June 12, 2025 • 39 mins
If you want to avoid nasty surprises, stay on track, and keep your system working for you—not against you—a quick mid-year check-in might be the smartest move you make.
When was the last time you actually looked at your ISO system—like really looked?
Not when the audit was booked. Not when something broke. Just a quick check-in... to see what’s working, what’s not, and where you're heading next.
If that question makes you pause, you’re not alone...
In this milestone 50th episode of Lead the Standard, hosts Kelly Taylor and Jackie Stapleton discuss the importance of performing a mid-year ISO system check. They talk about the benefits of a quick review toensure systems are working efficiently, not just when audits are due or issues arise.
The episode outlines a simple yet effective 'traffic light' model each with key questions to realign objectives, assess risks, and engage the team. They emphasize the importance of scheduling these checks to prevent burnout and ensure continuous improvement. Join them for tips on staying proactive and avoiding the pitfallsof becoming too absorbed in day-to-day operations.
Notable timestamps:
- 00:00 Introduction and Importance of Midyear Check-In
- 00:32 Celebrating the 50th Episode
- 02:17 Midyear ISO Health Check: Concept and Importance
- 03:08 Personal Reflection and Financial Analogies
- 05:52 Introducing the Midyear ISO Health Check Model
- 08:16 Red Light Review: Stop and Look
- 16:12 Amber Light Reflect: Get Ready
- 20:13 Brainstorming and Reflecting on Current Systems
- 21:07 The Importance of Recent Training
- 25:06 Taking Action with the Green Light
- 29:14 Mid-Year Check-In and StrategySession
- 35:30 Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead
The usual links:
- Read the LTS Article: https://blog.auditortrainingonline.com/lead-the-standard/2025-19
- ATOL: https://auditortrainingonline.com/
Connect with Jackie:
- https://jackiestapleton.com/
- Jackies Book is coming register for pre-sale now…. https://jackiestapleton.myflodesk.com/leadthestandardbook
Connect with Kelly:
Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for general guidance and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, guests, and contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Auditor Training Online (ATOL) or its affiliated entities.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information shared, including references to ISO standards and related clauses, this content should not be considered definitive legal,regulatory, or professional advice. Listeners should always consult with a qualified professional for advice tailored to their specific business context or compliance obligati
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Do you want to avoid nasty surprises, stay on track, and
keep your system working for you, not against you?
A quick media check in might just be the smartest move you
could make. So when was the last time you
actually looked at your ISO systems?
Like, really looked. Not when the audit was booked or
not when something broke. Just a quick check in to see
(00:22):
what's working, what's not, and where you're heading next.
Now, if that question makes you pause, I promise you're not
alone. It's something we're going to be
talking about today. Welcome to Lead the Standard.
Hello everyone, Welcome. I am Kelly Taylor and I am here
(00:43):
with my apparently always fabulous Co host Jackie
Stapleton. And today's episode is a little
bit special because we've just realised it's our 50th episode.
This is our 50th podcast. And that's 50 episodes to
rethink leadership challenges, assumptions about auditors and
(01:03):
systems, have real conversationsabout what it means to lead the
standard in a fast moving world.Probably more honestly.
It's 50 episodes of ISO chaos, bad jokes, friends having a good
work chat that everyone else caneavesdrop on, regardless of what
that 50 means. We are so grateful that everyone
has joined us on this journey. Whether you've been here from
(01:25):
episode 1 or you're just joiningus now.
Thank you very much. Happy podcast adversary Jackie.
Thank you. Like when I saw that 50th
celebration sort of on the run sheet when I was prepping, I
thought, oh, is she saying I'm turning 50?
Like if I stepped back in time. You wish, you wish.
(01:47):
You do look fabulous. You do look fabulous.
Yeah, sadly neither is. Yeah, yeah, sadly neither is.
Appeared to have dressed for theoccasion.
I'm always late to the party, solook, it is what it is.
I think we've dressed for the weather though, so apologies in
advance for all of the finger rubbing and hearing that's
(02:08):
happening today. It is freezing in Southeast
Queensland today and by that I mean still warmer than half of
Europe and Melbourne, but it's cold.
So let's let's get started. Jackie, as we hit that mid year
mark, many of us are powering through those projects and
audits and all of those objectives.
We're doing it here, but there is that question, are we still
(02:32):
on track or are we just chargingahead?
And this episode we're going to talk about the idea of a media
ISO health check, a quick pause to reflect, recalibrate and
refocus before things start to snowball into second-half chaos.
And I think we've all been a little bit guilty of that.
I'm already planning Christmas parties, etcetera, etcetera.
(02:54):
So it's a topic we have explored, as always in our
latest edition of Lead the Standard in the article, if you
haven't read it yet, you'll findthe link in the show notes.
But Jackie, I know that this edition started with another
moment of personal reflection for you.
Do you want to walk us through what sparked this one?
(03:14):
Oh, yeah, I was thinking about that because I wrote, I wrote
this a little while ago, but I suppose it's a, you know, what's
the plan? Several things that sort of came
into context like every week. And maybe you do the same thing
I do, you know, in inverted commerce, the banking.
(03:36):
So, you know, part of that is making sure you pay bills.
Part of that is I update some spreadsheets so I can keep track
of what we're spending on what. So it's a good, good chance to
reflect back. You know, if you, if you need,
you borrow money for a car or, or remortgage a house, you need
(03:57):
a budget. So I always find that easier
just to go back. And I just updated every week.
And then of course, I'm saying Ijust actually wrote this down as
a reminder, tax returns for us in Australia, you know, I know
it's been 8 March or April. When I was writing this before I
(04:20):
was away for a while, you know, the accountants were saying, oh,
we still need this, we still need this.
And so, you know, I had to go back into those spreadsheets and
show them, well, this is how much, you know, we earned for
that. This is the expenses.
And that's sort of when you go through and go, why is that what
we really spent? You know, it's, it's, you know
(04:44):
what, what are we, what are we doing?
And that's what made me realise it's like, well, what does this
look like in, you know, the ISO world that, that we work in?
So, you know, we've got the weekly checks, of course, but
what should you do annually or mid year even?
You know that, that we're, we'resort of used to, I know we've
(05:07):
got audits and monitoring and measurement, but it's sort of
made me think, OK, well, what, what's a good maybe light bulb
moment? Some something that will help us
to reflect on in the middle of the year to go, OK, it's it's
already June. It's nearly Christmas.
(05:28):
As you said, we're going to start planning Christmas.
How are we going? Because because we need to go,
OK, we've got another, you know,half of the year to go.
Is there something that we need to catch up on?
Are our objectives being met andso on and so forth.
And that's, that's sort of yeah.Where this where this came from?
(05:51):
Yeah. And there's a lot of needs it
does. It does.
So let's let's jump into exactlywhat you've done with this one,
because there's another fun little model you've created and
it's really not as complicated as I think people.
Think no. Well, it's actually quite simple
(06:12):
because it's really using, Yeah,traffic lights, which we're all
familiar. We like open like pretty much,
you know, mean the same thing nomatter where you are.
