Document: ISO/TC 176/SC 2/N

936

12 July 2010

In search of Sustained Success..

The journey towards Organizational Excellence starts with the first
step but the final destination will never be reached!
Contents

1. Introduction
2. Why take steps towards sustained success?
3. Why is an organizations management system a key element for sustained success?
4. Where is your organization on the path towards sustained success?
5. Lessons to be learned to help your organization plan its next steps
6. The ISO 9000 family of standards - a powerful source of good business practices and knowledge, to
help you on your journey
6.1 If you are just starting out.you are at the initial awareness level
6.2 If you know where youre going, but not sure how to get there. you are aware of what needs
to be done, and the performance levels you want to achieve
6.3 If you are close to reaching your destination. you are close to achieving sustained
success.
7. Conclusions
8. Related documents

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

1. Introduction
This document is intended for an organizations management and its purpose is to provide
information and guidance on the use of improvement methodologies, based on the ISO 9001:2008
requirements standard and the ISO 9004:2009 guidelines. This will help organizations to make their
journey towards the ultimate goal of sustained success achieving and maintaining their longterm objectives.
This initial framework will be supplemented with additional materials and further web links that may
help readers understand and obtain the benefits from adopting holistic management approaches to
using these proven methodologies.

2. Why take steps towards sustained success?

For all organizations, the approaches by which success is achieved are changing.
Whether you participate in the future of a public or private business, whether it is large or small,
your continual success typically necessitates that you:

Enhance your current approaches by seeking new methods.

Improve your organizations performance.

3. Why is an organizations management system a key element for sustained

success?
A management system is a key element for leading an organization towards excellence; a good
management system embraces more than simply establishing processes, improvement initiatives
and projects, or documented procedures. A progressive management system:

Is based on good management principles;

Supports the implementation of progressive business strategies;
Is implemented to achieve defined strategic goals for the organization;
Is based on a holistic, systematic approach;
Integrates business-wide, coordinated initiatives;
Addresses core issues such as innovation, customer value and global competitiveness, and
Provides business tools, resources and communication links to drive the organization

A successful management system drives the development of an organization towards sustained

success, in order to be one the best performing, efficient, and profitable organizations in its
business sector.

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

Figure 1 Example of a management system

The organizations strategy implementation should be driven by specific measurable strategic
programmes to support the organizations Strategic Initiatives, such as the examples given in table
1:
Table 1 Example of Strategic programmes
Strategic Programmes
Innovation

Customer focus

Global
Competitiveness

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

Strategic initiatives
Innovation, as a tool to shape the future
Product platform strategies
Innovation as a tool for anticipating technological trends and
changes
Innovation as a tool for surpassing customer expectations
To support customers with the aim of keeping them competitive
To win new customers and market share
To implement cross-selling initiatives
To provide world class products and services
Organization value enhancement, to open up new opportunities
People empowerment, to achieve world-class performance
Corporate responsibility, to deal with society and other interested
parties
Results oriented management
Worldwide manufacturing and shared services for cost effectiveness

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

In order to ensure success in achieving its strategies, objectives and goals, the organizations
management system should have a set of business tools to support and implement them at each
stage.

Figure 2 Examples of tools for Strategies, objectives and goals

4. Where is your organization on the path to sustained success?

Knowing where your organization is on its road towards sustained success may help guide its next
steps towards performance excellence.
Any organization should assess where it is positioned and determine its maturity levels for
sustained success, identify improvement and innovation opportunities, set priorities for
improvements, and establish action plans.
The results of an organizations assessments can be a valuable input into its management review
process; consequently such assessments should be conducted periodically.
The degree, or level, of the maturity of an organization describes its position on a scale that has
immature, inconsistent business activities at the lower end, and mature consistent business
activities at the higher end.
An organizations maturity will be determined by its performance in relation to its vision, mission and
strategy, systems, organizational structures and tools used, and relations with interested parties.

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

A mature organization is one that performs effectively and efficiently, and achieves sustained
success. This maturity level will be based on its ability to:

Understand the needs and expectations of interested parties and changes in its business
environment,
Create its policies and strategies,
Set and deploy relevant objectives,
Manage its processes and resources,
Demonstrate confidence in its people; leading to increased motivation, commitment and
involvement
Encourage openness towards suppliers and partners, while aiming for mutual benefits and
increased value for all parties.

