“Certification? – Do we have to??”

What now seems like ages ago, we were approached by a well-known international company to handle the translation of all its strategic communications into multiple languages – a perfect match for the Klein Wolf Peters skill set. Our contacts at the customer proved extremely cooperative and helpful, supplying us with all the digital reference documents we could ask for. In direct dialogue with the customer, our dedicated and diligent team established just what was expected in terms of tonality and turnaround time, including 24-hour service. Fired up with enthusiasm, we were keen to get started right away ­– only to be waylaid, not entirely unexpectedly, by their purchasing department.

To qualify as a supplier for this customer, we needed to be vetted according to a painfully thorough and seemingly interminable list. Finally, we arrived at item 35: “Please indicate the standards according to which your company is certified.” No certification, no supplier relationship.

Oh no! was our first thought. Do we really even want to get certified? The initial indications of what it would involve were less than thrilling. And why should they be? Certification is surely all about documenting processes: at best it improves project management, but it has precious little to do with knowing your corporate communications craft. There’s no certificate for the art of wordsmithing with wit and finesse.

 

“Wow – if you do it right, a certification like this one can come in pretty handy!”

But with the giant carrot of a major customer dangling before us, we opted to leave our initial misgivings behind and set about the task at hand. Through our professional network we soon found an experienced coach to help us get certified to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015. Our biggest aha moment was realising that, while the task of documenting everything might seem Sisyphean, the whole point of the certification – and the result of all the effort it entailed – was to ensure that our company runs like a well-oiled and finely tuned machine: dynamic, at the cutting edge, with efficient and competent employees who fully understand the interplay of each and every cog within. And if ever there’s something they’re not sure about, they can always consult the “Brockmann” – a veritable encyclopaedia of all our work processes, named for our exceedingly gifted quality management officer who was evidently sent from on high in our time of need.

 

“And what’s in it for you?”

(By “you” I mean our valued customers – and anyone who’d like to become one.)

I spoke recently with one of our trusted customers, someone we’ve worked with for many years, and recounted with pride that our young company had made it: now that we were certified, surely we could pat ourselves on the back. The reply I got was sobering: he already knew that we did an excellent job and had no interest in seeing a certificate. After all, any number of language service providers offering good-to-middling quality could wave a certificate at him; it’s simply not a mark of excellence.

 

A waste of time and effort?!

So was it all for naught? I don’t think so. In my leadership role, I’ve never been fond of the saying that “only a fool needs order; a genius can handle chaos”. Quite the opposite: I can confirm that carefully conceived and thoroughly documented processes make us more efficient and more effective. It frees up our language geniuses to concentrate fully on doing what they do best. Clearly laid down processes and responsibilities pave the way to well-founded, binding commitments. The benefit for you, our customers, is clear: you can rest assured that we meet deadlines and deliver work of a consistently high quality.

We are always eager to maximise that benefit to our customers, and so we listen carefully to what you tell us: your feedback gives us the chance to improve our day-to-day work. (But watch what you say, because we’ll take you at your word!) There’s no better way to guarantee that the service we provide to you is one we’ve developed through dialogue with you and tailored to your needs. That’s a service worth having! Yet does all this rely on our quality management handbook identifying customer satisfaction as one of our company’s central goals? Not directly. However, the fact that we have this definition in writing shows that we are driven by a desire for continuous improvement and a willingness to learn in a successful partnership with you.

Which brings me back to the beginning: for us, quality management is a tool that helps us offer you the services you need for success. Our ISO 9001 certification attests to the fact that we are happy to be judged not only by our words but also by our deeds. It doesn’t get better than that!