Standards and the Standardization Loop

John McNeil, GP Deltapoint

A key component of GP Deltapoint's approach to improving Operational Excellence is the standardization loop. We advocate the establishment of standard work methods for your critical processes, error-proofing the work, then training and operating to those standards. The "loop" comes into play whenever inevitable abnormalities or deviations arise. At that point, those close to the process should conduct a failure analysis and revise the standard (then error-proof, train and operate anew). As this loop is traveled, the critical process becomes "capable and in control". And importantly, those folks working the process become its owners, its developers, its nurturers.

If this sounds like an ISO program, how does the standardization loop differ from other standardization programs? In the following ways:

1. The standardization loop is used to improve customer-oriented flow, not to lock in or perpetuate a command-and-control hierarchy. Standardizing work with a view to cutting costs or hours worked won't work: those are results, not drivers. Improvement comes instead from monitoring flows and relentlessly eliminating wasted steps and time.
2. The standardization loop should be applied only to critical processes. Resources and skills for improvement are limited in any organization and it is important to prioritize work based on customer needs. Critical processes are those that are not only important, but currently cause performance issues and suffer from variations over time.
3. The standardization loop is dynamic. At any time, the current standard is rigorously employed but processes should change and standards evolve with them.
4. The standardization loop is run by front-line personnel who monitor process performance, isolate and analyze deviations and make process changes autonomously. It is a tool for engagement and dispersed responsibility, not a tool for rigidity and control.

These distinctions sound subtle or trivial to some, but the implications can be seen in the ways that customers are required to interact with your team. If customer responses are inflexible and regimented then you may have taken standardization too far. If customer responses are predictably positive and excel where customer needs are highest, you are working the standardization loop correctly.

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