Make sure you don't drive through a red light actually.
Oh, I might bring that up when Ido the the red one.
But yeah, so along those lines, I've used like a traffic light,
(06:34):
you know, red, amber, green. So we're calling this the mid
year ISO health check. So the reason I went for the
traffic light is because it doesn't actually have to be
complicated. Anything in ISO doesn't have to
be, but it's things should stillhappen.
OK, things still need to happen.So this is sort of like maybe
(06:59):
it's a quick stop at the trafficlights following the lights,
though, if it, you know, don't speed through the amber light,
stop at the red and only go on the green.
But you know, we've got review where you're at.
So that's the red light, reflecton what's changed amber and then
refocus, put your foot down, go,you know where where are you
(07:23):
headed? OK, that's the green 1.
So, so before you continue through to the end of this year,
oh any, any year, if you're listening to this, you know, in
the future, you know, it's just about taking a moment to realign
(07:43):
your system and stay on track. All right.
And we'll, I'll explain each point.
There's really, honestly not much to each point, which is
really what I like about it, to be honest.
It's, it is, it's just, it's just sort of a bit of a catalyst
to go, OK, let's stop. What are we looking at?
OK. Will I go through each of them
(08:05):
and say what you think? Let's do it because yeah, I'm,
I'm happy to talk about your driving skills in the next
couple of minutes. I know.
Yeah, I'll talk about that. OK, The first one is review the
red light, red light review, stop and look.
(08:29):
OK, The big thing with this one,I sort of like the snapshot that
I put in the newsletter. It said what was meant to happen
and has it. It's that it's really that
simple. So what was meant to happen and
has it. So this is about pausing, taking
(08:52):
stock, looking back, not charging it, keeping on charging
ahead without stopping and looking back and and and
checking. OK.
So remember it was about what was meant to happen and has it.
So there's sort of three things there that I thought stood out
(09:17):
and they all, funny enough, relate to different clauses
which, you know, align to all ofthe standards because it follows
a high level structure. So the four things I want you to
ask yourself for this red light review, stop and look is have
you made progress on your objectives?
(09:37):
So we're asking ourselves, have we made progress on our
objectives? To what extent are we meeting
the objectives? You should be doing this in
management review anyway. So that aligns with clause 9.3.
And of course, your objectives are 6.2, but this is just an
(09:57):
extra stop to go. Have we checked lately?
All right. The second one is, are our risks
and opportunities still relevant?
OK. And of course actions to address
risks and opportunities is clause 6.1.
So we may have identified our recent opportunities six months,
(10:19):
12 months two years ago. I, I don't know what, how often
you check these in your system, but especially these days in
business things are changing often.
So and our risks and opportunities change within
different influences, OK. And those influences again come
from 4.14 point 2. So it's a good time to go.
(10:43):
Are these still relevant? OK.
The third one is, are our internal audits on schedule?
And you know this Kelly, becausewe talk about this as one of our
scenarios in our virtual training.
It's it's very common and our internal audits, yeah, we have,
(11:06):
we have trouble keeping up with our internal audits.
So you know, this is a high riskour internal our your internal
audits on schedule, OK. Or are they overdue?
So this should be a light bulb moment.
You need to stop and go holy cow, like I need to do something
about this. OK.
(11:27):
And then finally the 4th question to ask yourself for
review, stop and look is what's the status of your corrective
actions? So or you know, whatever you
want to call it, how you record your non conformances and then
your corrective actions as a result of that.
Are their open corrective actions still open or lingering?
(11:50):
Have they been open for a while?Why are they still open?
OK, so you can see there's very core elements that I've picked
up in this review. Stop and look OK.
Your objectives, your risks and opportunities, your internal
audits, and your corrective action status, all very key
(12:11):
parts of your system. Can you rely what's interesting?
Yeah. Well, what's interesting was as
you were talking through that, Iwas thinking about how I
actually was relating this to last week's conversation where
we were talking about that very thing question you asked what
was meant to happen and has it and stopping and reflecting on
(12:32):
what and why and where have we made that progress, What is
stopping us? What are those risks?
So last week we were talking about working through that
imposter syndrome and out and those roadblocks as an
individual. And now we've kind of taken it
to that next level at a businesslevel.
And these are all really, as yousaid, really important things.
(12:52):
Everything in this space is important, but I think these
ones can be very easily overlooked if you don't actually
stop. And I like, and that's why I
like that you actually highlighted a stop, a red light
here because your objectives without those things aren't
going to go well. Your risks, and they are
(13:13):
absolutely changing. And I think they're not changing
as infrequently as they used to.Risks are evolving rapidly now,
but on the flip side, so are opportunities.
So keeping on top of. Yeah, keeping on top of those
much more efficiently and yet internal audits, we've
(13:34):
acknowledged that's something that we struggle with here as
well. Everybody does.
But again, why and is there something we can fix or is there
a different way, those sorts of things.
But yeah, that last one is also is a another big one, the
corrective action are they stillbring, But again, the why the
why it's not just are they yes, no, there's more questions to
(13:58):
follow up on that, which I thinkwe're going to well get to.
Yeah, right. I think these things are things
that like once when we, you know, in in full move forward
mode and we're in the doing and we're stuck in the doing, we
forget about these high level. Well, there's some high level
(14:22):
stuff there. There's some tools there for
improvement as well because you know, we're too, we're too busy.
Yeah, so. That's the best thing we have to
stop. Yes, that's right.
That's right. Yeah.
So yeah, no, that's a good point.
And I don't know that we necessarily forget about them.
(14:42):
We probably don't probably all know that they're there and are
having those light bulb or thosered light flashing warning,
warning, warning. But without that stopping, then
they do get pushed back, push back, push back, push back.
So allocating time in the day, the week, the month, yeah, yeah,
(15:03):
allocating the time to actually stop and do that uninterrupted
will help form everything else. And we've got a couple of those
meetings locked in over the nextcouple of weeks and months
ourselves and we've had some recently as well, so.
Yeah, Yeah. So it's prior like prioritizing.
It's sort of like what's that say?
You don't plan to fail, you failto plan.
(15:25):
That's it, Absolutely. Yeah, this is very, very similar
to that because it is that high level stuff and and the very
important tools. So as opposed to and that's a
key take away. I'm going to grab onto it.
You said this is something that you should stop and look at, as
opposed to the amber light whereit's sort of, I suppose, get
(15:50):
ready or some people just put their foot down and go go
through it. Some people even go through red
light, but that doesn't help anybody, obviously.
So the second area around, what did I call it again?
ISO, health check. I have to remind myself.
(16:11):
Second area. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly in the ISO health check is reflect.
So that's the amber light and it's sort of get ready.
So the big thing here, the big question for me in this one that
I like and helps me to understand what get ready is or
the amber light is, does your system reflect your current
(16:36):
reality? Right.
So yeah, you're sort of not moving yet, but you're preparing
to. But this is the time really to
assess and align. And some of these might come as
a result of stopping at the red light that we we just talked
(16:58):
about. But there's still, there's four
questions again here to ask yourself, has anything changed
in our business context or stakeholders?
