#210 What is the EU Green Claims Directive
The ISO Show
Greenwashing is a concern for both businesses and consumers. The proliferation of it in recent years has caused genuine green claims to be treated with an air of caution rather than being rightfully celebrated. It’s become clear that there is a need for transparent and substantiated green claims, both to help consumers and stakeholders to make informed decisions and to ensure that real steps towards sustainability are being taken. Is the upcoming EU Green Claims Directive the answer we’ve been looking for? In this episode Mel is joined by Charlie Martin, CEO and Founder of The...
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#209 Introducing The Anti-Greenwash Charter
The ISO Show
We are hitting a crunch point in regard to keeping to the 1.5°C limit as set out in the Paris Agreement. It’s going to take a collective effort to reduce the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, which is exactly why we’re seeing an increase in legislation and regulations that call for tangible evidence of sustainability efforts to combat the rise in greenwashing. If you’re looking for guidance on sustainability transparency, today’s guest has an initiative that can help. In this episode Mel is joined by Charlie Martin, CEO and Founder of The Anti-Greenwash Charter,...
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#208 The Pros and Cons of Sustainability Standards
The ISO Show
ISO Standards have been at the forefront of creating a unified approach to various aspects of sustainability, ensuring businesses have a robust framework to both manage and reduce their environmental impact. However, there are a lot of different sustainability Standards that cover specific areas of sustainability, or only apply to certain sectors. Each come with their own pros and cons, making it tricky to pick the best fit for you. In this episode Steph Churchman introduces four of the leading sustainability focused ISO Standards and explains the benefits and disadvantages of...
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#207 Management Review – The Fallacy Of The Annual Event
The ISO Show
If you’ve ever implemented an ISO Standard, then the term Management Review will be familiar to you. It’s a mandatory part of the implementation process, and a crucial tool for monitoring continual improvement. Somewhere down the line, it’s become a bit of a myth that a Management Review needs to be an annual meeting. That is simply not the case, while required by the Standard, it’s very flexible on how this could be achieved. In this episode Ian discusses the purpose of Management Review, including what you should be including and getting out of the review and breaks down...
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#206 Aligning Objectives with Strategic Direction
The ISO Show
The importance of setting key objectives can’t be understated. They help drive continual improvement and reflect a business’s key metrics for success in various areas. They are also a key aspect of implementing an ISO Standard, with most specifying a dedicated Objectives clause. While most businesses will have objectives irrespective of any ISO certification, many may fall into the familiar trappings of having separate objectives for different departments, which only serves to fragment your measurement of success. In this episode Ian discusses the importance of setting key business...
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#205 Building AI Resilience with Cloud Direct
The ISO Show
AI usage has skyrocketed in the past 2 years, with many commonplace apps and software now featuring an AI integration in some form. With the rapid development and possibilities unlocked with this powerful technology, it can be tempting to go full steam ahead with implementing AI use into your day-to-day business activities. However, new technologies come with new risks that need to be understood and mitigated before any potential incidents. In this episode Mark Philip, Information Security Manager at Cloud Direct, joins Ian to discuss emerging AI risks and how you can build AI...
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#204 Greenwashing – Separating Fact From Fiction with ISO 14064 Verification
The ISO Show
The uptick in greenwashing cases, and subsequent outing of these claims only serves to make stakeholders and consumers dubious of any businesses sustainability pledges. One key way to combat this is to have the information to back up your claims, something that is becoming a mandatory requirement for some depending on sector, location or company size. In this episode, Mel dives into the use of ISO 14064 and how verification to this internationally recognised Standard can help companies build trust and ensure their climate action claims are genuine and impactful. You’ll learn ...
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#203 The 7 Shades of Greenwashing
The ISO Show
The rampant rise of greenwashing threatens to undermine genuine sustainability efforts and mislead consumers, with over 900 businesses in Europe being accused of the practice in 2024. Greenwashing can come in many different forms, and the tactics used aren’t always easy to spot. In this episode, Mel dives into the 7 shades of greenwashing and explains the common greenwashing tactics you should be on the lookout for. You’ll learn · What is Greencrowding? · What is Greenlighting? · What...
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#202 The Rise of Greenwashing
The ISO Show
In a world increasingly concerned about environmental impact, companies are under immense pressure to demonstrate their sustainability credentials. But how can businesses truly differentiate themselves from those simply paying lip service to green practices? Greenwashing is a term that you will likely be familiar with, as it’s one that’s been on the rise as consumer preference steers towards those who are seen to be doing the right thing. Alarmingly, high-severity cases, which involve companies that took a purposeful and systematic approach to concealing ESG violations, rise by more than...
