By Sam Maniar, Ph.D.
On a recent trip to visit a PRADCO client, my wife suggested I grab one of the business books she was reading The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
After reading the book, my initial impression was that although the anecdotes were staggering, the book was simple and obvious. Clearly checklists are important tools in helping us remember the crucial steps involved when taking complex actions. As Gawande points out, using checklists can help us avoid errors of ineptitude.
Once my colleague and I arrived at our client’s office and began coaching various employees regarding their leadership effectiveness and productivity, though, the value of the book became clear. The client, Modine Manufacturing Company, preaches the importance of standard work. The concept of standard work is nothing new to manufacturing organizations and/or companies that embrace the tenets of lean or Six Sigma. By standardizing your work, you help to ensure you focus on the most important things and waste less time on the trivial aspects of your job. It also helps to improve consistency.
Modine not only advocates for each employee to identify their standard work, but they encourage people to measure their adherence and identify reasons as to why standard work events did not happen. In essence, standard work is a checklist of sorts. It allows Modine’s employees to stay on track and to remember the most important things they need to do.
But standard work is different from checklists in that it is not intended to be a compliance tool. It is intended to be more of a key element for improvement. According to the Director of Modine Operating System, Jeff Uitenbroek:
“Using Standard Work allows us to create a bit of order out of the chaos that is normal business, but the most important function of Standard Work is as a tool for learning. It is the Plan of PDCA [Plan-Do-Check-Act]. As a template for what is normal, we easily see problems or deviations from normal. By identifying obstacles that prevent us from accomplishing the work we plan to do, we can adjust and overcome those obstacles. This is the key element in rapid improvement.”
In many ways, our role as coaches at PRADCO is to help our clients identify and plan for their standard work as well. For example, if someone is working on developing their bench strength, we help them identify who their targets might be and how to incorporate a regular mentoring cadence with those people. From there, the coaching is about style and approach, such as how to motivate and inspire people to do more.
It’s easy to say, “My work differs from day-to-day, and there is nothing standard about it.” Nevertheless, as our CEO Terry Owen likes to say, “I’ll bet you a nickel that…” there are more standardized processes in your job than you think. By taking a closer look and making a checklist of your monthly tasks, for example, you are less likely to make a mistake and more likely to be prepared and efficient.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and/or feedback. What are your thoughts? How do you implement standard work at your organization? How do you incorporate coaching into standard work?
Posted by PRADCO 
