The organization shall

Since Clause 6.2.1 addresses proper planning, Clause 6.2.2 follows up with the appropriate action, stating that the organization must "determine competence for personnel performing work affecting product quality." In other words, you and/or your team should complete a "training needs analysis" of personnel to ensure they're qualified to do their jobs, evaluate those training needs with their job descriptions and then provide the appropriate training to make sure customer requirements are met. The analysis doesn't have to be difficult or arduous. It could be as simple as chatting with personnel to make sure they're comfortable with what is expected of them.

However, to meet the requirements of this clause, you should (although not required) have documented procedures for identifying and providing whatever training is required to enable people to carry out work that affects the quality of your product(s) or service(s). The training can be formal or on-the-job experience. For example, if you have decided that the best way for someone to learn a task is to work alongside a skilled person for two weeks, then that is classified as training and must be recorded. A quality record demonstrates such training took place and provides evidence of its effectiveness, and it should be maintained.

When you bring a new product or project into the business, make sure that training and competence is a part of the plan. For example, if you're a software manufacturer and you're about to launch a new product, make sure that the customer service and technical support departments have full knowledge of the product before it hits the streets.

Also, it's critical to remember that competence, awareness and training move across the whole organization-from top management to the shop floor. Indeed, it is a common occurrence in many organizations that good workers get promoted past their level of competence. That's not to say that they couldn't do the job if they received the appropriate training, but to be proactive, a competence analysis can be an excellent preventive action to head off any problems before they begin. (Note: Competence is the combination of education, experience, training and skills. It's up to a responsible management team to determine the right combination for each job classification.)