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#201 It Shouldn’t Happen To An Auditor
The ISO Show
The end of another year has rolled around in the blink of an eye! We’ve managed to publish a whopping 42 episodes this year, pushing us over the 200 episode mark. We want to thank all our listeners, both old and new, for allowing us to continue to share both ISO tips and success stories from our wonderful clients. We hope you’ll follow along as we continue our podcasting journey in 2025. To close out the year, Ian Battersby and Steve Mason share some of their stories of misadventures during audits, from common mistakes, to broom battles and forklift mishaps, they really have seen...
info_outlineThe importance of setting key objectives can’t be understated. They help drive continual improvement and reflect a business’s key metrics for success in various areas.
They are also a key aspect of implementing an ISO Standard, with most specifying a dedicated Objectives clause. While most businesses will have objectives irrespective of any ISO certification, many may fall into the familiar trappings of having separate objectives for different departments, which only serves to fragment your measurement of success.
In this episode Ian discusses the importance of setting key business objectives, and why you should be aligning these with your strategic direction.
You’ll learn
· What is the Annex SL format and why was it introduced?
· What is meant by ‘Strategic Direction’?
· The importance of risks and opportunities in objective planning
· Who are setting key business objectives important?
· How can you align objectives with a businesses strategic direction?
Resources
In this episode, we talk about:
[02:05] Episode Summary – Ian discusses how to align objectives with the strategic direction of the business, and why it’s important to do so.
[02:55] What is the Annex SL format and why was it introduced?: The Annex SL format refers to the standard 10 clause structure that we now see in most ISO Standards. Introduced back in 2015, it sought to address the issues with integrating multiple Standards, in addition to making them more accessible to every sector.
Prior to 2015, many ISO standards were designed with specific sectors in mind, using terminology that would make sense to them, but perhaps not to others. The Annes SL format now uses the same language across all ISO’s, making It easy to integrate multiple ISO compliant Management Systems.
[06:10] What is meant by the term Strategic Direction? Leadership: This is a term that appears in ISO 9001 5 times.
We first see it in Clause 5 – Leadership, where it states:
“Top management shall demonstrate leadership and commitment with respect to the management system by ensuring that the policy of objectives are established for the management system and are compatible with the context and strategic direction of the organisation.”
This is where it’s made explicitly clear that leadership / management are responsible for ensuring the Management System aligns with the way their business runs, in addition to integrating it into existing processes.
[07:05] What is meant by the term Strategic Direction? Management Review: It also appear in clause 9.3 Management Review, where it states:
“Top management shall review the organisation system at planned intervals to ensure its continuing suitability adequacy, effectiveness and alignment with the strategic direction of the organisation.”
Again, this reinforces the need for top management to be involved to ensure that the Management System is in alignment with their overall goals.
[08:40] What is meant by the term Strategic Direction? Context of the Organisation: It also appears at the very start of the auditable clauses, in Clause 4 – Context of the organisation, where it states:
“The organisation shall determine the external and internal issues which are relevant to its purpose and its strategic direction.”
This involves looking at issues from a legal, technical, competitive, cultural and economic point of view, and many of these will be determined by top or broader management within the business. They ultimately have the most influence in how a Management System is built, therefore have the most influence on how the policies and objectives are created.
[10:45] The importance of risks and opportunities in Objective planning – Clause 6 (Planning) is where we address risks and opportunities raised in clause 4.
It states that ‘Objectives must be established at relevant functions, levels and processes.”
For us at Blackmores, we directly relate the findings from a risks and opportunities assessment (such as a SWOT & PESTLE), and link these to our objectives to try and minimise those risks. We also leverage the opportunities, by making them real tangible goals to work towards – seems obvious but we often see businesses missing the link between these exercises!
[12:00] How can you set Objectives in alignment with Strategic Direction?: Many businesses now build their mission, values and strategic direction around sustainability and general ESG.
When building a management system, you need to consider how it affects those sustainability / ESG goals, because that is essentially the context of your organisation.
So, you’d need to consider:
How does environmental performance, health & safety performance or legal compliance contribute to the success of the management system as a whole?
You don’t have to be going for ISO 14001 or ISO 45001 for these things to matter, even a quality management system can contribute to sustainability goals. This can be through improving economic performance by reducing waste ect.
Also, don’t be afraid to relate economic performance to your management system. If you have a turnover goal of X, mention that in your context documentation, and also consider how the management system can contribute to achieving that goal i.e. through processes, controls, monitoring and improvement activity.
Also consider your client requirements, they may require an accident rate below X which can also be included in context documentation and can then be factored into your management system measures and objectives if need be to achieve that.
[16:55] How do you establish your objectives? – First you must establish context, and that context must be relevant to the purpose and strategic direction of the business. The context setting must include those who understand that context, strategic direction and the purpose of the business, the risks and opportunities must be assessed in relation to that context, which in turn is already aligned with strategic direction. Finally the objectives must be set in relation to those risks and opportunities.
It's all about having the right people to identify the relevant issues affecting the organisation, and setting concrete objectives in order to improve that.
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