ARE YOU STRONG?

Or are you weak?

Knowing your organisation strengths and weaknesses allows you to enhance your resilience to business and operational risks. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are designed to mitigate risk and allow the organisation to systematically engage in seeking opportunities to improve performance.

Clause 4 of the standard 'Context of the Organisation' requires the organisation to determine potential internal and external impacts on the organisation. PESTLE analysis is a great analytical methodology for determining external risk impacts. SWOT analysis is equally a great methodology for determining internal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

At our Stage 1 'Readiness Review' we were able to show the BSI assessor how we use both methodologies. It is more than likely that when it comes to our Stage 2 Certification assessment in December we will need to demonstrate the progress made in mitigating the identified internal and external potential risks to our company. The BSI certification team will interview employees and one of the questions they may ask is "how do you determine risks and opportunities". This question may be asked in terms of business strategy and/or day-to-day operational activities.

PESTLE and SWOT are but two methodologies that are available in the Quality and Environmental Management tool box. The important thing is that all team members 'think' risk and use the management system proactively to mitigate potential impacts on the business and drive improvement.

So what are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Indulis Svikis