4 replies to this topic

[mgourley]

Roughly a year ago Senior Management expressed their desire to certify to BRC. Basically the instructions were "let's get this done". I quickly determined the we, as middle management, could do the majority of the heavy lifting but that Senior Management and the line worker play a rather significant part in certification (obviously).

Our Plant Manager recently attended an American Bakers Association meeting where the subject of BRC and other GFSI certification schemes came up. During a round table discussion, he described our situation in these terms:

One day we were handed a large box with a ribbon wrapped around it. When we opened it we found a sign that read "Become BRC Certified". After doing some research, we determined that many of the procedures, programs and documentation we currently use already meet the basic intent of many of the standards. Formats and content of existing procedures, programs and documentation were revised to meet the intent of the standards and plans were put in motion to train and educate the work force.

Then the foot dragging began. Senior Management was not interested, slow to accept or unwilling to change the way they had done things for 50 years. Line employees had little enthusiasm to change the way they had been doing things for years.

At this point, a vast majority of the 30 or so people around the conference room began to vigorously nod their heads in agreement.

So here are a few questions for those who have faced similar situations:

1) Without the obvious "do it because you said we have to", how have you convinced Senior Management of their responsibilities under the Standard?
2) How have you presented the certification scheme and requirements to the average line worker in order to gain buy in?


Marshall

[Bawdy]

I too am nodding my head as i write this.For some reason, Senior Managers are the hardest to get to buy into it, but the first to blame it when something goes wrong, which is usually because they failed to follow the process in the first place.

I would suggest that seeing as how your senior management want BRC there must be a reason for it, i.e requirement to supply particular customer or some such reason. Perhaps there is some leverage here?

I would do a gap audit and point out to them that the reason the BRC cert will fail (or fail to achieve the required minimum grade) is because of their failure to comply with the requirements, and therefore they will not meet the required aims of becoming BRC certified in the first place. I.E. it will be their fault, not yours. Particularly effective if sales managers bonuses etc are affected on the bassis of how much business you get from the BRC cert.

I did this at a company i used to work for and it got the desired results, although i must confess i did "beef up" the NCRS just to get my point across. Saying things like, failing just this part will fail the audit completely, it wont matter what we score in the other sections, as yours is a critical area. The managers at this particular company were pretty ignorant on how the standards worked and operated. At the end of BRC audits, if we had some room to add extra NCRS without affecting the grade, i would ask the auditors to write some extras for me if i was having any difficulty in driving any changes through. Worked a treat. For some reason it is difficult to argue with an auditors assesment.

Hopefully once the senior and middle managers are on board, the floor staff will follow suit.

Just my 2 cent suggestion. Obviously it all depends upon the people in your senior management team.


Paul.

[mgourley]

I too am nodding my head as i write this.For some reason, Senior Managers are the hardest to get to buy into it, but the first to blame it when something goes wrong, which is usually because they failed to follow the process in the first place.

I would suggest that seeing as how your senior management want BRC there must be a reason for it, i.e requirement to supply particular customer or some such reason. Perhaps there is some leverage here?

I would do a gap audit and point out to them that the reason the BRC cert will fail (or fail to achieve the required minimum grade) is because of their failure to comply with the requirements, and therefore they will not meet the required aims of becoming BRC certified in the first place. I.E. it will be their fault, not yours. Particularly effective if sales managers bonuses etc are affected on the bassis of how much business you get from the BRC cert.

I did this at a company i used to work for and it got the desired results, although i must confess i did "beef up" the NCRS just to get my point across. Saying things like, failing just this part will fail the audit completely, it wont matter what we score in the other sections, as yours is a critical area. The managers at this particular company were pretty ignorant on how the standards worked and operated. At the end of BRC audits, if we had some room to add extra NCRS without affecting the grade, i would ask the auditors to write some extras for me if i was having any difficulty in driving any changes through. Worked a treat. For some reason it is difficult to argue with an auditors assesment.

Hopefully once the senior and middle managers are on board, the floor staff will follow suit.

Just my 2 cent suggestion. Obviously it all depends upon the people in your senior management team.


Paul.

Thanks for the suggestions, Paul.
I have been working on senior management, pointing out that there IS a reason that Senior Management Commitment is the first requirement and Fundamental in the Standard.

Being a family owned business that has been around for over 100 years, there is always the "what will it cost" argument to contended with. I think I have pointed out, fairly successfully, that the relatively small cost of certification will most certainly be dwarfed by the profit lost by not being able to procure customers that either currently, or shortly will, demand such a certification as a condition of doing business.

Hammer away at the stone, I guess.

Marshall

[Fran Blanco]

Hi everyboy,In my case I have experimented that situation from both sides.Firstly, I was Quality manager of meat industry, apparently senior management was interested in get a certificate, after one month working we let the project. Some explanations were stated by senior management and they sounded pretty similar than others written on your post.Secondly, now I am consultant, I have several comercial mettings each year trying to work with companys implementing quality and food safety systems, however I have a clear perception."Only when a company have to face a mandatory requisite of an important client (Mercadona, Eroski, Alcampo... Our Tesco's in Spain) to keep on being its suplier or starting to be it, then you don't need to convice anybody, indeed they are going to find you".
Face this kind of effort, only for improving the process, without any economic feed back or a new business opportunity, it is so difficult to find, at least here in Spain.


Few exceptions are out of this non-written rule.


Fran.

[Simon]

There must always be a driver for change and as quality manager (or similar) you need to be adept at psychology, be commercially minded, very persistent and pragmatic. Senior management commitment never has been easy and never will be. Try to make systems simple that add measurable value to the business..and sell it.