Standard work is an important part of any organisation. It ensures that team members are working on the same tasks and in the same way and creates opportunities for structured continuous improvement. This can help to improve productivity, reduce rework and ensure that everyone is focused on meaningful work vs firefighting.
What is Standard Work?
Standard work is a system of organising and managing work in an organisation and where possible, should be visual. It is a way to ensure that tasks are completed in an orderly and consistent manner, so that organisations can operate more efficiently. By adhering to standard work practices, they can avoid the cost and disruption associated with inconsistency, remove employee frustration and provide better value and quality to clients.
Why is Standard Work Important?
There are several benefits to standardising work within an organisation. First, it helps to minimise the amount of time spent on tasks that can be completed more quickly or easily by individual team members and is built around best practice processes. This allows organisations to focus their resources on more complicated or time-consuming tasks.
Secondly, standard work practices improve communication between employees and supervisors. This helps to ensure that everyone understands their assigned duties and responsibilities, and they are able to carry them out effectively.
How Does Standard Work Help Organsations?
Standard work allows organisations to efficiently manage their resources, and it also helps employees to know what is expected of them. By providing a set of standards, organisations can avoid chaotic environments and ensure that their employees are working towards common goals.
Standard work can also help companies recruit new employees, as well as retain current workers as it helps to remove frustrations and provides stability. By providing a uniform system for working, organisations are able to provide their employees with the tools they need in order to be successful.
What are some Common Mistakes Organisations Make with Standard Work?
Many businesses make common mistakes with standard work that can lead to frustration and decreased productivity among employees.
1. Not setting clear expectations: Without clear expectations, employees may feel overwhelmed or unprepared for their tasks. This can lead to inconsistency and frustration among team members, as they struggle to understand what is expected of them.
2. Failing to provide adequate training: Without proper training, employees may not be able to effectively do their jobs or understand the organisation’s standards. This can lead to errors and low productivity. Training should be tailored specifically to each team member’s role in order to ensure complete understanding of their role in making the products or deliver services. When this is done effectively, it will lead to increased accuracy and efficiency when it comes to work.
3. No system to deal with continuous improvement: There is no one-size-fits-all system to deal with continuous improvement but it is important to have a mechanism whereby team members can contribute ideas and improvements to improve the standards. Organisations achieve better buy in by involving team members in the building of processes so it is important to have a psychologically safe environment where team members can talk about mistakes, errors and improvements.