Best practices and excellence models typically use five maturity levels; the organizations
management should evolve its own maturity model and review its performance against each of
them, identify its current maturity level, and review the criteria given for the higher levels.
The results analysis of this evaluation exercise can assist the organizations management to
understand and determine the improvements to be performed, in order to reach the next, higher,
level of maturity.
As the organization achieves each level of maturity it can gain a greater understanding of what is
needed to improve its performance and its management system.
The two most common assessment techniques utilized by organizations are:

Benchmarking: Benchmarking is a measurement and analysis methodology, which a business

can use to determine the best practices inside and outside the organization, with the aim of
improving its own performance. Benchmarking can be applied to strategy and policies,
operations, processes, products and organizational structures.

Self-assessment: Self-assessment is a methodology for discovering the potential of an

organization. It is a comprehensive and systematic review of its business activities and its
performance in relation to its degree of maturity. Self-assessment can be used to determine the
relative strengths and weaknesses of the organization in terms of its performance as well as its
practices both at an overall level and at the level of its individual processes, with the objective of
being able to prioritize, plan and implement improvements. Self assessment is usually carried
out by a team of people representing cross functional as well as hierarchal interests within the
organization.

Auditing: ..

ISO 9004:2009, in Annex A, provides two excellent tools for an organization to self-assess
its level of maturity and identify opportunities for improvement and innovation.
1. Top Management self-assessment tool: This self-assessment should be performed by
the Top management of an organization to obtain a quick overview of its position in
relation to its strategy. It uses different scenarios to relate the key elements of the
organizations performance to corresponding maturity levels for sustained success. Table
2 below gives a summarized version of Table A.1 from ISO 9004.

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

Table 2 Example of a Top management self-assessment tool
Maturity Level
Typical key elements to be
assessed
Business Environment,
Interested Parties Needs
and Expectations,
Sustained Success
Strategies and Policies
Formulation, Planning and
Deployment into Processes
and Organizational
Structure
Resource management,
People Competences and
Motivation, Partnership,
Work Environment,
Knowledge, Information &
Technology

Level 1
(starting)

Level 2
(aware)

Level 3
(successful)

Level 4
(excellent
Overall
Performance)

Level 5
(sustained
Success)

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

2. Detailed self-assessment tool: This self-assessment should be performed by a cross

functional team, that includes the organizations process owners, to assess the capabilities
of its business. Table 3 below gives a summarized version of Tables A.2 to A.7 from ISO
9004.
Table 3 Example of a detailed self-assessment tool
Maturity Level
Typical key elements to be
assessed

Level 1
(starting)

Level 2
(aware)

Level 3
(successful)

Level 4
(excellent
Overall
Performance)

Level 5
(sustained
Success)

Planning & Managing the

Organizations Processes

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Monitoring, Measurement,
Analysis and Review of its
business, Key Performance
Indicators, Improvement,
Innovation and Learning

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

Criteria to
check
against

5. Lessons to be learned to help your organization plan its next steps

The results of self-assessments should be an input to management reviews and should be
communicated to relevant people in the organization; they should be used to share understanding
about the organization and its future direction.
The results of self-assessment support
The continual improvement of the organizations overall performance,
The progress towards achieving and maintaining sustained success for the organization,
innovation in its processes, products and organizational structure
The recognition of best practices and opportunities for improvement.

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

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In search of Sustained Success

An organization is likely to be at different maturity levels for each element. A review of the gaps
between the current level and the next level will help the organizations management in planning
and prioritizing the improvement and innovation actions needed to move to the higher level.
Based on this analysis a review of the diagram below may help you to conclude the best next steps
for your organization.

Analyse each row of results separately (the answer may not be the same for each!) and then
draw conclusions as to your overall progress to date.

The route to sustained success table used in this document is intentionally simple and
generic; ISO 9001:2008, ISO 9004:2009 and Performance Excellence Models all use more
sophisticated business performance principles.

The results of an organizations assessments, when summarized and analysed, are an

invaluable source of learning that may be of use to help you conclude how to proceed and
what techniques can best support your efforts.

The implementation of actions to up-grade or enhance the maturity level or performance standard
requires mature, time-phased and quantified actions and measures, to be able to monitor the
completion level of each individual action.

Figure 3 The route to sustained success

The quality and success of the actions to be implemented relies on:
a) A good cause and effect analysis of why the organization is at its current level of maturity,
b) A clear definition and understanding of the intended aim of the proposed action
c) A measurable improvement impact, based on its processes and/or its business results.
As an example, see table 4.
Table 4 Examples of causes, actions and results
Detected Causes of
unsatisfactory results
High nonconformity costs and
insufficient focus on customer
benefit, impact negatively on
business results
Frequent fire fighting replaces
ISO 2010 All rights reserved

Action Aims

Expected Results

Consistent use of product and

process quality as levers to
increase earned value

Increased economic value

Introduction of a continual

Effective improvement actions

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

Detected Causes of
unsatisfactory results
systematic and preventive
action
Ambitious objectives and
elaborate analyses are not
followed by actions

