How can Standard Work help you to sustain improvements?
In our LeanTeams practice, we work as a business partner to many organisations as Continuous Improvement Trainers and Mentors. Our goal is to empower everyone in the organisation to think and work smarter.
However, we frequently hear that improvements have not been ‘kept up’. Indeed, often people have ‘returned to old ways of working’ or that ‘wastes are creeping back’ into processes.
When organisations invest significant time and resources in implementing improvement initiatives, it is frustrating, demotivating and costly if the gains disappear over time. As a result, this not only jeopardises the overall performance of a business, it undermines the benefits of the improvements. Furthermore, this can erode the trust and confidence of employees and stakeholders in the concept of continuous improvement.
Clearly, sustaining improvements is an ongoing challenge for many organisations. This is true across all sectors, including, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and services where processes and procedures can be complex and constantly changing.
From our collective experience, we believe that one approach has been proven to be effective in sustaining improvements. This is called Standard Work.
What is Standard Work?
At LeanTeams, we describe Standard Work as the documentation of the current know-how of the safest, best quality, simplest and most efficient way to complete individual tasks or process steps. This enables an organisation:
- to determine how long it takes to complete that process,
- to confidently and predictably resource people and equipment to satisfy customer requirements.
Standard Work provides a consistent and repeatable approach to work. First of all, it helps to reduce variation, errors, and waste, and ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of the operation.
Then, it can be applied to manual as well as digital processes. In addition, it can be applied to all organisations – service, retail, professional services as well as production environments.
Where there is no standard, there can be no Kaizen
Once established and embedded into practice, Standard Work becomes the focus for continuous improvement.
What contributes to Standard Works effectiveness
Before we talk about how Standard Work can help in sustaining improvements, it is important to talk about three of the essential elements that must be observed for Standard Work to be effective.
Involve the People who are doing the work!
When a company is truly implementing Lean methodologies, then Standard Work should be developed ‘by the people for the people’. This is true whether they are using the PDCA or DMAIC approaches to achieving continuous improvement.
Ultimately, the people carrying out the work are respected and valued as the experts in their own tasks and/or processes. They are involved in defining the problem, agreeing the metrics, analysing the root causes of the issues and agreeing what improvements they will implement as countermeasures. Once the impact of the potential solutions is evaluated, the team will define the Standard Work associated with the process.
This ensures that the improved Standard Work is relevant to those making the changes. In addition, they have ownership from the beginning which will strengthen their desire for the initiative to be successful.
An article in The American Pharmaceutical Review (May 2015) – Developing Standard Work in The Lab, Scientist, Leslie Falco, outlined a very successful project carried out with the Pfizer, Sanford Microbiology QC Team. During this project, the Team were involved in the improvement project every step of the way. Falco highlights the teams’ sense of ownership as a contributing factor to the results achieved.
It cannot be stressed enough that standard work is a grassroots effort. The implementation truly has to come from the team, those doing the work.
Document and make visible to those doing the work
When we explore the reasons for Improvements not being sustained, more often than not we will hear that: ‘ the Team Lead who made these improvements has moved on ’ or ‘we never got around to writing up the new process’, or ‘it is on an excel in my CI folder’.
Clearly, it is essential that teams should document Standard Work and make it accessible to the people carrying out the tasks.
The formats for documenting Standard Work are changing all the time. With digital technology, we are seeing companies move from paper-based systems to videos accessed by QR codes.
Essentially, for Standard Work documentation to be effective, it should include the What, the How and the Why of the process:
- The What – the logical steps to advance the work
- The How – the key quality, safety and easier aspects of the step
- The Why -the reasons for the key points
We advise using visual symbols and relevant photos as cues to reinforce the learning. These formats become valuable training aides for new employees as well as those taking on new tasks.
A business should post or make the Standard Work documentation easily accessed where the work is performed. Furthermore, it needs to be easy to edit as future improvements are implemented.
Review the Impact
When you are busy, it is easy to implement improvements moving on to the next project assuming that the change will be sustained. However, very often, you get distracted and do not get around to revisiting them.
When people are in the early stages of adopting Lean ways of thinking and working, it is particularly important to build in time to review how the improvements have impacted on the issues you were aiming to address. Over time, as your team become empowered problem-solvers, reviewing will become part of their routine.
Another key aspect of reviewing the impact of Standard Work is to build in effectiveness checks. You can use the baseline metrics to evaluate the impact against the targeted objectives. Next, you can check with your team if they are experiencing the anticipated benefits from the improvements.
Making these reviews part of the routine reinforces the positive changes. More importantly it embeds the practices necessary to achieve a mindset of continuous improvement and learning.
How can Standard Work Help you in Sustaining Improvements?
Establishes a Baseline for Performance
First of all, Standard Work provides a clear and measurable baseline for how work should be done. By defining the standard for a process, Standard Work sets expectations for how work should be performed and provides a reference point for measuring performance. As a result, this baseline helps to identify variations and deviations from the standard, and allows organisations to monitor their progress over time.
Ensures Consistency and Repeatability
Secondly, Standard Work helps to ensure that work is performed consistently and reliably, regardless of who performs it. By documenting the best practices and expectations for a process, Standard Work provides a common understanding of how work should be done. Consequently, this consistency and repeatability help to reduce the likelihood of errors and defects, and ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of the operations.
Facilitates Continuous Improvement
Next, Standard Work provides a foundation for continuous improvement. By establishing a baseline for performance and ensuring consistency and repeatability, Standard Work helps to identify opportunities for improvement. By analysing the process and identifying areas where performance can be improved, organisations can make changes to the Standard Work and implement these changes to sustain the improvements over time.
Supports Training and Development
Standard Work is an essential tool for training and development. By providing a documented and standardised approach to work, it supports the training of new employees and the ongoing development of existing employees. Furthermore, by providing a clear and measurable set of expectations, Standard Work helps employees to understand how their work contributes to the overall goals of the organisation, and how they can improve their performance.
Enhances Accountability and Ownership
Finally, Standard Work enhances accountability and ownership. By defining the standard for a process, Standard Work provides a clear and measurable set of expectations for employees. This helps to ensure that employees understand their role in the process and take ownership of their work. In addition, by establishing accountability and ownership, Standard Work helps to create a culture of continuous improvement, where employees are empowered to make changes and contribute to the success of the company.
Conclusion
Standard Work is an essential element of the Lean philosophy and can be a powerful tool for sustaining improvements in organisations, when certain conditions are in place; team involvement, appropriate documentation and visibility and a commitment to the continuous improvement and learning loop.
Standard work is not a means of managing people. On the contrary, it is a system for empowering people by recognising and respecting their expertise in their own work.
By establishing a baseline for performance, ensuring consistency and repeatability, facilitating continuous improvement, supporting training and development, and enhancing accountability and ownership, Standard Work can help organisations to achieve and sustain their improvement goals over time.
By consistently applying best practices Standard Work eliminates waste. Standard Work should be viewed as a living document, one that is regularly reviewed, updated, and improved to reflect changes in the process and the needs of the business.
With a commitment to Standard Work, companies can sustain their improvements and continuously enhance their operations, ultimately delivering greater value to their customers and stakeholders.
Finally..
This blog post was written by Martina Murphy, Lean Business Trainer & Mentor. On her profile page, you can also watch a video of Martina talking about Lean. If you need help setting up Standard Work in your organisations, please book a call https://leanteams.com/contact/
We hope you enjoyed reading about how Standard Work can help you to sustain improvements. You may also be interested in reading our articles on how to easily identify the 10 wastes of Lean and 9 signs your business processes are broken. All our blogs are available to read on our website. Please connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter
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