Calm down, calm down
Jason Clark CMgr MCMI, CIPP training and consultancy manager, explains how he prepares CIPP colleagues for ISO audits, gets buy-in, and reduces stress levels
T here are few things that are as babysitting your godchildren (mine are three and half year-old twins) and they have gone silent… and the threat of an impending audit. I have always been bemused why someone would get nervous about an audit. To me an audit is the opportunity to improve rather than look for each tiny fault that could have happened. Let’s face it, if you’re like me no-one will be able to chastise you better than your inner monologue would. But, of course, an audit can be stressful, and we behave differently under immense pressure and stress than we would normally. Work and life related stress is the norm, but it’s how we deal with it that is important. We can all feel – because stress is an emotional challenge that manifests itself in guaranteed to invoke fear into the hearts of the bravest of souls – such
physical behaviours – that we are stressed due to heavy workloads or responsibilities, working longer hours not being in control. And an audit can be stressful. Going from auditee to auditor changed my attitude when I began conducting internal audits for CIPP in accordance with ISO 9001 (ISO) which is the internationally recognised standard for quality management systems. The CIPP has held the ISO standard for years and in November 2017 transitioned to the 2015 standard eight months early. ...an audit is the opportunity to improve rather than look for each tiny fault... The ISO standard changed significantly in 2015 moving from quality management (with a heavy lean on process and procedures) to risk based and leadership focussed quality while retaining quality processes, therefore changing the focus of internal and external audits. At the heart of making the audit less stressful is communication; which of course is the answer to most issues. So how did I prepare CIPP for our internal ISO audits and our external audit in July 2018? ● Senior management team (SMT) buy- in – In June last year I asked the SMT why we wanted to retain the ISO standard. It’s
a simple and logical question, but I wanted to remind the team of the reasons for it. Without exception, the team explained why we need it and why we need to keep it. In that simple action, I achieved their buy-in. At each external audit we are advised what the next audit schedule is, and I shared this right away (with a few reminders along the way of course). ● Set an internal audit plan that is challenging but achievable – As an internal auditor it is important to cover each aspect of the standard and ensure that each department and their major actions are audited through the plan. I created a plan, highlighting which area of the operation I will review and which of the standard clauses I will report against. I then asked when they wanted me to audit them. Again, simple, but I maintained their buy-in by helping them to take ownership of it. ● Obtain buy-in from the rest of the staff – Now that is the harder one. So, what did I do? I made it fun and applied some e-learning techniques. I gate-crashed a knowledge session in the business. Clearly in payroll you don’t want staff using their personal phones at their desk for all sorts of reasons, but I caused a bit of a stir by asking them to take their phones out. I created a series of ten questions about ISO which they had to answer via their mobile phone using Kahoot! (which is a game-based learning and trivia platform). The questions are projected, and results shown in realtime for them all to see. It
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | September 2018 | Issue 43 34
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