How do you write a Quality Policy?

I've discussed Quality Policies in earlier posts—especially here and here, for example—but I've never explained how to write one. Honestly, I'd never thought about it before now. I guess I thought that somehow the writing would take care of itself. But Kyle Chambers and Caleb Adcock over at Texas Quality Assurance have done me one better on this point. In a recent episode of their #QualityMatters podcast (episode 181, to be exact) they talk through the theory behind Quality Policies and give step-by-step instructions for writing one. And mostly I agree with them.

You can play the episode as a podcast by clicking here, or you can play it on YouTube by clicking the video image below.

Kyle and Caleb start their episode with a general discussion of whether Quality Policies have to be inspiring (2:30) and of what the formal requirements for a Quality Policy actually say (5:00).*  (Kyle quotes the requirements from ISO 9001, clause 5.2, but makes the point that the analogous clauses in other comparable standards all say basically the same thing.) But soon they move to the central question. Kyle asks (at about 8:50), Is there a formula for writing a Quality Policy? And then he proposes one: Simply describe what your business does, and lay it out like this:

• We provide <these goods or services> …
• … to <these customers>.
• We meet all requirements and we improve continually <by using these and those methods.> 

Absolutely straightforward.

Then Kyle shows how this formula works in practice by using it (from about 11:00 to 18:00) to generate a Quality Policy for his own business, Texas Quality Assurance. He first states it at about 16:45, and then goes back to revise it a little later. 

The next part of the conversation (from 19:45 to about 24:20 or so) is on how to derive major Quality objectives from your Quality Policy, and the method is equally direct.

• Look at your Policy.
• See the things it says you do?
• Those are your major Quality objectives. Do them. 
• More exactly, use your Policy statement to make a concrete list of what you have to achieve.
• Naturally you might need to track department-level KPIs as well, just to make sure you are on track. But the business-level objectives are to do the things you say you do in your Policy.

After that, Kyle and Caleb discuss some pointers on things-NOT-to-do and on how to brainstorm effectively, they bring up a few incidental clarifications, and the talk is over.

I said at the outset of this post that mostly I agree with everything Kyle and Caleb say here. My one caution is a point of emphasis, rather than anything stronger. If you follow Kyle's formula, your output will be perfectly serviceable. But will it be a policy, or just a statement of the scope of your management system? ISO 9000:2015, clause 3.5.8, defines a policy as:

intentions and direction of an organization as formally expressed by its top management.

In other words, a policy should answer certain kinds of broad questions before they are ever asked. Do you allow a customer to return a product if it is defective because the customer himself broke it? Yes or No, that's a policy (though not exactly a Quality Policy). On the other hand, "We sell lawn furniture" is less obviously a policy. Now, I can imagine circumstances where it might function as a policy,** and that's why I qualify my disagreement as no more than a point of emphasis. But if you can think of something stronger to say about your attitude or strategic direction with respect to Quality, then say it.

All the same, Kyle's formula generates results that are a lot better than many of the Quality policies currently out there. Kyle talks (6:30) about one company he knows whose "Quality Policy" expresses an aspiration about the kind of company they want to grow into twenty years from now. But that's a Vision, not a Quality Policy. Your Policy has to describe what you are doing today. If it doesn't, and if you hope to be certified to ISO 9001, your auditor will write you up for any discrepancy. Don't give him findings that are so obvious.  

There is one topic on which Kyle admits a little disappointment with his own formula: it is not reliably flashy or inspiring. That is, if you apply this formula, the output might sound a little dull (2:30, 3:30, 32:50). I think if that's the biggest risk you have to worry about then you are doing pretty well. There are a lot of dreadful Quality Policies in the world, and this formula will give you one that works just fine. If you really want one that's flashy and inspiring, well, Quality Policies have to express a commitment to continual improvement, so maybe "Writing a flashier Policy" is a good target for future improvement.  

__________

* When I make reference to the podcast, I will give approximate time markers. These are not exact.  

** For example, if there were a debate within top management whether to start a second product line that was totally unrelated to the primary business, "We sell lawn furniture" might be a useful policy statement to shut down the proposal.