Managing the creativity and innovation process using ISO 9001

The process of creativity and innovation has existed with man since his beginnings, and as God Almighty said (And He taught Adam all the names), (Read in the name of your Lord who created), where man developed and invented different tools and ways of life that help him to follow life, and his creativity and innovations developed with the development of his knowledge and understanding of things, but the process of creativity and innovation has been dealt with with a lot of methodology and research over the past century and especially the first decade of this century.

A lot of research and applications confirm that creativity and innovation is only a process that we can manage like any other process and thus we can develop it to serve the desired purposes.

There are many countries that have worked on issuing national standards on innovation, and this indicates the growing national awareness and also the global consensus on how innovation and creativity should be managed in organizations.

In our time, customers have become more aware and aware of that. They demand the highest standards of quality while maintaining reasonable and appropriate prices for products and services. Also, company owners or investors demand more profitability, and societies demand organizations to adhere to standards and specifications related to the environment, social responsibility, etc., all of which puts a lot of pressure on organizations. To meet all these requests and continue to produce and stay in the market. In order to face all these challenges, organizations must have mechanisms, systems and tools that help them to do so. Among these tools is the process of creativity and innovation as one of the effective solutions to reduce waste, improve performance, as well as to produce new products that meet the aspirations and desires of customers.

Many of the tools traditionally used in quality management programs are more widely applied and widespread and can be very useful for managing creativity and innovation, helping the organization to gain a competitive advantage and improve business effectiveness.

I will devote this article to talk about the use of ISO 9001 as a basis for the innovation and creativity management system

This is done by using the requirements of ISO 9001 at a deeper level of thinking and application to prepare a management system for creativity and innovation, by managing the thinking process that is necessary for any successful innovation.

Through this article, we will focus on certain key elements of the requirements of ISO 9001 and show how to use the activities that take place in each of those elements (items) to develop the management of innovation and creativity.

Innovation is defined as the successful conversion of concepts and knowledge into a product or service that adds value to the customer

The starting point for creativity and innovation in the field of ISO 9001 requirements is the customer. Clause (8.2.1), which talks about customer satisfaction. Coupled with item (7.2) related to the correct understanding of the requirements of the client or customer, as these requirements represent the real fuel for the creativity and innovation process.

Customer satisfaction should be the starting point for creativity and innovation. Many organizations miss a great opportunity here and miss the original intent and true meaning of this clause. Therefore, we must move from asking questions such as “Is the customer satisfied with our products”, etc., and start asking questions such as: What are the difficulties we face in order to obtain customer satisfaction, and where are the places of wasting time and so on.

It is important to realize that in economically difficult times it is usually more profitable for an organization to introduce new products or services to existing customers than to source for new customers.

Another source of contribution to the process of managing innovation is Clause (8.3) Control of non-conforming products or services, which in turn provides opportunities to find solutions. For example, if the organization suffers from repeated failure, then here is the opportunity for creativity and innovation. At this early stage of the innovation process, the aptitudes of the organization’s personnel must also be assessed. (self-assessment of efficiency) and search for the best ways to make employees contribute their best efforts to the innovation process. This also relates to item (6.2) related to identifying and developing competencies

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Then we move to the next stage in the creativity and innovation management system using data analysis through item (8.4)

Analyzing data about customer satisfaction and product or service problems as well as operations, provides us with opportunities for creativity and innovation where we must focus on this point and we can refer to a famous quote by Albert Einstein “If I had 60 minutes to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem.” . And we need a clear definition of what the customer wants to receive. As well as the analysis of failure to meet the specified requirements for the product or service. Data analysis here is a priority.

Then comes the conceptual solutions from the use of continuous improvement, Clause (5.8). Where the organization should work on solving problems in systematic ways and methods. Where the organization must apply the methodology in solving problems by thinking about the problem from outside the box, and everyone must be involved in finding solutions from inside and outside the organization, and not to manage the process by one side or one department, and this represents the element The main in communication and in finding innovative solutions. The participation of all who belong to the organization in the process of creativity and innovation has an effective impact in creating new added value.

The best solutions always come from collective knowledge, and also come from those who can relate best to others. In the words of Linus Pauling, “The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.” Inventor and scientist Edison says, “The Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% sweat.”

To crystallize these ideas, we also need data and information on cost, time, and implementation risks. (It must be evaluated for internal and external risks, and we often forget that).

Statistics prove that if you have a new product, 90% of it is for

You have a new supplier, so suppliers must be periodically evaluated (item 7.4) using the review and audit process (item 8.2.2).

Appropriate arrangements must be made through quality control processes for suppliers’ products to ensure that these products meet the specified requirements and to mitigate risks.

One of the most important factors affecting the creativity and innovation process is the decisions taken and adopted by senior management as a result of reviews and management meetings, item (5.6), and often the outputs of those reviews and meetings are specific action plans towards a problem, development of a new product or product, or improvement opportunities This is the starting point for innovation and development.

Paradoxically, Clause (7.3) of the ISO 9001 specification, which talks about design and development, is the largest element of ISO 9001, which aims to control the design and development process through advance planning for operations, defining their inputs and outputs, defining responsibilities and resources needed, and elements of control and control in those operations. As well as the processes of measuring, testing and analyzing the efficiency of operations. However, many organizations do not perform their operations in an effective manner. Sometimes, operations are managed without proper planning and defining responsibilities, sometimes without properly defining process inputs, and at other times the level of control is less than required. Often, a clear vision of how to develop these operations is absent due to the absence of a correct understanding of how to operate. Those processes, so opportunities are available here to analyze those processes and work to develop them through creativity and innovation.

We can delve deeper into the effects of each item of the standard on the process of creativity and innovation, but we limited it to those items because they are the most influential.

It is necessary to encourage the process of creativity and innovation in the organization, which would increase the competitiveness of the organization and ensure its survival in the market, by creating new products or adding new features to its products, and by reducing the cost and improving the product, which affects the process of purchasing the product.

System thinking is vital to any successful innovation. If the process of managing creativity and innovation is not integrated with the applied systems in the organization, the process of creativity and innovation will collapse and die.

With a little adaptation and effective application of the ISO 9001 system and requirements, this provides an excellent framework for developing the creativity and innovation management system by spreading the culture of creativity and innovation in the organization.