Training for managers and directors
What ISO 9001:2026 now asks of leadership by name, and what you need to be able to show.
- Recommended
- ISO 9001:2026 awareness, in-house
- Length
- 1 day, 7 contact hours
- Exercise material
- Your own policy and last management review
- Then
- The training matrix the director signs off
- Certificate
- ITF certificate of completion
ISO 9001:2026 makes leadership's duty to promote quality culture and ethical behaviour explicit, and ties the quality policy to strategic direction. Managers need the awareness day, run in-house on their own policy and management review, and an understanding of the training matrix they will be asked to approve.
- 01 Enquiry
- 02 Needs analysis
- 03 Programme design
- 04 Scheduling
- 05 Delivery
- 06 Assessment
- 07 Certification
- 08 Records
Training for managers and directors sits at step 2 of the delivery cycle. You receive a training needs matrix.
The interview nobody else can sit
A director's audit interview is short, and it is the one interview that cannot be answered from someone else's folder.
How does the quality policy connect to your strategy? How do you promote quality culture, and what is the evidence? What did the last management review decide? How do you know your people are competent?
Each answer has to come from the director's own decisions: the policy they signed, the review they chaired, the matrix they approved. The 2026 edition makes the first two questions sharper, because quality culture and the link between policy and strategic direction are now written into the leadership clause rather than left to interpretation.
The management representative can prepare the file. The answer still has to come from the director.
What we recommend for a leadership team
The awareness day is the course. The rows after it are what makes the day useful at the next audit.
| What | Why the director needs it | Length |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001:2026 awareness, in-house | The leadership team together, with the examples taken from your own quality policy and your own management review minutes. | 1 day |
| ISO 14001:2026 or ISO 45001 awareness | Where the organisation holds that certificate as well, for the directors accountable for it. | 1 day |
| The training matrix | Roles down, courses across, every person marked. It is the competence evidence the director signs off, so they should understand what each cell means. | Built with your managers |
What the leadership team holds afterwards
A one-page 2015 to 2026 change map
Which clauses moved, so the team knows what changed and what did not.
The evidence checklist for each function
What an auditor will ask each department head to show under the new edition.
The clause-by-clause workbook
Worked on the day against your own policy and management review.
The training matrix
Every role against the competence it needs, ready for the director's approval.
An ITF certificate of completion
Per participant, naming the course, the date and the contact hours.
A leadership team before its transition audit
A manufacturer holding an ISO 9001:2015 certificate had its general manager and department heads facing their first audit against the 2026 edition.
The awareness day ran in-house for the leadership team only. The clause 5 session used the company's own quality policy, and the team checked it line by line against the new wording on culture, ethics and strategic direction. The management review session used the minutes of the last review, and the team marked which decisions had been recorded with an owner and which had not.
The training matrix followed. The department heads filled in their own rows, the gaps were marked as due rather than left blank, and the general manager approved it.
The company ended up holding a change map, an evidence checklist per function, a policy the leadership team had read against the new clause, an approved training matrix, and a certificate per participant.
Asked by general managers
Does the whole leadership team need a full day?
For everyone an auditor will interview, yes. The day is built around what each of them will be asked, so it is not a day of clause reading.
Should the managers and the staff train together?
Run the leadership team on its own. The examples come from the policy, the strategy and the management review, which is a different conversation from the one the staff need about their own jobs.
Do directors need internal auditor training?
Rarely. The internal auditor course is for the people on your audit schedule. A director needs to understand what the audit programme found and what the management review decided about it.
Can it run in Arabic?
Yes. Arabic, English, or Arabic delivery with English material. Confirm the language when you book so the right trainer and handouts are scheduled.
Where to go from here
ISO 9001:2026 awareness in one day
The day itself, session by session, with the clauses that moved in 2026.
Read moreDeliverableThe training matrix
The competence evidence a director signs, and where refresh dates belong.
Read moreBuyingIn-house and corporate programmes
How a programme for several roles is scoped and handed over.
Read moreITF ConsultISO 9001 consulting
When the quality system itself needs building or moving to the 2026 edition.
Read morePart of one system
Every division keeps records to the same standard, so the second one you need works the way the first one did.
Prepare the interview only you can give
Tell us who sits on the leadership team, which certificates you hold and when the next audit is, and we will set the awareness day around your own policy and management review.