Should Auditors seek to find Non-Conformities?

Is the audit not complete unless a NC has been found?

“During a recent internal audit an employee performing a certain job, listed her actions slightly out of order from the written instruction.  The change did not affect the outcome in any way - it was basically comparable to making a pot of coffee and choosing to add the water first, even though the instruction says to add the coffee first.  Half of our team felt that it was a 'non-conformity' and the other half felt it was not. ” 

This is an interesting situation that was posed to me after a recent QMS LA (ISO 9001) course I led. I thought of sharing it on my blog as it touches on the principles of auditing, wherein auditors should look for conformity and not non conformity.  The answer lies in the difference between an auditor and a registrar. A good auditor, audits with no subjective opinion and does not go looking for NCs. Good Auditors go looking for conformity. When a preliminary audit conveys the impression of a NC an auditor should still give the Auditee the chance to show conformity. An auditor should not be there to "fix the Auditee", somehow give NCs and so on. Please refer clause 8.2.2 of ISO 9001 with regard to internal audits. The clause requires the organization to conduct "internal audits at planned intervals to determine whether the quality management system" "conforms to the planned arrangements" - it does not say go find how it does not conform! The clause requires the system to be "effectively implemented" not how it is not effective or not implemented. Sure if it is a NC it should be reported, as the only bad NC is the one we do not know about.

In this case, since the employee knows what she has to do, this should not be a NC. In any case knowing everything verbatim is never the intent unless it is a requirement as in the case of a nuclear reactor where actions in an incorrect sequence could cause a catastrophe.