Huge successes, returning customers, achieving goals, growing and moving forward … what a great work place or small business environment to spend time in.  So many people have so much advice on how to do it.  What if multiple organizations who achieved those ideals got together and crafted a guidebook to help others know what key practices to adopt?  And what if they got together across the planet to build a cross-cultural model of success?

            What if that model contained guidance on how to avoid mistakes and problems that plague organizations of all types?

            Welcome to the world of ISO.  The International Organization of Standards has attempted to do this and they and their 165 member nations continue to improve on it since after World War 2.  I have seen over and over again, how implementation of the “standard” for quality in organizations has not only helped increase the bottom line, but helped improve customer AND employee satisfaction.

If you’re interested in more on the creation of the standard, check out Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9000.

            Some people have had experiences with older versions of the standard that aimed to clarify and expand on Military Standards, produced by the US and UK governments to define what they wanted from their vendors.  Intense in paperwork demands, the older version of the model was too overwhelming for most small businesses and had little application for organizations offering services instead of manufacturing parts and pieces to be used as components for large equipment.

            I have been working with the standard in my work life since the first one was published in 1987 (whoops, letting my age slip).  The most recent version, launched in 2015, focuses more on getting results than creating paperwork and procedures that may or may not be useful.

            My consulting business, Better Days LLC, is dedicated to helping businesses, big or small, learn to benefit from pearls in the ISO 9001 standard, whether they need to certify, want to certify, or just want to learn to be compliant to escalate their organization’s success to the next level.

            I love to share lessons learned in my journey of using the ISO standards and helping others to implement them across the last few decades, through all its changes.  I hope you’ll join me in exploring the wisdom and power that a mastermind effort across many nations can create.

            I have a summary lesson and a more in-depth overview of the entire ISO 901 standard for you to enjoy, offered by my friends at TapasForLife.  Click here to jump in!