High Performance – Bridging Management Systems and People requires Mental Capability

It was during my time as an ISO trainer and Lead auditor that it became clear to me the distinct difference between those that got Certification as a by-product and those that got it as the central focus. By this I mean, there was a clear delineation between organisations that seemed to breeze through audits, more or less, where Certification, be it 9001, 45001, 45003, etc was a by-product of ‘something else’. And those that focused on just getting Certification as the main objective. And it was always this polar difference, either or.

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It wasn’t till a bit later in my career when I realised what this ‘something else’ was. Culture. Organisational Culture. With a Healthy Workplace. Which resulted in High Performance. The glue, and the bridge, between Management Systems, and People. Do it right and you get not only High Performance, but Resilience, Agility, Innovation, Organisational Commitment and increased Productivity and Profitability And a healthy workforce. And relatively little tweaking, and therefore little in resource consumption, in maintaining Certification and Corrective Actions from audits.

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It isn’t really an either/or story, but a complementary one. Management Systems provide crucial frameworks and a clear plan and outline to tried and tested ways of achieving optimised Lean and Productivity benefits. Quality Systems home in on the Process approach. Health and Safety Management Systems focus on the Risk. Whilst having a common business operations backbone. And similarly with other Management Systems. But. All the Systems and frameworks cannot do the one thing that HAS to happen to have optimised business outcomes. Get people to understand, operationalise and implement these System frameworks, consistently. People have to WANT to carry out the requirements of the Management System. If you want sustained and consistent High-Performance outcomes. You can force people to do things, but they’ll never do the optimised thing consistently, and long term, in part due to high turnover under these kinds of conditions.

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And this isn’t just about something that is done within Systems ,a tick box of requirements, you can feel Healthy Workplaces, where a great culture exists. When I used to audit these latter high performers, who mostly breezed through audit requirements, the place just felt like a great place to be. People were genuine towards each other and you (yes everyone is always nice when the auditor is around, but genuine niceness can’t be faked, and a good auditor can spot these veneers a mile off), items were found and produced with the minimum of fuss, when things weren’t quite right, people were honest about it and not afraid to say so and nearly always offered a plan or fix and the time. These were the places that always achieved certification, and with minimum corrections required. For them it seemed like the Certification was just another achievement, not the sole purpose of all operations.

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This was in marked contrast to places where audits were usually significantly lengthier because people didn’t know where things were or what was being asked, highlighted long lists of corrective actions, people were often coached to say specific things, hardly anyone spoke freely, there was always a high level of stress, and although people were friendly towards you, you just didn’t feel at ease. The veneer. These were always the places that spent the life of the Certification just closing out actions. Certification was the main focus. Stress was always high.

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Same System requirements. And it wasn’t because the ‘industry’ ‘or ‘size’ was any deciding factor in which ones excelled and which ones just met the mark if they did. It was always the Culture.

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Culture for a lot of people is an intangible, indescribable, immeasurable ‘thing’ that can’t be pinpointed specifically. Or is simply too hard to think about so it’s easier to focus on just Systems and their clause requirements. But culture actually is made up of systems, and, people’s perception of those systems, to put it very simply. Not ISO systems, but systems between leadership and employees, systems between employees, policies, and procedures, and all the other things that are the foundational backbone of any organisation, of any size, within any industry.

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Culture is a major component of High Performance and success. Supported by Systems and Leadership, powered by People. For supportive work environments to nurture healthy relationships, collaboration and a sense of purpose.

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But what makes all the Culture ‘System’ components work, ultimately, is how mentally safe people feel within their workplaces. How ‘Healthy’ the workplace is. This was the primary ingredient of difference between my auditing successful and high performing workplaces, and those that scraped by at best. When people feel they are part of the organisation, not just paid by it. When they feel they either have or can access resources, when policies and procedures are fit for purpose and effective, when things are addressed and rectified when issues arise, when toxic people and behaviour is nipped in the bud, not allowed to spread, enabled and ignored, when an opinion or idea is encouraged rather than ridiculed, when mistakes are not a blame activity. When all these things are in a ‘Healthy’ state within the workplace, people will have the mental capacity to put their efforts and concentration towards aligning with ISO 43001 requirements, clause by clause, and keeping up with this effort. When the cultural aspects are not in place, chronic stress will be high, from misalignments, from lack of clarity and consistency, from lack of resources as wastage will be significantly increased, meaning available resources are significantly decreased from this wastage, and this stress will spread to other people who will ‘snap’ at others as stress increases i.e. bullying and toxic cultures. People will expend the majority of their mental capacity towards defending themselves, leaving near nothing in concentration, or will, to put towards aligning with any Systems Management frameworks or requirements, let alone sustaining it long term. And it will show.

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Scan these foundational systems misalignments at this micro foundation, for Lead Indicators, i.e. resources, communication, consistency, knowledge, and you can treat and prevent the issues that show up in the downstream macro-outcomes, with Lag Indicators, i.e. quality defects, risk incidents, revenue loss, turnover, absenteeism, productivity. Saving significant resources in preventive management; money, time, personnel, and decreasing risk and revenue and productivity loss. Wait till the Management System audit findings for piece-meal corrective actions and spend significantly more resources on reactive management.

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?Ranjeeta has had a career spanning organisational governance, development and risk management. She has worked across industries and sectors in UK, Australia and NZ. She has been an expert panel member for JAS-ANZ Auditor development, been an external Health & Safety, Quality, contracts Compliance & Conformance Lead Auditor, a BSI Executive ISO trainer across several varying Standards, an Executive Coach and is a current Board Director of NZOQ.

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Ranjeeta is founder of EnableOrg? - Psychosocial Risk Management Software for High Performance Cultures; Scanning the organisational micro risks to prevent the macro risks. High Performance Enablers & Management System Software, Training & Consulting. Her PhD research focused on High Performance & Culture, in Positive Psychology, Business Management & Organisational Behaviour.