With the arrival of a new year, many companies are thinking about how to have a stronger and more sustainable IMS (Integrated Management System). Thus, thousands of professionals are committed to carrying out good strategic planning and ensuring better results in 2024.
However, we know that this is not an easy task, after all, there are many variables, as well as all sectors and employees of the company being involved in improvement and awareness projects. Thus, those plans created with professionalism and hope can end up becoming a real nightmare at the time of execution.
Therefore, in today’s article, we will discuss a little about how to align objectives and plan a better, stronger, sustainable IMS, and, of course, that brings good results for our companies.
First of all, it is worth remembering that any management system with more than one standard implemented can be considered an IMS. So, consider thinking about the subject if your company has 2 or more of the following standards:
- ISO 9001: quality management;
- ISO 14001: environmental management;
- ISO 45001: occupational health and safety;
- ISO 27001: information security;
- ISO 37001: anti-bribery management;
- ISO 22000: food safety management;
- ISO 50001: energy management;
- ISO 26000: corporate social responsibility;
- Or any other ISO standard or management system (MS).
1st step: establish clear and measurable goals
Before anything else, it’s necessary to understand that an improvement plan without clear and measurable goals will likely fail. This means that you need to clearly define the end result of all proposed actions.
For this, set clear and measurable goals related to each sensitive aspect of your IMS (for example, sustainability, occupational health and safety, quality, etc…). This not only helps to measure and direct activities but also ensures that you do not forget one MS or another, or even create a disproportionately larger proportion for one area and leave another uncovered.
To complement, it is worth remembering that these goals need to be challenging, yet achievable, and should reflect the company’s commitment to continuous improvement and its guidelines. In summary, they need to be the famous SMART goals (measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-bound).
2nd step: review stakeholders and their needs
According to the great administrative theorist Peter Drucker, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” In the case of the IMS, this can translate into doing something that stakeholders do not see value in or even do not expect to be done.
Thus, a great way to have a stronger and more sustainable IMS in 2024 is to start the year by reviewing the needs and expectations of stakeholders. Over the course of 2023, many vital aspects of the business may have changed, and thus these needs may have also changed.
If we do not review them, we may fall into the error of continuing to do something that no longer makes sense for the stakeholders or fail to do something that has emerged as a new demand. Similarly, new stakeholders may have emerged, and we may not be aware of it, or even some have ceased to have interests in (for) the company. Therefore, it is vital to do this reflection and make the necessary adjustments to the IMS.
3rd step: invest in training and engagement of employees
Finally, but no less important, it is not possible to have a stronger and more sustainable IMS without investing in training and engagement of employees. Therefore, it is worth starting the year by planning training and capacity building for people.
It is also worth remembering that, although capacity building is a crucial factor for team engagement, training and engaging are different things. So, it’s necessary to have actions and plans in both spectrums.
While for training you will use more of training, courses, workshops, mentorships (sponsorship), and even work instructions, to engage you will use lectures, recognition and reward programs, discussion tables and debates, inserts, and motivational materials, among others.
Emphasizing, in both cases we are training and engaging in a holistic and broad way, but it is necessary to think in a direct and focused way, planning actions that achieve SMART objectives!
IMS: a holistic view for generalized results
It is always important to emphasize that the integration of standards into an integrated management system allows companies to holistically address various fundamental aspects for operational success, including quality, environment, occupational health, safety, energy efficiency, social responsibility, or whatever the niche may be.
This view strengthens processes, improves the creation of strategies, and the necessary realignments to achieve organizational results. Thus, not thinking about smart strategies for continuous improvement contributes to the creation of a management system that tends to become bureaucratic and averse to changes. Consequently, we then tend to a bureaucratic company, not very agile, and with slow processes and little directed to the most important interested party: the customer!
Furthermore, count on QMS Certification in your journey for a stronger and more sustainable IMS, we are specialists in ISO certifications and value audits that help identify improvements and ensure more results for companies. So, count on us!