And I actually mentioned this when I went through the four
questions for for stop. OK, So this is clause 4.1 and
4.2. What's changed what?
What's changed internally or externally that influences your
(17:22):
business, right? And the stakeholders come into
play because they're interested parties as well.
And we need to understand what their needs and expectations
are. And of course, well, based on
what their needs and expectations are, how does that
influence what we do with our system, right?
So ask yourself that it's it's time to go back and go, OK, has
(17:46):
anything changed? OK, The second question is, are
recurring issues starting to show up, right?
So in stop, we asked about othercorrective actions still
lingering or overdue, right? This is more about, well, you've
closed out a non conformance, you implemented your corrective
(18:10):
action, you should have reviewedit and then closed it out.
But something's still happening again.
But why are we banging our head against this brick wall again?
Yeah, what's going on? But this should it should not be
recurring. The third question is, have
(18:32):
staff received training or the right training even?
Are there some gaps showing up with our team mates?
OK. And it's you know, it's not
about the person, it's about theprocess.
So that's really important for the success of any any business.
And then finally, the 4th question to ask in the Reflect
(18:55):
Amber get ready stage is, are westill meeting compliance and
legal requirements? So again, so that's normally
Clause 613 in standards. If it's in there with 9001, it
will come up in Clause 8.1. But again, things change, right?
(19:16):
And we did talk about things changing in, in stop as well,
like our recent opportunities. Are they still relevant?
The risks and opportunities comeabout as a result of these
things changing. OK, so your risks and
opportunities change if your business contacts or your needs
(19:38):
and expectations of stakeholdersor interested parties change.
The risks and opportunities comeabout when you identify any
training requirements as well for staff and of course if any
compliance and legal requirements change as well.
So you can see as usual in any discussion we have that goes
(20:03):
with ISO standards, there's linkages, OK.
We can't do one thing without itimpacting another and that's a
pot that can be a positive thingas well.
It's very cyclical and there's lots of links there.
That's just four things I've come up with to help you, I
suppose, just to start brainstorming.
(20:25):
Does your system reflect your current reality?
Okay. And here's what are you using
that That's the brain is storming.
The whole time you were talking through that, I was going off on
other than having to tell myselfto focus, Kelly, focus.
She's going to talk to you in a minute.
(20:46):
But yeah, even even just asking the questions does trigger a lot
of different things. And the one thing again, going
back to last bit, we talked about our resource register last
week and that's become really helpful.
Actually. I've actually shared that with a
couple of teammates since that conversation again, just because
they want to keep an eye on where they're spending their
time. And this is this reflects space
(21:08):
is good for them in that as well.
But on that you said here have the staff receive training and
then you highlighted the right training.
I want to come back to that as well is have the staff recently
undergone training? Because we all do things and I'm
going to use a hairdressing apprentice and my physio
(21:31):
graduate as an example here. The hairdresser, the senior
hairdresser and The Apprentice hairdresser have all received
training. They've all received the right
training, but one of them's doneit more recently and they have
new fresh ideas, new techniques,new perspective, and a renewed
enthusiasm around that next week's conversation.
(21:55):
So yes, we've all, we've all done training at some point.
Not all of the training needs tohappen all of the time.
Like Hassip, for example, you some areas you need to do Hassip
professor training every 12 months.
If you're doing a blue card and things like that, white card,
you need to renew that. There's a lot of things You
don't need to renew that training, but it's certainly
(22:19):
beneficial to renew that for your own enthusiasm to learn new
things. So I think, yeah.
Is the training current or recent?
I think is a really important one here as well, especially
when we're dealing with the rapid changes of risks and
opportunities. I think that, yeah, recent
(22:39):
training is a big one. Yeah, it's not just about, it's
not just about, Oh my, my certificate has expired.
I now need to do this to renew it.
It's about just staying current the whole time and being, you
know, being up to date with what's going on because then you
(23:02):
can add value. Absolutely, absolutely.
Being open to change and new ideas and different
perspectives. So and yeah, I think that can
kind of give you a different perspective towards those
recurring issues. Is, is that recurring issue
(23:22):
because our training mentality is out of date?
Is are there new things that we could be doing instead?
Are there new systems? Are we meeting our legal and
compliance obligations? No, because we haven't done yes.
So the reflection is, I know that we say this is not about,
(23:43):
it's all about the process, not the person.
But I feel like the reflection is a really good space to look
at the team and the opportunities for the team and
how they can contribute a littlebit more effectively.
Because I just said that the stock was very high level around
objectives, etcetera. And this reaction is about,
well, a little bit more about application, I think, and not
(24:05):
just your current reality, current environment and the
reality of that. Absolutely, Yeah.
That's a good point. Yeah.
It's a good opportunity to get get the team involved for sure.
Yeah, yeah. OK, kind of ready.
To sorry, we got a lag today everyone, we've got a lag today.
(24:26):
Thank you. I looking at each other going
we're talking I. Know it's like, what didn't you
just say Kelly feel? Like we're back in the 90s on
the phone. You got that?
St. they? I'm not even gonna send the
international driving. Are you there?
Wait 10 minutes. Yes.
Yeah. Let's move on to the choppy
(24:48):
throne. Let's refocus.
Dragon, yes, let's refocus. And I'm having trouble seeing
you as well, so I can't even seeyour mouth.
It's like you've been overly glamour sheltered.
Probably not a bad thing. So the third one, of course, is
(25:13):
the green light, OK? And it's time to refocus and go,
OK, only on the green light. So and now you can actually take
action and move forward. And I know Kelly and I have
talked about, you know, with thered light and the amber light,
the outcome of those questions we're posing.
But obviously again, we'll find a link, I'm sure.
(25:37):
OK, I don't want to, don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm
pretty sure I'll find a link. But the key question here or the
key statement that I like is don't just wait for an audit.
Take control of stuff now, OK? Or as I always say, put it in
the internal audit schedule. Then Now if there's if there is
(26:00):
a new risk or something that's occurred and you do need to keep
an eye on it, as I've always said, use your internal audit
schedule to manage risk, OK. So again, there's four questions
or points or considerations for you to set your direction
(26:20):
through this green light, OK? The first one is reschedule any
missed audits, OK, or reviews ifthat's in your monitoring.
So remember in the red light we talked about is your internal
audit schedule on track? OK, so here's some actions.
And as Kelly said, don't just go.
(26:40):
Yes, no, Kelly said. Well, why?
But then of course, you need to address it.
It's like, no use. Yeah, yes, acknowledge it.
That's fantastic to acknowledge it, but what are you going to do
about it? This is the green light.
OK. The second point is close any
outstanding, outstanding corrective actions again in the
(27:01):
red light when we said stop, it asks are there any corrective
actions lingering? What's the status of corrective
action? So now we're saying we'll do
something about it. What's going on?
OK. And we also said in the amber
light about non conformances recurring as well.
(27:22):
So that should come up again in your, your status of your in
your red light section. OK.
