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Welcome to the home of the Goldcert Approach – an advanced, comprehensive and inspiring cure for documented management systems suffering (or in danger of suffering) from the woes of compliance fatigue.
Compliance fatigue is a kind of organisational depression which, like all depressions, has a strong tendency to self-perpetuation, blind to any possibility of relief.
The table below lists some of the most common symptoms of compliance fatigue. You might find it helpful to check how many of these symptoms apply in your organisation.
Symptoms of Compliance Fatigue
| 1 | Lack of clarity as to the purpose of the system beyond justifying a “cert on the wall” |
| 2 | A strong focus on compliance rather than effectiveness in the deployment of the system |
| 3 | Weak sense of individual ownership or responsibility for the integrity of the system |
| 4 | Many “parallel systems” for document control, record management and action tracking |
| 5 | Documented procedures focus on “what should happen” on a good day. |
| 6 | Management system more focused on “maintaining stability” than on “managing change” |
| 7 | Management system personnel isolated from the rest of the organisation |
| 8 | Lack of shared vision between management system personnel and senior management function |
| 9 | Senior management initiate change and the management system personnel “clean up the mess” |
| 10 | Little visibility of business benefit from maintaining the management system |
| 11 | Requirements of the standard seen to conflict with the needs of the organisation |
| 12 | Last-minute panic and inauthentic retro-fit before every external audit |
| 13 | A culture of cynicism and resignation throughout the organisation |
| 14 | Management system widely perceived as “a necessary evil” |
An ever-growing number of organisations are registered to an ever-growing number of international standards for documented management systems such as
- ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems
- ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems
- OHSAS 18001 Health & Safety Management Systems
- ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems
But very few of these organisations are getting anything close to the full potential value of the systems they have implemented.
Most organisations are unaware of the additional benefits that a well designed system can provide – especially in these times of rapid change, scarce resources and increasing competition.
In fact, the majority of registered organisations suffer, to a greater or lesser extent, from compliance fatigue.
They are characterised by lonely system administrators and frustrated senior management. Each blames the other for the sense of stagnation, cynicism and resignation that surrounds the documented management system, its procedures, records, internal audits and corrective actions.
And, by blaming each other, they reinforce the multi-layered pattern of misunderstanding that lies at the root of the problem.
The Goldcert Approach cuts through these misunderstandings and puts your management system on its feet and well on its way to full recovery!
Before going any further, take our on-line “Health Check for Management Systems”.
It consists of 20 key characteristics of a healthy documented management system .
You are asked to rate how well your management system addresses each of these characteristics on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (fully).
The Health Check normally takes only 10 minutes to complete.
Following the Health Check we will email you a Report to help you identify where to go from here.
Should you decide to create a new future for your management system that will improve the experience of work throughout your organisation, Goldcert will be there to support you every step of the way.
Meanwhile you might like to have access to an ever-growing list of publications, documents and resources available on our eResource Centre.
For free viewing and downloading of material from the eResource Centre, sign up on the right side-panel of this page.