Continuous improvements are foundational for ensuring ISO compliance. This basically means that your ISO Management Systems need to be reviewed and updated routinely to maintain their effectiveness.
As ISO Management Systems are designed to implement a holistic approach to organisational operations and performance management, it can, however, be tricky to figure out where to start when it comes to improvement planning. Thankfully, the ISO Standards also include frameworks and methodologies for continuous improvement planning. This is where management reviews come into play.
For organisations looking to implement their own tailored ISO Management Systems, integrating internal audit schedules and management reviews often takes a back seat to other elements of ISO Certification preparedness – like preparing your policy and process documents.
Even so, management reviews play a vital role in maintaining your ISO Certification, and documentation outlining your internal audit schedules and management reviews must be prepared to pass your ISO audits.
So how can you make sure your management review processes are ISO compliant, and optimised to support your continuous improvement planning? Today, our ISO consultants at S & J Auditing & Consulting will be sharing some of their insights into ISO management reviews, outlining best practices for preparing and conducting your reviews, and how these meetings slot into your wider ISO Management System(s).
What are Management Reviews?
Management reviews are formal evaluations of your ISO Management Systems that are routinely scheduled in accordance with your organisation’s internal audit schedule. Management reviews are often conducted following internal (and often external) audits with the intention of reviewing the findings of these audits.
Simply put, your management reviews present an opportunity for business leaders and decision makers to get together and evaluate all the components of your ISO Management Systems and to pinpoint and address any areas for improvement. This organised management review process for improvement planning also supports the structure of improvement methodologies like the PDCA cycle for continuous process improvements.
How often should you Conduct Management Reviews?
As per ISO guidelines, internal audits should be conducted at least once every 12 months to ensure ongoing compliance with your ISO Certification Standards. As management reviews are best conducted following internal (and often external) audits, organisations should also aim to schedule their management review meetings at least once a year.
Management reviews can also be scheduled when needed (i.e. in response to updates to organisational processes, policies, etc.). If your business has introduced new processes to accommodate new products or service offerings or even a team expansion, then you can schedule a management review to evaluate the performance of these newly implemented systems.
Who should Attend your Management Reviews?
As ISO Management Systems generally span across all departments of your organisation, all business leaders should be in attendance for your management reviews. This includes CEOs, branch managers, department heads, and line managers. It’s considered best practices for business leadership to have all of these essential personnel in attendance to advocate for the staff that they oversee and share the experiences and feedback provided by these team members.
If your organisation has a compliance department (i.e. an internal auditing team or even health and safety compliance officers for maintaining ISO 45001 Certification), all compliance officers should also be in attendance to provide more context to their internal audit processes, findings, and audit reports if needed.
Alongside business leaders and decision makers, you should also invite any other staff or even consultants who may be able to provide some valuable insights into specific processes and improvements. For instance, if your management reviews are focusing on assessing specific workflows/processes, you may seek to invite the staff members who facilitate those processes or external consultants who specialise in those processes to gain their hands-on insights.
How to Conduct Management Reviews: Expert Tips
Now that you know how often to conduct your management reviews and who should be in attendance, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of prepping for, carrying out, and responding to your management review processes, findings, and recommendations.
Here are some expert tips from our ISO consultants to help keep your management reviews focused and results-oriented.
Prepare & Share your Review Agendas & Checklists in Advance
Your management reviews will typically touch on multiple different processes and workflows – although not all the processes assessed may be relevant to all the business leaders, staff, and stakeholders in attendance. As such, it’s essential that you prepare the agenda for your management reviews in advance so that your attendees come ready to provide their insights, perspectives, and recommendations.
As your internal auditors will be tasked with preparing the audit reports that will shape the agendas for your management reviews, it’s best to have your audit team involved in the planning and preparation phase for your review schedule. This includes the preparation of your management review checklist, your review schedule, and individual agendas in anticipation of your next scheduled review meeting/s.
Record Minutes for Future Reference & to Support Improvement Planning
Even though they’re crucial to supporting process improvements and maintaining ISO compliance, management reviews don’t happen very often – so it’s important to keep records of what’s discussed in your reviews for future reference. This can be done by investing in minute-taking processes for your management reviews, and implementing documentation processes for distributing meeting minutes after reviews as well as recording minutes for historic reference.
You may opt to elect an administrator to record minutes for all your management reviews to ensure consistency in structure and formatting – or use AI tools to automate minute-taking. Whatever process you choose for recording minutes, be sure to include a process document that outlines this workflow into your internal audit and management review documentation.
Document Final Decisions, Results, & Corrective Actions
Alongside being great reference points for tracking changes and improvements made over time, minutes from your management review meetings are also essential for recording any immediate corrective actions proposed by review attendees.
Keep in mind that not all corrective actions deliver successful results, so tracking the performance of improvement plans is vital to making sure your Management Systems don’t grow in the wrong directions.
If you’re planning to make major improvements that alter whole processes or workflows, it can be wise to schedule follow-up reviews designed to assess the effectiveness of these select changes. Not all business leaders need to be in attendance for these follow-up reviews either. For instance, if you’re looking to update the waste management processes and policies in your Environmental Management Systems, attendees of your follow-up reviews may be limited to your internal auditing team, compliance officers, and waste management personnel (i.e. the staff members tasked with facilitating this particular process).
Optimise your Management Reviews with Insights from S & J Auditing & Consulting
There are a wide range of benefits to attaining ISO Certification for your organisation – but maintaining Certification is integral to enjoying these benefits over the long term. This is why ISO frameworks include guidelines for internal auditing and management reviews alongside developing and implementing ISO Management Systems.
These ISO frameworks for internal audits and management reviews are designed to make it easier for organisations to integrate and maintain evaluation processes for their Management Systems.
You don’t need to be an ISO consultant to implement a strong management review schedule, but if you do need expert support with maintaining audit and review processes to support business in maintaining Certification, then our consultants at S & J Auditing & Consulting are always just a phone call away. We have dozens of clients all over Australia that find benefit in outsourcing their internal audits, and management review meetings to our consultants, as it is usually more cost effective, and provides the freedom for you to focus on running your business!
Get in touch with our team on 0409 933 447 for more insights into management reviews and how your organisation can maintain your ISO Certification over the long term.
