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  practical, simple and flexible ISO 9001

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Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
~ Albert Einstein

 

 

About Jane


My focus is on making quality management and business systems simple, practical and flexible.


Jane Bennett, Director, Principal Consultant As company Director and Principal Consultant, I work with organisations seeking good quality management.  Many want to get ISO 9001 certification; others want to improve or simplify their existing system.  
I specialise in service-based businesses and project environments.

To achieve results, I make use of a wide and sometimes eclectic range of skills and techniques.  Sources include research, education, experience, learning and studying what works and what doesn't. Mixing consulting, analysis, presentation and coaching skills with examples, common sense and humour, I work with you to achieve your goals and get results as fast as possible with the least amount of effort. 

Why the emphasis on speed and minimal effort?  Because I always seek maximum results for the lowest possible effort and cost.  'Working with slender means' as one client said.

I get pleasure from well designed business management systems that support the demands of the people who use them.  Unfortunately, this  happens too rarely.

With a focus on achieving real value and results. I work only with businesses and organisations where this is possible.  The clients I work with will have a desire to improve and an ethical approach.  If we don't have these in common, the consultancy won't work for either side.

I have unparalleled skills and experience in:

  • interpreting and applying  the ISO 9001 Standard and its demands with intelligence, simplicity and flexibility
  • finding solutions that are practical and work well
  • helping people and organisations to improve their performance, achieve measurable results and thus to become more effective.

As an entrepreneur, I also create my own products, such as the ISO 9001 DIY Pack.  An achiever and a problem-solver, I aim to constantly exceed expectations. I am passionate about what I do.

Core Values

  • Honesty: I tell the truth, which includes putting client interests first - if you don't need it or my company isn't right for you, I'll tell you
  • Excellence: doing the best work I am capable of
  • Commitment: you can depend on me to meet deadlines and do what was agreed
  • Value: if it isn't valuable, I don't do it, much less charge for it.

Career Summary

For over 30 years I've worked in the business world as consultant, quality manager, business analyst, technical writer, process analyst, business coach  and communications consultant. In a previous life, I was a company director, owning and running retail businesses, and also a teacher of communications and English, mainly to adults. 

I'm a Bachelor of Arts, a Diploma of Education, and a later Graduate Diploma of Business Information Technology, registered Principal Auditor and certified Coach.  The post-graduate IT diploma extended many self-taught skills, and enables me to understand analysts and developers.  I can translate function-based 'geek speak' into information that people actually understand, and more importantly, use and act upon. Systems and technology can be wonderful, but they should serve people, not the other way around. 

I've worked across Australia and New Zealand for clients in Australia's top 50 list: highlights include seeing diamonds in the rough mined near Kunnunurra, the vast landscape of the Kimberley, watching the sun set over the Arafura Sea in the far north, and the wildly beautiful landscape of Tasmania. 

I have worked for the big end of town, and also in small and medium.  I've worked on many projects from formal engineering feasibility studies, process re-engineering and major systems developments and implementations to massive change exercises, desiging online help, communications and people, Year 2000 rectification, and corporate intranets and web sites. 

As for documenting: policy, business processes, procedures... from functional specifications and test reports, to codes of conduct, guidelines, business cases/strategies, business plans, quality plans, formal reports, tenders, post-implementation project reviews, you name it and I've probably planned, analysed, written or reviewed it.

And then of course there's quality systems. 

The Road to Quality

Working with business processes and management systems, I came to the conclusion that while ISO 9001 was a sensible standard, there was a real problem in how it was usually done.  Most systems were based on a typical old-style manufacturing model.  That model certainly didn't work well in service companies or project-based ones.  (They usually didn't work terribly well for manufacturers either, but that's another story.)

There just had to be better, easier, more practical ways of doing ISO 9001. 

For a start, those doorstop manuals had to go.  And the culture of forms and bureaucracy.  The clunky, dense language that no one could understand.  And the lengthy written procedures, often saying little or way too much.  People shunned such things, all for very good reason.

Where I started was with the belief that a successful business already had a functioning quality system.  It just "wasn't ISO" yet. 

I drew on my experiences as analyst, presenter, documenter, technical writer, teacher, trainer and coach to find new ways to do quality management systems, and gradually refined my unique approach using more experience from different situations.  

Example:  a small but successful consulting firm had already failed the ISO 9001 hurdle twice; the negative legacy this left included a very sour attitude toward  "quality", so a turn-around in attitude was essential.  Using some cultural change management skills helped get the whole company involved, and get 'buy-in' from a few  key players. 

We picked a problem spot where the only consistent thing was frequent problems, costing time and money. With the help of the key people, this was re-engineered. Out went the 2 massive volumes of detailed procedures, and the third they were struggling to complete.  Because a business of 25 people couldn't afford to maintain such a large system, and it didn't need to.

How much would they need? The people were competent and  experienced: they didn't need lots of detail.  So the massive volumes were replaced with a single, concise handbook of a dozen flowchart procedures.   From 400+ pages down to about 40.

In less than a year, the coveted certification was proudly achieved.  With a dynamic and 'skinny' system, flexible enough to support a rapidly changing company with multiple clients and projects. 

Another example: For Unisys, I was Quality Manager on the Year 2000 Rectification Program for ANZ Bank: a multi-million dollar, 3½ year effort spanning business units across Australia and internationally.  Their existing ISO 9002 system was cumbersome and bureaucratic: an old-style 1994 manufacturing QA model, groaning under a mass of documents, forms, 'quality stamps' and red tape.

I stripped it. Aimed for many fewer, and far shorter documents.  Threw out the excess.  Joined formerly isolated separate procedures into end-to-end processes, applying a process approach well before the 2000 Standard.  And reduced the number of procedures by 40%At last, people saw how what they did was linked to, and how it affected others.  Naturally, I reduced the time spent on revising and maintaining all those documents.

The revised, simpler, more practical system worked well for the project team.  It let us rapidly bring new personnel on board, and up to speed on requirements.  Multiple external audits gave it high praise.  Later, I applied a similar model to ANZ's Group-wide Program Management Office - this was awarded one of the first Australian certificates to an updated version of ISO 9001 shortly after its release in the year 2000.

Other project management expertise includes developing common standards, structure and content for the launch of ANZ's original Project in a Box, an intranet project management system: standard processes, templates and procedures for their major projects. 

Intelligent Quality Management

In 1998 I started my own company, Mapwright Pty Ltd.  The name refers to creating new paths ('maps') and has no connection with cartography.  In 2007 I began trading under the registered business name of Intelligent Quality Management to describe my approach more accurately.  The feedback from my many clients confirms the value they receive. 

Working with a network of other experienced consultants and associates, I ensure clients receive the highest possible levels of service quality.  Any associates are equally highly skilled, personally selected and carefully monitored to ensure client requirements are met and my exacting standards.

When not working I enjoy walking with our Director of Leisure Pursuits, learning, visiting galleries or museums, singing, investing, travelling (photos from my last trip here), reading, permaculture gardening, cooking, listening to music and spending time with friends.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free brochure
on ISO 9000
from ISO

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.
- attributed to Albert Einstein.

 

 

 

 

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