Can you trust your management system? And should you care?
Trust is a big word and as the marketing gurus tell us building up brand trust is vitally important to the brand success, but it is hard won. The success of a Management System works in a similar way. Users need to trust the management system in order for it to be used and therefore for it to be of benefit to the organisation. This article explores what your management system needs to establish that trust.
There are many other factors that can help your management system to be successful, but trust is a fundamental one. If you find that your management system is not being used by your staff it is most likely to be a trust issue. The basic requirements of a system that you can trust are listed below:
- Stable
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a hardcopy system or an all singing, state-of-the-art database system. Your system must be stable in terms of function and availability. Users need to know where to go to refer to it and it must be available when they need it. - Direction
Your system needs to deliver and reinforce the companies vision, mission, objectives, etc. Without this reinforcement company values can be confused and confusion leads to mistrust. - Helpful
The system needs to provide appropriate guidance and reference in a clear and easily understood format. A system should be referred to by your users for answers to their questions. If it does not provide answers they will increasingly seek guidance from other sources and those sources may not provide accurate answers. - Accurate
Information must be current and well informed. If users find any information flawed the validity of the rest of the systems can be brought into question. - Evolving
A static management system soon becomes obsolete and redundant. A management system must develop with the company and must continuously improve in line with the requirements of all the Management System standards. - Practical
The Management System must be in a format and use language that is appropriate for the end user. It must be ordered so that it is easy to find what you are looking for. A complex management system full of acronyms and “Management Speak” may be OK for a company full of graduates, but how would the same system fair with labourers?
