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Lynn Thomson
August 17, 2022
Newsletter ArticleAll too often, this is the reaction we get when we suggest that we start with standards. Setting standards, documenting standards, using standards. Henry Ford said, “Standardization is the basis for all improvement”. Sounds pretty basic and there’s nothing sexy or leading edge or exciting about creating a standard. Unless of course, you are looking to build a culture that is focussed on driving improvements, freeing up time for critical thinking and problem solving, or at the very least fixing what bugs them.
Of course it’s been proven time and time again that standards will set you free. All of the metrics will trend in the right direction with standardized processes. Quality goes up; the answer is where the question is; morale goes up. Wait a minute, how do standards affect morale? Well, let’s walk through a scenario where we have a new hire and we send them out to the shop floor. You know the drill. The team leader shows them around and typically throws them into a process with a little training. They leave them alone with the promise that they will be back soon and usually that’s later in the afternoon (after they’ve been distracted answering questions and fighting fires). Our new hire is now interrupting others to ask questions and eventually stops asking questions because they feel bad. Now they’re making assumptions, and feeling very uncomfortable about it. This results in defects as they try their best to do a good job. Others around them are getting frustrated because they can see that they are struggling and need help. The internal customer is unable to hide their disappointment and frustration as they have more work to do, to overprocess and cope with the defects.
As you can see, the morale of all employees is going in the wrong direction! And think of the new hire’s experience. They just had a horrible first day and likely think this isn’t the place for them. They may hang in there for another few days or a week, and they may stay and develop their version of the process that seems to work for them. Now we have another way of making this widget. How can we promise any level of quality or lead time if we don’t have a standard?
Standards aren’t just for quality and consistency. They make management of employees a breeze. The amount of time that I gained back in my day after using standards to onboard and manage employees is staggering.
First of all, once we implement standards, we now have the expectation and the process defined. The new hire without standards will get a few different versions of the process from leaders and fellow employees. How do we hold anyone accountable without a standard? I’ll tell you how…..we don’t, and it aggravates everyone! Without a standard, we nag people to do the right thing and we get long stories when they don’t. We get a lot of fingerpointing, excuses and a lot of time wasted.
Here’s how using standards to manage people has changed my life.
When we have a defect of any kind; parts, information, service, etc.
1. The first question I ask is, “Do we have a standard?”
• If we don’t, then we create one.
• If we do, then I ask, “Have you been trained on this standard?”
• If not, then we train them immediately
• If they have, then I ask, “Did you follow the standard?”
• If you didn’t, then I explain the importance of the standard process, walk them through the standard again and ask them if they are committed to following the process?
• If they are committed, then we move on. If they aren’t committed then that’s a simple problem to solve.
There’s no long winded explanations about what you did, and why you did it. There are no opportunities to blame anyone else. We are simply focussing on the standard and holding people accountable to the standard.
If they followed the standard and we still had a defect, then it’s a clear indication that we need to make our standard more robust. We always blame the process, not the people.
The standard is not used as a punitive tool. It’s used to set expectations and to ensure that everyone gets the same training, every time. Without a standard you are getting tribal knowledge that they recall at the time. Nothing consistent, and likely lacking in a lot of the necessary details.
The experience for leadership, the new hire and fellow employees is much improved if we use standards for onboarding, training and managing people/processes.
