One foundational tool in the world of companies practicing Lean management is called a Standard Work. That is the name given to a written procedure illustrating the current steps to complete a task or operation.
Keep in mind that I used the words "current steps" in this explanation. You may be thinking you already have this issue under
control because you have a procedures manual — a 2-in.-thick, three-ring binder packed full of all of the procedures at your
company. I would like to illustrate the differences between your binder of procedures and a Standard Work.
Standards change
MONTHLY CHALLENGE
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Far too many times, I have watched franchise organizations treat their procedures manual as though the contents were carved
into two stone tablets sent down from on high. By contrast, the best franchises use their procedures manuals as guides and
foundation documents, allowing their franchisees to suggest changes that improve their contents.
Recently, I came across a company that locked some of their managers in a room off and on for a year and paid an expensive
consultant to help them write out exactly how every process in the company was done. They then took their perceived masterpiece
and put it on the company intranet for everyone to worship and follow — or else. The result? A frustrated management team,
because the company's employees would not go to the intranet and use it.
What's wrong
First off, procedures cannot be written in a room from memory, because memories are inaccurate.
Secondly, when we tell the team, "Here are the great procedures we wrote for you to follow," we're actually sending them a
different message. It seems as though we're telling them: "We don't believe you're smart enough to think for yourselves, so
the smart people in the company got together and wrote all of this up, just for you."
My favorite procedures manual story is one of a landscape contractor who hired a $50,000 employee just to follow him around
and capture in writing all of the company's procedures — from pushing papers in the office to setting the base timbers on
a wall — and he was going to tell her what to write. It did not occur to me at the time, but think about the ego this person
must have had. Did they get it done? Yes! Did anyone use it? No! Final result: a bruised ego.
A better way
Now I know these examples are extreme, and chances are the binder you have is at least looked at in the spring when the new
employees come around. I hope you will now connect with the essence of a Standard Work and why companies that work smarter
value this tool.
Remember the words "current steps" used earlier? The main function of the Standard Work is to be a guide that allows employees
to continually improve upon what they are doing, and then documenting it with the expectations that it will be improved yet
again in the future. It is this expectation of continuous improvement that makes Lean so effective. When you begin to dust
off the procedures manual and challenge your team with improving key processes, you are on your way to working smarter.
More than 250 Green Industry companies have participated in JP Horizons' Working Smarter Training Challenge (WSTC), typically
saving tens of thousands of dollars annually. To learn whether your organization qualifies to participate in the WSTC, visit
http://www.jphorizons.com/ today.
Jim Paluch is president of JP Horizons Inc. Visit http://www.jphorizons.com/.
