Organizations develop unity of purpose towards successful assessment of ISO or other certifications. The team motivation is high before the certification takes place. People get full management support and work overtime to ensure success during the assessment. This is one of the occasions when best of team spirit and motivation is visible at all levels in the organization.
Unfortunately, not all the organisations are able to sustain the motivation and team spirit once the certification is achieved. Usually, there is a sense of achievement once the certification is recommended, people congratulate each other, some of them may get appreciations/recognition and all this is followed by a formal or informal celebration: parties, press releases or ads campaign e.t.c. In all this, what is usually forgotten is the fact that real business benefits start coming in after the assessment is over. This is the most unfortunate part of organizational journey towards process improvement. In a majority of cases, the process improvement almost stops after the assessment.
I would request the members to express their views on how to maintain process improvement momentum after the assessment is over.
Thanks!