So work on those corrective actions and ensure they don't
recur, OK, implement corrective action that prevents recurrence.
And then the third one actually sort of goes along the line of
where Kelly was heading with theamber light to reflect and get
(27:47):
ready is reconnect with your team, OK?
Kelly talked about, you know this re what was it?
Reflect and get ready. It's like it is a good
opportunity to pull the team in.It's engagement here, OK, It's
not, it's not just your system or the businesses system, it's
(28:08):
everybody's system. So get them involved.
And of course, then going back to a high level for the 4th
point is tweak or you know, reset, re establish your
objectives based on your currentreality.
OK. And we asked that about that
current reality in the reflect, get ready, the amber light.
(28:31):
Does your system reflect your current reality?
And you asked yourself full questions to realign and go, OK,
this is our current reality. Is our system aligned with that?
And now with the refocus and go green light, you reset where
you're heading, your objectives based on that, because it all
(28:55):
flies through, doesn't it? So you know, you may have
established and built your management system on on ideas
and concepts that you established at the beginning of
that process, but you really gotto revisit it because as stuff
changes, it should actually justbe an ongoing process.
(29:18):
But this mid year, stop and check.
It's a OK, wake up, wake up, wake up people.
Can we just get your attention for a second, OK?
Because as we said earlier, you know, we do tend to just get
stuck in the do, do, do, do, do,do stuff, especially in the
(29:40):
middle of the year because we'reright in the thick of things.
We've, you know, particularly inAustralia mid year, we have our
long break December, January in the US, Canada, it is sort of
right now. So wherever you're listening,
wherever your mid year is, whether it's in the middle of
(30:03):
the calendar year or summer break, essentially, it's
normally sort of that that pointwhere you know, you, you do get
the break. But for us here in Australia,
we've been at it now for five months heading into 6 and we're
just full steam ahead. And we're really not going to
(30:24):
stop until we see December looming for us.
And it's like, OK, where are we at?
So we need to give ourselves some more time.
And I think as you said there I.Can see you thinking.
Oh, the there's, I got a lot outof that and I'm going to try and
unpack it without forgetting anyof it.
(30:45):
But the most important thing youjust said then was full steam
ahead into December. You'd be honest for a moment.
How often do you get to Decemberon full steam?
Oh no, I'm starting to lose steam by November easily.
Exactly, exactly. And look, let's be honest, half
of the world it's doing is probably losing steam about
(31:08):
October because we're not stopping and reflecting and
resetting. So I think doing these like
pulling out the traffic lights and stopping mid year.
And I think look, we started last year, we're doing this June
and November, they're our stop reflect reset timeframe.
(31:28):
As we did a whole strategy session with the team in
November doing all of this because all of these things, we
realized that what we were doingwasn't working for the current
reality. It was the previous reality.
Six months later, the current reality is very different to
what it was when we did that strategy session six months ago.
(31:50):
So yeah, the mid year isn't necessarily just the middle of
the year. I like the idea of doing it
begin like middle and end. So you can do each of these
steps. But yeah, there's we get into
that habit as you said, if yes, this is should be business as
(32:11):
usual and it is business as usual.
And for that reason we do stop, like forget to stop, and we jump
on those changes in the moment and action them and do them, but
in doing so, push other things back.
So this does allow. Us to go.
(32:32):
Lord, it's Kelly. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And we, we are guilty of that
here because we all hang on. We've got to do that.
Oh, we've got to do that. Oh, we can't catch up here.
Oh, I've got this one. There's always a reason or an
excuse. Whereas if you lock this in,
then it's it's in the calendar and you are being intentional
(32:54):
about all of those things. And the reason we're doing them
in June and we kind of started early May.
I was working through with the team.
Are they clear on their roles? Are there objectives that we
discussed in November still relevant?
Are they related to the business?
Some of them were like, that's alittle bit much.
Others were like, give me more. He's like, this is my plan.
(33:17):
Brilliant. So we've started that ready for
our financial year, as you said,July to June.
So we want to be ready to hit the ground running 1st of July
with that new focus. So by locking those little micro
meetings and then having a more firm operational perspective to
(33:41):
actually stop and look at what all of those things are should
hopefully allow us all to get through to December without
going, oh, we've just been doing, have we done it?
We better reflect now. Oh, we didn't.
So yeah, I think the media checking is as much of AA
well-being a team well-being reset rather than just a systems
(34:08):
focus and reset. They go hand in hand.
And include it, Yeah, for sure. And I was just thinking there's
nothing stopping you from tweaking, say, obviously you
have to conduct a management review at planned intervals.
There's nothing stopping you from including these quick
points in a management review oryou might not have to recreate
(34:32):
or create something new. If you know you might, it might
be beneficial to schedule a management review and ensure
these questions are asked. Some of them are already part of
clause 9.3, but some of them askthe questions differently and
get you to stop and focus, particularly, you know, bringing
(34:54):
the team in amongst it or engagement.
Essentially, yeah. And here's the risk of it.
You're not asking them differently as it becomes a
checklist. And you say, well, we said this
last year and oh, is it the same?
Yes. No, OK, move on.
Whereas if you're asking a different question a different
way, then you're going to get a different outcome and a
different perspective. So that's that is really
(35:17):
important to and to put on a different fresh set of glasses
and look at things not necessarily through rose colored
lenses, but be be really honest with yourself.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. OK.
Will I wrap up recap? Yeah.
(35:37):
I think today was a short one, but it's a punchy 1 and I think
it needs to be short for exactlythat.
So yeah, let's recap and then wecan go warm up and celebrate 50.
Oh, I forgot that. OK so quick recap.
So the ISO health check includeswe use the traffic light, so red
(36:00):
light review stop and look what was meant to happen and hazard
so we can pause, take stock. And by stopping, we're not
charging ahead and continuing inthis doing stuff without
checking where things are at. Then, of course, we've got the
(36:22):
good old amber line. So that's reflect and get ready.
The key thing around this is does your system reflect your
current reality? OK, you're, it's continuing to
prepare to move forward, but it's, it's getting you to, you
know, just reflect and go, oh, has anything changed?
(36:46):
And how does that impact my system?
OK, it's time to assess and align.
OK, And then the green light go refocus.
OK, take control now. So the actions or the outputs
from red light review and the light reflect.
(37:08):
Now it's time for you to take action on those outputs.
You can move forward intentionally, OK, and be clear
on what where you're heading again, OK, Because at some point
it was very clear. And then of course, as we all
do, we all get stuck in the doing and it's just like, I'm
(37:29):
just going through this list andyou lose sight of everything.
So that's why reviews stop and look and reflect, get and get
ready are really important. And then that helps you to move
forward. So as always, I'm going to hand
it back to you, Kelly. But before I do that, I'm just
going to leave you with this thought.
(37:50):
Anyone can follow the standard. Why don't you be the one to lead
the standard? Thank you, Jackie.
That is a wrap for another episode of Lead the Standard and
not just any episode of use our 50th.
Don't we look fantastic? On our 50th well.
