About 10 years ago, I found myself in the familiar surroundings of a Tier 2 construction company that specialized in industrial construction, conducting yet another recertification audit. Having been here before, I knew the drill: the consultant would be by my side throughout the process, providing insights and supporting the workers and management I interviewed. But this time, fate had other plans.

Last year I raised a minor nonconformance for a business I have been working with for about 12 years. A nonconformance is not something they had received for at least 3 previous audits.

I’ve been training in the classroom, since the late 1990’s. This initial training was internal, and it was for customers who had just purchased Point of Sale and Back Office software from the company I worked for.

In 1998, I was working as a client trainer for a software development company. The company had recently achieved ISO 9001 certification and had used an external consultant to achieve this and for ongoing maintenance. The company then decided that it would be beneficial to employ a quality manager as a full-time internal position.

In 2021, I was working closely with a compliance officer named Mark, who had been given the job of implementing an ISO management system at his company. Mark was eager to learn and get things right, but he was relatively new to the world of ISO standards. One day, we created an internal audit record—a document that was supposed to capture the findings of a recent audit, serving as a snapshot in time. It was meant to document what was observed during the audit and remain unchanged as a historical record.

Implementing an ISO Management System often comes with the misconception that everyone in the organization should instantly embrace and support the changes. Many believe that they can simply ‘make’ people appreciate the value of quality and force them to comply with new processes. This approach, however, can lead to frustration and resistance. One of my students recently shared their struggles with trying to impose these changes on both their colleagues and top management.