World Quality Day is celebrated on the second Thursday in November every year and is championed by the CQI - this year’s theme is “Quality: a question of trust” and we are being asked to consider and celebrate the role that “everyone in an organisation plays in building and sustaining trust for all stakeholders: customers, suppliers, staff, regulators, shareholders and society”.

Recently, there have been a series of well publicised failures in governance and trust such as the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal, VW falsification of emissions test data and Oxfam involvement in a sex scandal . All of these have had an effect on the public perception of large organisations however I think the most horrifying incident has been the Grenfell Tower fire with systemic failures being identified at various levels of society and governance.

Against this backdrop of widely publicised failures, I believe very strongly that quality professionals have a vital role to play as the ‘conscience’ of an organisation and I have recently had several conversations with clients about the assurance which can be provided by a strong internal audit programme and an independent view of the organisation. ISO 19011:2018 provides guidelines for auditing management systems and describes the personal attributes which auditors should demonstrate through their behaviour (clause 7.2.2), including being ethical (i.e. fair and truthful) and “able to act with fortitude i.e able to act responsibly and ethically, even those these actions may not always be popular” - I tend to describe this as being prepared to stick my head above the parapet to raise an issue when required.

The CQI states that “the quality profession plays a unique role in ensuring that stakeholder trust is earned and maintained” and I am proud and privileged to play a part in this through the relationships I have built with my clients and the assurance that I provide them with.

Happy World Quality Day 2018!