(38:14):
Getting a bit ahead, I've explored how a simple media
checking can offer surprising clarity not just on compliance,
but leadership focus, progress and relevance, I think is
another word that we've talked about a little bit today as
well. So make the time to check in now
and give yourself and your team a much better chance to finish
the year strong and not bomb Audi in October, November like a
(38:36):
lot of us have been doing the last few years.
My personal highlights this weekwere the lack of driving
analogies. I think we've we've had missed a
few opportunities there, but it,it is what it is.
Thank you Jackie, as always for your input and joining me each
week for these episodes. Here's for another 50.
(38:57):
You up for it? She's thinking.
She's thinking about it. Might have to do something in
the afternoon next week, though.I'm gonna bring back your
enthusiasm. Next week, we are heading into
reflections from the ASQ World Conference on Quality and
Improvement. So Jackie has returned from
(39:19):
Denver and has been tromping at the bit to share that with us.
So we're going to let her do that next week.
You won't want to miss that one.So make sure that you are
following the show. While you're in there, make sure
you're subscribed, share the episode and leave us our review.
And until next time, please takecare, stay curious, keep leading
(39:40):
the standard. Bye for now.
Do you want to avoid nasty surprises, stay on track, and
keep your system working for you, not against you?
A quick media check in might just be the smartest move you
could make. So when was the last time you
actually looked at your ISO systems?
Like, really looked. Not when the audit was booked or
not when something broke. Just a quick check in to see
(00:22):
what's working, what's not, and where you're heading next.
Now, if that question makes you pause, I promise you're not
alone. It's something we're going to be
talking about today. Welcome to Lead the Standard.
Hello everyone, Welcome. I am Kelly Taylor and I am here
(00:43):
with my apparently always fabulous Co host Jackie
Stapleton. And today's episode is a little
bit special because we've just realised it's our 50th episode.
This is our 50th podcast. And that's 50 episodes to
rethink leadership challenges, assumptions about auditors and
(01:03):
systems, have real conversationsabout what it means to lead the
standard in a fast moving world.Probably more honestly.
It's 50 episodes of ISO chaos, bad jokes, friends having a good
work chat that everyone else caneavesdrop on, regardless of what
that 50 means. We are so grateful that everyone
has joined us on this journey. Whether you've been here from
(01:25):
episode 1 or you're just joiningus now.
Thank you very much. Happy podcast adversary Jackie.
Thank you. Like when I saw that 50th
celebration sort of on the run sheet when I was prepping, I
thought, oh, is she saying I'm turning 50?
Like if I stepped back in time. You wish, you wish.
(01:47):
You do look fabulous. You do look fabulous.
Yeah, sadly neither is. Yeah, yeah, sadly neither is.
Appeared to have dressed for theoccasion.
I'm always late to the party, solook, it is what it is.
I think we've dressed for the weather though, so apologies in
advance for all of the finger rubbing and hearing that's
(02:08):
happening today. It is freezing in Southeast
Queensland today and by that I mean still warmer than half of
Europe and Melbourne, but it's cold.
So let's let's get started. Jackie, as we hit that mid year
mark, many of us are powering through those projects and
audits and all of those objectives.
We're doing it here, but there is that question, are we still
(02:32):
on track or are we just chargingahead?
And this episode we're going to talk about the idea of a media
ISO health check, a quick pause to reflect, recalibrate and
refocus before things start to snowball into second-half chaos.
And I think we've all been a little bit guilty of that.
I'm already planning Christmas parties, etcetera, etcetera.
(02:54):
So it's a topic we have explored, as always in our
latest edition of Lead the Standard in the article, if you
haven't read it yet, you'll findthe link in the show notes.
But Jackie, I know that this edition started with another
moment of personal reflection for you.
Do you want to walk us through what sparked this one?
(03:14):
Oh, yeah, I was thinking about that because I wrote, I wrote
this a little while ago, but I suppose it's a, you know, what's
the plan? Several things that sort of came
into context like every week. And maybe you do the same thing
I do, you know, in inverted commerce, the banking.
(03:36):
So, you know, part of that is making sure you pay bills.
Part of that is I update some spreadsheets so I can keep track
of what we're spending on what. So it's a good, good chance to
reflect back. You know, if you, if you need,
you borrow money for a car or, or remortgage a house, you need
(03:57):
a budget. So I always find that easier
just to go back. And I just updated every week.
And then of course, I'm saying Ijust actually wrote this down as
a reminder, tax returns for us in Australia, you know, I know
it's been 8 March or April. When I was writing this before I
(04:20):
was away for a while, you know, the accountants were saying, oh,
we still need this, we still need this.
And so, you know, I had to go back into those spreadsheets and
show them, well, this is how much, you know, we earned for
that. This is the expenses.
And that's sort of when you go through and go, why is that what
we really spent? You know, it's, it's, you know
(04:44):
what, what are we, what are we doing?
And that's what made me realise it's like, well, what does this
look like in, you know, the ISO world that, that we work in?
So, you know, we've got the weekly checks, of course, but
what should you do annually or mid year even?
You know that, that we're, we'resort of used to, I know we've
(05:07):
got audits and monitoring and measurement, but it's sort of
made me think, OK, well, what, what's a good maybe light bulb
moment? Some something that will help us
to reflect on in the middle of the year to go, OK, it's it's
already June. It's nearly Christmas.
(05:28):
As you said, we're going to start planning Christmas.
How are we going? Because because we need to go,
OK, we've got another, you know,half of the year to go.
Is there something that we need to catch up on?
Are our objectives being met andso on and so forth.
And that's, that's sort of yeah.Where this where this came from?
(05:51):
Yeah. And there's a lot of needs it
does. It does.
So let's let's jump into exactlywhat you've done with this one,
because there's another fun little model you've created and
it's really not as complicated as I think people.
Think no. Well, it's actually quite simple
(06:12):
because it's really using, Yeah,traffic lights, which we're all
familiar. We like open like pretty much,
you know, mean the same thing nomatter where you are.
Make sure you don't drive through a red light actually.
Oh, I might bring that up when Ido the the red one.
But yeah, so along those lines, I've used like a traffic light,
(06:34):
you know, red, amber, green. So we're calling this the mid
year ISO health check. So the reason I went for the
traffic light is because it doesn't actually have to be
complicated. Anything in ISO doesn't have to
be, but it's things should stillhappen.
OK, things still need to happen.So this is sort of like maybe
(06:59):
it's a quick stop at the trafficlights following the lights,
though, if it, you know, don't speed through the amber light,
stop at the red and only go on the green.
But you know, we've got review where you're at.
So that's the red light, reflecton what's changed amber and then
refocus, put your foot down, go,you know where where are you
(07:23):
headed? OK, that's the green 1.
So, so before you continue through to the end of this year,
oh any, any year, if you're listening to this, you know, in
the future, you know, it's just about taking a moment to realign
(07:43):
your system and stay on track. All right.
And we'll, I'll explain each point.
There's really, honestly not much to each point, which is
really what I like about it, to be honest.
