On the 9^th day of Christmas my consultant gave to me 9 ways to provide evidence of Leadership to an auditor (this can be documented or conversational evidence):

1. Sign and date the policy statement / s!
2. Records of meetings where the policy was discussed and written or reviewed and updated (could be minutes, action plans or notes in a book - however you record such things is fine)
3. Know what your purpose (see 1^st day) and strategic direction is and be able to talk about it, make sure everybody else knows what it is too. Is it on your website / intranet / poster on the wall / stuck next to the mirror in the loos?
4. Provide adequate resources for people to do their jobs properly, this can be evidenced through an organogram, recruitment plan, training plan, machinery / equipment upgrades or investment etc
5. Define roles, responsibilities and accountabilities, make sure everybody knows what they are supposed to be doing and why they are doing it, clear roles and responsibility documents can be useful here
6. Publicly say thank you to people and share good feedback from customers – in person, email, company newsletters, website, intranet news items
7. Demonstrate your commitment to continual improvement – be open to ideas, review the ones that are brought forward, give feedback to the originator and  action the good ones wherever possible
8. Promote risk based thinking through your company – is risk management considered in your existing business meetings / action plans / objectives?
9. Integrate health and safety, environmental and quality requirements into normal business processes – don’t have separate paperwork / systems ‘for the auditor’!

On the 10^th day of Christmas my consultant gave to me 10 things to measure when calculating your carbon footprint:

1. Gas you burn in the boiler to heat your building / s
2. Petrol and diesel you burn in your vehicles / fleet while driving on business
3. Electricity you use in your building / s to power equipment, computers, lighting etc
4. Waste you produce during production and manufacturing
5. Petrol and diesel burnt by your suppliers, delivering raw materials and / or components to you
6. Petrol and diesel burnt by your employees commuting to work
7. Resources used by the manufacture of equipment you buy and use to make your products
8. Business travel – could include train journeys and air miles
9. Emissions related to the customer use of your products (i.e. if they use electricity to power your product)
10. End of life disposal – what happens when your customer finishes with your product?

On the 11^th day of Christmas my consultant gave to me 11 potential areas for identifying improvements:

1. Customer feedback – what do they like? Can you do it even better?
2. Audit results – both internal / external, any ‘opportunities for improvement’ identified?
3. Customer complaints – nobody likes getting them, but can you prevent the same thing happening again?
4. Discussions and actions from management meetings
5. Achievement (or not!) of Objectives – what are you going to next / instead?
6. Changes in legal or compliance or contractual obligations – are improvements required to meet these new / enhanced requirements?
7. Changes in your market – what are your competitors doing?
8. Changes in equipment / technology – can you do something better / quicker / easier than before?
9. Changes in infrastructure – can you re-arrange your existing workplace to make things more efficient?
10. What is going on around you? Are there changes in external context that you can take advantage of?
11. What do your employees think? What ideas have they got?

On the 12^th day of Christmas my consultant gave to me 12 agenda items for a management review: (actually 13, but I’m not sure if anybody is still reading and counting by this point!)

1. Status of actions from previous Management Reviews?
2. Any changes in strategic direction?
3. Any changes in context? If there are, do they affect the management system?
4. Any changes in risks and opportunities? Have any actions been effective?
5. Performance and effectiveness of the management system
6. Progress towards meeting objectives
7. Non-conformities – any trends? Have effective actions been taken?
8. Monitoring and measuring – what is being monitored and measured? What are the results?
9. Internal and external audit results – any actions required?
10. Suppliers – anybody on the naughty step? Anybody performing well?
11. Are resources adequate?
12. Any opportunities for Improvement?
13. And the final, most important agenda item - does the management system continue to be suitable, adequate and effective?

Thank you for sticking with us for all 78 individual items – we wish you a very Happy Christmas!