No Mangement system can operate without the input, work, support and drive of its people. We explored in the previous article (hyperlink??) the core principle of leadership and this core principle moves into the rest of the organisation to ensure that all persons conducting a task relevant to any part of product or serivce and any job relating to customer requirements must be trained to do their job and competent. I know that I can think of several organisation where they have, or at least adevertise that they have ISO9001, but the levels of competency are debatable! However, and this is the really scary thing is the level of competency (or lack of) that you have witnesses has been measured, graded and unless the person is new, has been improved upon. Just be grateful that you didn’t have to deal with them 6 months ago.
Put it another way, when you next go into McDonalds and get served by a “no-star” member of staff you cannot expect them to be as effective as a “five-star”.*
McDonalds aside most of my clients have a simple way of recording competency and the benefits to the organisation are huge. Not only do we have an objective way of promoting from within, we can promote performance related bonus (or expectation) through the same system. Furthermore, levels of competency can be easily improved by having lower qualified staff shadow and support others. This should lead to an improvement in team-work and mentoring – all to the good of the business.
Finally a system like this allows you to easily identify skill gaps in your organisation and can be the basis for cross training initiatives and the ilk.
If you would like more advice on how to implement this into your organisation, drop me a line to wayne@eagletuk.co.uk
*All McDonalds employees have a name badge with an amount of stars above. This is there to demonstrate there competency or lack of!
About the author
Wayne Pearce
I (Wayne Pearce) is a Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) trainer at level 7 (post graduate / doctorate level) in Quality Management Systems and can advise you both on the QMS side and leadership implications. If I can be of assistance, drop me a line to wayne@eagletuk.co.uk