Action Aims
improvement system under the
responsibility of Top
management
Implement a methodology to
convert objectives into process
specific actions and to carry out
improvement projects
systematically

Expected Results
or projects
Consistency and
measurability

6. The ISO 9000 family - a powerful source of good business practices and
knowledge, to help you on your journey
6.1. If you are just starting out.
ISO 9001:2008 has assisted many organizations in moving from the starting to the successful
positions and beyond by helping to demonstrate their capabilities in a widely accepted framework.
This standard can particularly help enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application
of management systems, including processes for continual improvement and the assurance of
conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
ISO 9004:2009 is a useful guide for a business that wishes to improve on the foundations of ISO
9001:2008. The practices described in this guide may add value by making your quality
management system increasingly effective and efficient and to extend the depth of implementation
and benefits obtained by all parties that are interested in or affected by the business operations. In
this guide the objectives of customer satisfaction and product quality are extended to include the
satisfaction of all interested parties and the performance level of the business.
It is amazing to discover how many managers would undertake changes without understanding
their units critical processes and their performance gaps. ISO 9001:2008 helps on that issue.
Some organizations used to have difficulty with improvement; they tried for it, but without a clear
definition of what were important processes. By using ISO 9001:2008 an organization can
determine its processes, obtain a clear understanding of what is important and educate its
employees. This can result in a significant improvement in operating effectiveness.
Additionally, ISO 9004:2009 provides a non-prescriptive framework that can guide an organization
on the route to sustained success. It can be useful in the starting or awareness phases to assess
the organizations maturity status and to provide guiding visions for the next steps on the route to
sustained success. It also provides a way to compare with and learn from others.
The organizations planning processes should anticipate many factors, such as customer
expectations, new business ideas, partnering opportunities, employee development and hiring
needs. ISO 9004:2009 helps to integrate all these and other diverse inputs.
6.2 If you know where youre going, but not sure how to get there
The foundations provided by ISO 9001:2008 continue to be important but as organizations progress
past the starting and initially aware levels, there is a need to adopt more sophisticated
management practices to accommodate and drive growth.
ISO 2010 All rights reserved

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In search of Sustained Success

During this phase of growth, organizations often face the risk of misalignment of effort. Symptoms
may include the use of isolated initiatives that do not achieve their full potential.
ISO 9004:2009 can help build management systems that do not just provide customer confidence
but also help improve and align the management practices of an organization to fulfil its strategy.
You need to keep an eye on the market place, which can be difficult. ISO 9004:2009 can help you to
look beyond the requirements of your immediate customers and gain deeper insights of your market
place.
ISO 9004:2009 guides you to establish monitoring and measurement process to determine whether
your approaches are well defined and deployed, and if desired outcomes are being effectively and
efficiently achieved.
Sometimes organizations start new initiatives without thinking about how they might truly add value
to what they are already doing. ISO 9004:2009 guides you to define what you really need, and then
track what your organization is really achieving, as you progress through the maturity stages
towards sustained success.
While your organization grows, you will find it necessary to increase/improve the quality of your
management practices. Using ISO 9004:2009 can help you to educate and develop your managers
and employees, to understand what is really required.
6.3. If you are close to reaching your destination.
Your organization is probably ready to enhance its internal learning by increasingly using external
comparisons and analyses of its performance. Using Performance Excellence models can be of
benefit at all phases of the journey but particularly at this higher level where they will help to bring
an external perspective to an organizations analysis and planning of improvement.
The use of ISO 9001:2008 should continue to remain important for providing confidence that your
organizations achievements are real and repeatable, but an increasing rate of product innovations
will expand your business and profits. The use of ISO 9004:2009 should give a clear view of the
processes that drive innovation.
Strategy and execution are strongly interdependent and both are increasingly important as the
organization grows. Since your organization will probably by now have demonstrated its conformity
to ISO 9001:2008 (by certification or other means), this should provide confidence that you can
consistently meet customer requirements. However, it may not give the deeper performance
insights that could be obtained through the use of ISO 9004:2009.

7. Conclusion
The use of ISO9004:2009 (whether combined with ISO 9001:2008, or not) can provide a framework
for guidance in strategic orientation, assessment and measurement methodologies to help your
organization on its journey to sustained success. Once you achieve sustained success, the
continued use of a management system based on these standards will help keep your organization
successful.

ISO 2010 All rights reserved

ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936

In search of Sustained Success

8. Related Documents

ISO 9004:2009 Managing for the sustained success of an organization A quality

management approach

ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems Requirements

ISO 9000:2005 Quality management systems Fundamentals and vocabulary

Implementation guidance for ISO 9004:2009

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ISO/TC176/SC2/N 936