It's, it is, it's just, it's just sort of a bit of a catalyst
to go, OK, let's stop. What are we looking at?
OK. Will I go through each of them
(08:05):
and say what you think? Let's do it because yeah, I'm,
I'm happy to talk about your driving skills in the next
couple of minutes. I know.
Yeah, I'll talk about that. OK, The first one is review the
red light, red light review, stop and look.
(08:29):
OK, The big thing with this one,I sort of like the snapshot that
I put in the newsletter. It said what was meant to happen
and has it. It's that it's really that
simple. So what was meant to happen and
has it. So this is about pausing, taking
(08:52):
stock, looking back, not charging it, keeping on charging
ahead without stopping and looking back and and and
checking. OK.
So remember it was about what was meant to happen and has it.
So there's sort of three things there that I thought stood out
(09:17):
and they all, funny enough, relate to different clauses
which, you know, align to all ofthe standards because it follows
a high level structure. So the four things I want you to
ask yourself for this red light review, stop and look is have
you made progress on your objectives?
(09:37):
So we're asking ourselves, have we made progress on our
objectives? To what extent are we meeting
the objectives? You should be doing this in
management review anyway. So that aligns with clause 9.3.
And of course, your objectives are 6.2, but this is just an
(09:57):
extra stop to go. Have we checked lately?
All right. The second one is, are our risks
and opportunities still relevant?
OK. And of course actions to address
risks and opportunities is clause 6.1.
So we may have identified our recent opportunities six months,
(10:19):
12 months two years ago. I, I don't know what, how often
you check these in your system, but especially these days in
business things are changing often.
So and our risks and opportunities change within
different influences, OK. And those influences again come
from 4.14 point 2. So it's a good time to go.
(10:43):
Are these still relevant? OK.
The third one is, are our internal audits on schedule?
And you know this Kelly, becausewe talk about this as one of our
scenarios in our virtual training.
It's it's very common and our internal audits, yeah, we have,
(11:06):
we have trouble keeping up with our internal audits.
So you know, this is a high riskour internal our your internal
audits on schedule, OK. Or are they overdue?
So this should be a light bulb moment.
You need to stop and go holy cow, like I need to do something
about this. OK.
(11:27):
And then finally the 4th question to ask yourself for
review, stop and look is what's the status of your corrective
actions? So or you know, whatever you
want to call it, how you record your non conformances and then
your corrective actions as a result of that.
Are their open corrective actions still open or lingering?
(11:50):
Have they been open for a while?Why are they still open?
OK, so you can see there's very core elements that I've picked
up in this review. Stop and look OK.
Your objectives, your risks and opportunities, your internal
audits, and your corrective action status, all very key
(12:11):
parts of your system. Can you rely what's interesting?
Yeah. Well, what's interesting was as
you were talking through that, Iwas thinking about how I
actually was relating this to last week's conversation where
we were talking about that very thing question you asked what
was meant to happen and has it and stopping and reflecting on
(12:32):
what and why and where have we made that progress, What is
stopping us? What are those risks?
So last week we were talking about working through that
imposter syndrome and out and those roadblocks as an
individual. And now we've kind of taken it
to that next level at a businesslevel.
And these are all really, as yousaid, really important things.
(12:52):
Everything in this space is important, but I think these
ones can be very easily overlooked if you don't actually
stop. And I like, and that's why I
like that you actually highlighted a stop, a red light
here because your objectives without those things aren't
going to go well. Your risks, and they are
(13:13):
absolutely changing. And I think they're not changing
as infrequently as they used to.Risks are evolving rapidly now,
but on the flip side, so are opportunities.
So keeping on top of. Yeah, keeping on top of those
much more efficiently and yet internal audits, we've
(13:34):
acknowledged that's something that we struggle with here as
well. Everybody does.
But again, why and is there something we can fix or is there
a different way, those sorts of things.
But yeah, that last one is also is a another big one, the
corrective action are they stillbring, But again, the why the
why it's not just are they yes, no, there's more questions to
(13:58):
follow up on that, which I thinkwe're going to well get to.
Yeah, right. I think these things are things
that like once when we, you know, in in full move forward
mode and we're in the doing and we're stuck in the doing, we
forget about these high level. Well, there's some high level
(14:22):
stuff there. There's some tools there for
improvement as well because you know, we're too, we're too busy.
Yeah, so. That's the best thing we have to
stop. Yes, that's right.
That's right. Yeah.
So yeah, no, that's a good point.
And I don't know that we necessarily forget about them.
(14:42):
We probably don't probably all know that they're there and are
having those light bulb or thosered light flashing warning,
warning, warning. But without that stopping, then
they do get pushed back, push back, push back, push back.
So allocating time in the day, the week, the month, yeah, yeah,
(15:03):
allocating the time to actually stop and do that uninterrupted
will help form everything else. And we've got a couple of those
meetings locked in over the nextcouple of weeks and months
ourselves and we've had some recently as well, so.
Yeah, Yeah. So it's prior like prioritizing.
It's sort of like what's that say?
You don't plan to fail, you failto plan.
(15:25):
That's it, Absolutely. Yeah, this is very, very similar
to that because it is that high level stuff and and the very
important tools. So as opposed to and that's a
key take away. I'm going to grab onto it.
You said this is something that you should stop and look at, as
opposed to the amber light whereit's sort of, I suppose, get
(15:50):
ready or some people just put their foot down and go go
through it. Some people even go through red
light, but that doesn't help anybody, obviously.
So the second area around, what did I call it again?
ISO, health check. I have to remind myself.
(16:11):
Second area. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly in the ISO health check is reflect.
So that's the amber light and it's sort of get ready.
So the big thing here, the big question for me in this one that
I like and helps me to understand what get ready is or
the amber light is, does your system reflect your current
(16:36):
reality? Right.
So yeah, you're sort of not moving yet, but you're preparing
to. But this is the time really to
assess and align. And some of these might come as
a result of stopping at the red light that we we just talked
(16:58):
about. But there's still, there's four
questions again here to ask yourself, has anything changed
in our business context or stakeholders?
And I actually mentioned this when I went through the four
questions for for stop. OK, So this is clause 4.1 and
4.2. What's changed what?
What's changed internally or externally that influences your
(17:22):
business, right? And the stakeholders come into
play because they're interested parties as well.
And we need to understand what their needs and expectations
are. And of course, well, based on
what their needs and expectations are, how does that
influence what we do with our system, right?
So ask yourself that it's it's time to go back and go, OK, has
(17:46):
anything changed? OK, The second question is, are
recurring issues starting to show up, right?
So in stop, we asked about othercorrective actions still
lingering or overdue, right? This is more about, well, you've
closed out a non conformance, you implemented your corrective
(18:10):
action, you should have reviewedit and then closed it out.
But something's still happening again.
But why are we banging our head against this brick wall again?
Yeah, what's going on? But this should it should not be
recurring. The third question is, have
(18:32):
staff received training or the right training even?
Are there some gaps showing up with our team mates?
OK. And it's you know, it's not
about the person, it's about theprocess.
So that's really important for the success of any any business.
