains a weekly schedule whereby each employee gets a turn to discuss what a norm means to them. The employees bring the concepts to life through practical examples of how the norms guide their actions. So, when an auditor asks, “How do you communicate and support your quality policy?” John Roudebush tells them to sit back and relax. It might take a while.
Who loves their quality manual? Please give me a show of hands. Hmm, not much enthusiasm. That’s because the quality manual for most companies serves no other purpose than something to give to customers or auditors. Most employees have never seen or heard of their company’s quality manual. And yet it has been a required document of ISO 9001 since the standard was first published. That has changed in ISO 9001:2015. There is no mention of the words “quality manual,” and the only true leftover requirement is that you have to document your quality management system (QMS) scope. I expect that many companies are going to drop their quality manual altogether now that it’s no longer mandated. But wait! Let’s re-imagine the quality manual as a document that actually helps the organization.
First of all, let’s get rid of the rehash of ISO 9001 requirements. Most quality manuals feature this, and the rehash constitutes 95% of the words included. If you want to see what ISO 9001 says, get a copy ISO 9001. The quality manual should be completely focused on the company, period. Secondly, let’s think of the quality manual as a sort of “User Guide for the company’s QMS.” What would an employee or interested party need in a user guide? Well, let’s provide the following:
