Why Internal Audits Grow Stale

Internal Audits are a key part of any ISO Implementation journey, they are also a necessary vehicle to drive continual improvement.

For those with more mature ISO Management Systems, it can be easy for Internal Audits to become a bit of a rinse and repeat exercise. This can lead to stagnation of meaningful results, especially if you're asking the same people the same questions year on year.

So how can you revitalise the Audit process?

In this episode, Steph Churchman is joined by Sarah Ball, the Service Improvement Manager at Blackmores, to discuss the challenges associated with repeated internal audits, and how you can refresh the process to ensure you get meaningful results to drive continual improvement.

You'll learn

· What is an Isologyhub Gameplan?

· What issue is the Audit Accelerator tackling?

· Who is the Audit Accelerator aimed at?

· What are the five steps in the Audit Accelerator Gameplan?

Resources

· Isologyhub

· What is the Isologyhub?

In this episode, we talk about:

[02:05] Episode Summary – Blackmores Service Improvement Manager joins Steph on this episode to talk about the challenges many face when completing internal audits in an annual basis, and how these can be refreshed to ensure valuable output.

[00:45] What is the isologyhub? The isologyhub is our online learning platform for all things ISO. Its main feature is the ISO Roadmap, a 7-step guided apprach to implementing your own bespoke ISO 14001 compliant Environmental Management System.

Since it's creation, it's grown to hold a library of over 200+ ISO related resources. The content available varies from quick accessible content such as ISO templates, ISO handbooks and short from video training we call Coffee Break Training which explain key elements of ISO Standards. This goes onto more in-depth content such as our ISO Pathways which take you through 3 levels of learning to help you progress from Learner to leader in your chosen subject area.

There's other exclusive content on there which you can dip into, including our full workshop recordings which have covered topics such as utilising ISO Standards for ESG compliance, how to integrate ISO Standards and how to complete an AI impact Assessment.

[02:10] What is an isologyhub Gameplan? Gameplans have been designed to be actionable pieces of content within the Isologyhub.

They are guides where people can work through a particular set of information about a topic and practical guidance that can be applied within the own organisation.

Each game plan is structured around a kind of area that is quite commonly a difficult area for many organisations managing ISO Standards.

Each Gameplan also includes a number of Workbooks to help you through each step, whether as an individual or as part of a team.

[04:00] What issue is the Audit Accelerator tackling? internal audits are a fundamental part of any ISO management system, but it's also something that can get a little bit stale when you've had a management system for a while.

It can tend to feel a little bit like a rinse and repeat exercise where you're having similar conversations with the same people about the same processes, which isn't what internal audits should be.

The reason they're in the standards in the first place, is to help push continual improvement. For example, if you've got a quality management system, you'll be looking to ensure that processes are being followed, but also where there are opportunities to improve. This is where a lot of people drop the ball in mature systems.

Internal Audits can be intimidating for some, and can be rushed as just something that needs to get done. But by rushing them, by not talking the proper time to speak to different individuals, you are missing out on valuable information that can ultimately help you improve your services and way of working.

The Audit Accelerator Gameplan was designed to help you to really get the most out of those internal audits, give the process a bit of a refresh and rethink how you're approaching your audit planning. It also provides guidance on how you can get better engagement from the wider business with audits.

Refreshing the process will help you to gain new perspectives, and ensure that internal audits becomes a positive experience that everyone can engage with, no matter what level they are at within the business.

[08:15] Who is the Audit Accelerator aimed at?: The person who's responsible, or personal team who is responsible for coordinating the internal audit plans within an organisation.

It's aimed at those so that they can help the wider business to understand what audits are about, and also so that they can also look at how they're planning audits.

[09:15] What are the five steps in The Audit Accelerator?:

Step 1: Check – This step helps you to assess where you currently are with your Audit Program. It includes a workbook with a checklist that you can work through, this will give you a score to indicate how well you're doing and where you can improve. It asks questions such as:

· How effective are the audits that you're doing in your business?

· Are there areas that you could perhaps make improvements?

Step 2: Challenging Assumptions - This step provides information about what the purpose of internal audits are, why people have misconceptions about them, what some of the common fears and concerns are about audits, so that you can start addressing them within your business.

This can include simply talking to your colleagues in a more positively framed way about Internal Audits. Another suggestion is changing the name 'Internal Audit', especially if it has negative connotations within the business. The Standard doesn't say they have to be called anything, as long as you're asking people about how things are done, ensuring processes are being followed and allowing people to suggest improvements, the way you go about doing to (including the name) can be done in whatever way works best for your business.

This step also includes the main workbook that you will work through for the rest of the steps.

Step 3: Change It Up – This sections includes a few different videos about different ways of planning audits and different ways of explaining audits to your colleagues so that they feel a little bit more comfortable about them and understand the benefits and real opportunities that come from participating in audits as well.

Step 4: Collaboration – This step stresses that it's really important that Internal Audits is not something driven solely by just one person. Everyone has a positive part to play in the process. This includes Management, as they need to hear audit feedback and make changes where required. This helps to show that audits drive meaningful change, and should encourage everyone to have their say.

So, this step is really about making sure that management, audit planners and auditees understand their role in the process.

Step 5: Check Again – This involved going back to that initial assessment of where you were when you started the Gameplan, and reassessing after you've implemented some of these improvements through the improvement workbook and seeing if you have moved the goalpost from that initial assessment.

Hopefully you'll have a much higher score to show how much you've progressed after following the Gameplan steps.

If you'd like to become a member of the isologyhub, we have an exclusive 20% discount available for listeners, simply Contact Us and quote: Isologyhub20 to claim that discount.

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