And then finally, the 4th question to ask in the Reflect
(18:55):
Amber get ready stage is, are westill meeting compliance and
legal requirements? So again, so that's normally
Clause 613 in standards. If it's in there with 9001, it
will come up in Clause 8.1. But again, things change, right?
(19:16):
And we did talk about things changing in, in stop as well,
like our recent opportunities. Are they still relevant?
The risks and opportunities comeabout as a result of these
things changing. OK, so your risks and
opportunities change if your business contacts or your needs
(19:38):
and expectations of stakeholdersor interested parties change.
The risks and opportunities comeabout when you identify any
training requirements as well for staff and of course if any
compliance and legal requirements change as well.
So you can see as usual in any discussion we have that goes
(20:03):
with ISO standards, there's linkages, OK.
We can't do one thing without itimpacting another and that's a
pot that can be a positive thingas well.
It's very cyclical and there's lots of links there.
That's just four things I've come up with to help you, I
suppose, just to start brainstorming.
(20:25):
Does your system reflect your current reality?
Okay. And here's what are you using
that That's the brain is storming.
The whole time you were talking through that, I was going off on
other than having to tell myselfto focus, Kelly, focus.
She's going to talk to you in a minute.
(20:46):
But yeah, even even just asking the questions does trigger a lot
of different things. And the one thing again, going
back to last bit, we talked about our resource register last
week and that's become really helpful.
Actually. I've actually shared that with a
couple of teammates since that conversation again, just because
they want to keep an eye on where they're spending their
time. And this is this reflects space
(21:08):
is good for them in that as well.
But on that you said here have the staff receive training and
then you highlighted the right training.
I want to come back to that as well is have the staff recently
undergone training? Because we all do things and I'm
going to use a hairdressing apprentice and my physio
(21:31):
graduate as an example here. The hairdresser, the senior
hairdresser and The Apprentice hairdresser have all received
training. They've all received the right
training, but one of them's doneit more recently and they have
new fresh ideas, new techniques,new perspective, and a renewed
enthusiasm around that next week's conversation.
(21:55):
So yes, we've all, we've all done training at some point.
Not all of the training needs tohappen all of the time.
Like Hassip, for example, you some areas you need to do Hassip
professor training every 12 months.
If you're doing a blue card and things like that, white card,
you need to renew that. There's a lot of things You
don't need to renew that training, but it's certainly
(22:19):
beneficial to renew that for your own enthusiasm to learn new
things. So I think, yeah.
Is the training current or recent?
I think is a really important one here as well, especially
when we're dealing with the rapid changes of risks and
opportunities. I think that, yeah, recent
(22:39):
training is a big one. Yeah, it's not just about, it's
not just about, Oh my, my certificate has expired.
I now need to do this to renew it.
It's about just staying current the whole time and being, you
know, being up to date with what's going on because then you
(23:02):
can add value. Absolutely, absolutely.
Being open to change and new ideas and different
perspectives. So and yeah, I think that can
kind of give you a different perspective towards those
recurring issues. Is, is that recurring issue
(23:22):
because our training mentality is out of date?
Is are there new things that we could be doing instead?
Are there new systems? Are we meeting our legal and
compliance obligations? No, because we haven't done yes.
So the reflection is, I know that we say this is not about,
(23:43):
it's all about the process, not the person.
But I feel like the reflection is a really good space to look
at the team and the opportunities for the team and
how they can contribute a littlebit more effectively.
Because I just said that the stock was very high level around
objectives, etcetera. And this reaction is about,
well, a little bit more about application, I think, and not
(24:05):
just your current reality, current environment and the
reality of that. Absolutely, Yeah.
That's a good point. Yeah.
It's a good opportunity to get get the team involved for sure.
Yeah, yeah. OK, kind of ready.
To sorry, we got a lag today everyone, we've got a lag today.
(24:26):
Thank you. I looking at each other going
we're talking I. Know it's like, what didn't you
just say Kelly feel? Like we're back in the 90s on
the phone. You got that?
St. they? I'm not even gonna send the
international driving. Are you there?
Wait 10 minutes. Yes.
Yeah. Let's move on to the choppy
(24:48):
throne. Let's refocus.
Dragon, yes, let's refocus. And I'm having trouble seeing
you as well, so I can't even seeyour mouth.
It's like you've been overly glamour sheltered.
Probably not a bad thing. So the third one, of course, is
(25:13):
the green light, OK? And it's time to refocus and go,
OK, only on the green light. So and now you can actually take
action and move forward. And I know Kelly and I have
talked about, you know, with thered light and the amber light,
the outcome of those questions we're posing.
But obviously again, we'll find a link, I'm sure.
(25:37):
OK, I don't want to, don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm
pretty sure I'll find a link. But the key question here or the
key statement that I like is don't just wait for an audit.
Take control of stuff now, OK? Or as I always say, put it in
the internal audit schedule. Then Now if there's if there is
(26:00):
a new risk or something that's occurred and you do need to keep
an eye on it, as I've always said, use your internal audit
schedule to manage risk, OK. So again, there's four questions
or points or considerations for you to set your direction
(26:20):
through this green light, OK? The first one is reschedule any
missed audits, OK, or reviews ifthat's in your monitoring.
So remember in the red light we talked about is your internal
audit schedule on track? OK, so here's some actions.
And as Kelly said, don't just go.
(26:40):
Yes, no, Kelly said. Well, why?
But then of course, you need to address it.
It's like, no use. Yeah, yes, acknowledge it.
That's fantastic to acknowledge it, but what are you going to do
about it? This is the green light.
OK. The second point is close any
outstanding, outstanding corrective actions again in the
(27:01):
red light when we said stop, it asks are there any corrective
actions lingering? What's the status of corrective
action? So now we're saying we'll do
something about it. What's going on?
OK. And we also said in the amber
light about non conformances recurring as well.
(27:22):
So that should come up again in your, your status of your in
your red light section. OK.
So work on those corrective actions and ensure they don't
recur, OK, implement corrective action that prevents recurrence.
And then the third one actually sort of goes along the line of
where Kelly was heading with theamber light to reflect and get
(27:47):
ready is reconnect with your team, OK?
Kelly talked about, you know this re what was it?
Reflect and get ready. It's like it is a good
opportunity to pull the team in.It's engagement here, OK, It's
not, it's not just your system or the businesses system, it's
(28:08):
everybody's system. So get them involved.
And of course, then going back to a high level for the 4th
point is tweak or you know, reset, re establish your
objectives based on your currentreality.
OK. And we asked that about that
current reality in the reflect, get ready, the amber light.
(28:31):
Does your system reflect your current reality?
And you asked yourself full questions to realign and go, OK,
this is our current reality. Is our system aligned with that?
And now with the refocus and go green light, you reset where
you're heading, your objectives based on that, because it all
(28:55):
flies through, doesn't it? So you know, you may have
established and built your management system on on ideas
and concepts that you established at the beginning of
that process, but you really gotto revisit it because as stuff
changes, it should actually justbe an ongoing process.
