Standardised Work
If everyone carries out tasks their own way, then variation will occur. This leads to errors. It makes it difficult to make and measure improvement. It also makes it difficult to share tasks, and leaves you exposed if someone goes on leave or resigns.
Standardised work focuses on documenting and regulating repetitive tasks to reduce errors, capture knowledge and provide basis for continuous improvement.
People often have a negative reaction to the idea of standardised work. They expect it to be de-humanising and restrictive, reducing their ability to be creative and obtain enjoyment from their work. In fact it can be just the opposite. In workplaces where standardised work practices are used well, the results observed are higher employee morale, as well as better quality, and higher productivity.
The trick is to use it as a tool for promoting rather than restricting creativity; to create a stable platform so that people can devote their energy to improving things rather than fire-fighting. A soldier going into battle has to be able to make split-second life-and-death decisions. To enable him to do this, much of his day-to-day activities are regimented...so that he doesn’t have to spend energy thinking about what to wear or where to eat and sleep. Similarly, when you want to recruit a new person into the organisation, you want to be able to focus your energy on the value-adding selection process, not wasting time wondering what form to use, or whose approval to seek.