(29:18):
But this mid year, stop and check.
It's a OK, wake up, wake up, wake up people.
Can we just get your attention for a second, OK?
Because as we said earlier, you know, we do tend to just get
stuck in the do, do, do, do, do,do stuff, especially in the
(29:40):
middle of the year because we'reright in the thick of things.
We've, you know, particularly inAustralia mid year, we have our
long break December, January in the US, Canada, it is sort of
right now. So wherever you're listening,
wherever your mid year is, whether it's in the middle of
(30:03):
the calendar year or summer break, essentially, it's
normally sort of that that pointwhere you know, you, you do get
the break. But for us here in Australia,
we've been at it now for five months heading into 6 and we're
just full steam ahead. And we're really not going to
(30:24):
stop until we see December looming for us.
And it's like, OK, where are we at?
So we need to give ourselves some more time.
And I think as you said there I.Can see you thinking.
Oh, the there's, I got a lot outof that and I'm going to try and
unpack it without forgetting anyof it.
(30:45):
But the most important thing youjust said then was full steam
ahead into December. You'd be honest for a moment.
How often do you get to Decemberon full steam?
Oh no, I'm starting to lose steam by November easily.
Exactly, exactly. And look, let's be honest, half
of the world it's doing is probably losing steam about
(31:08):
October because we're not stopping and reflecting and
resetting. So I think doing these like
pulling out the traffic lights and stopping mid year.
And I think look, we started last year, we're doing this June
and November, they're our stop reflect reset timeframe.
(31:28):
As we did a whole strategy session with the team in
November doing all of this because all of these things, we
realized that what we were doingwasn't working for the current
reality. It was the previous reality.
Six months later, the current reality is very different to
what it was when we did that strategy session six months ago.
(31:50):
So yeah, the mid year isn't necessarily just the middle of
the year. I like the idea of doing it
begin like middle and end. So you can do each of these
steps. But yeah, there's we get into
that habit as you said, if yes, this is should be business as
(32:11):
usual and it is business as usual.
And for that reason we do stop, like forget to stop, and we jump
on those changes in the moment and action them and do them, but
in doing so, push other things back.
So this does allow. Us to go.
(32:32):
Lord, it's Kelly. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And we, we are guilty of that
here because we all hang on. We've got to do that.
Oh, we've got to do that. Oh, we can't catch up here.
Oh, I've got this one. There's always a reason or an
excuse. Whereas if you lock this in,
then it's it's in the calendar and you are being intentional
(32:54):
about all of those things. And the reason we're doing them
in June and we kind of started early May.
I was working through with the team.
Are they clear on their roles? Are there objectives that we
discussed in November still relevant?
Are they related to the business?
Some of them were like, that's alittle bit much.
Others were like, give me more. He's like, this is my plan.
(33:17):
Brilliant. So we've started that ready for
our financial year, as you said,July to June.
So we want to be ready to hit the ground running 1st of July
with that new focus. So by locking those little micro
meetings and then having a more firm operational perspective to
(33:41):
actually stop and look at what all of those things are should
hopefully allow us all to get through to December without
going, oh, we've just been doing, have we done it?
We better reflect now. Oh, we didn't.
So yeah, I think the media checking is as much of AA
well-being a team well-being reset rather than just a systems
(34:08):
focus and reset. They go hand in hand.
And include it, Yeah, for sure. And I was just thinking there's
nothing stopping you from tweaking, say, obviously you
have to conduct a management review at planned intervals.
There's nothing stopping you from including these quick
points in a management review oryou might not have to recreate
(34:32):
or create something new. If you know you might, it might
be beneficial to schedule a management review and ensure
these questions are asked. Some of them are already part of
clause 9.3, but some of them askthe questions differently and
get you to stop and focus, particularly, you know, bringing
(34:54):
the team in amongst it or engagement.
Essentially, yeah. And here's the risk of it.
You're not asking them differently as it becomes a
checklist. And you say, well, we said this
last year and oh, is it the same?
Yes. No, OK, move on.
Whereas if you're asking a different question a different
way, then you're going to get a different outcome and a
different perspective. So that's that is really
(35:17):
important to and to put on a different fresh set of glasses
and look at things not necessarily through rose colored
lenses, but be be really honest with yourself.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. OK.
Will I wrap up recap? Yeah.
(35:37):
I think today was a short one, but it's a punchy 1 and I think
it needs to be short for exactlythat.
So yeah, let's recap and then wecan go warm up and celebrate 50.
Oh, I forgot that. OK so quick recap.
So the ISO health check includeswe use the traffic light, so red
(36:00):
light review stop and look what was meant to happen and hazard
so we can pause, take stock. And by stopping, we're not
charging ahead and continuing inthis doing stuff without
checking where things are at. Then, of course, we've got the
(36:22):
good old amber line. So that's reflect and get ready.
The key thing around this is does your system reflect your
current reality? OK, you're, it's continuing to
prepare to move forward, but it's, it's getting you to, you
know, just reflect and go, oh, has anything changed?
(36:46):
And how does that impact my system?
OK, it's time to assess and align.
OK, And then the green light go refocus.
OK, take control now. So the actions or the outputs
from red light review and the light reflect.
(37:08):
Now it's time for you to take action on those outputs.
You can move forward intentionally, OK, and be clear
on what where you're heading again, OK, Because at some point
it was very clear. And then of course, as we all
do, we all get stuck in the doing and it's just like, I'm
(37:29):
just going through this list andyou lose sight of everything.
So that's why reviews stop and look and reflect, get and get
ready are really important. And then that helps you to move
forward. So as always, I'm going to hand
it back to you, Kelly. But before I do that, I'm just
going to leave you with this thought.
(37:50):
Anyone can follow the standard. Why don't you be the one to lead
the standard? Thank you, Jackie.
That is a wrap for another episode of Lead the Standard and
not just any episode of use our 50th.
Don't we look fantastic? On our 50th well.
(38:14):
Getting a bit ahead, I've explored how a simple media
checking can offer surprising clarity not just on compliance,
but leadership focus, progress and relevance, I think is
another word that we've talked about a little bit today as
well. So make the time to check in now
and give yourself and your team a much better chance to finish
the year strong and not bomb Audi in October, November like a
(38:36):
lot of us have been doing the last few years.
My personal highlights this weekwere the lack of driving
analogies. I think we've we've had missed a
few opportunities there, but it,it is what it is.
Thank you Jackie, as always for your input and joining me each
week for these episodes. Here's for another 50.
(38:57):
You up for it? She's thinking.
She's thinking about it. Might have to do something in
the afternoon next week, though.I'm gonna bring back your
enthusiasm. Next week, we are heading into
reflections from the ASQ World Conference on Quality and
Improvement. So Jackie has returned from
(39:19):
Denver and has been tromping at the bit to share that with us.
So we're going to let her do that next week.
You won't want to miss that one.So make sure that you are
following the show. While you're in there, make sure
you're subscribed, share the episode and leave us our review.
And until next time, please takecare, stay curious, keep leading
(39:40):
the standard. Bye for now.
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