Standards and processes are like personal hygiene for an organization.
Do not try to circumvent it. Even if we don’t follow we can still ask others to follow or we can start at any time. It is going to make our life better.
If you have the habit of chewing your nails or picking your nose, would you encourage your kids to do so. If you smoke would you encourage your kids to smoke. I hope the answer is a unanimous "no". When the kid grows into an adult they make their own choices what they want to do.
The very same analogy applies to following standards, policies and procedures in an organization. Just because, a legacy organization does not follow policies and procedures, one should not encourage circumventing standards, policies and procedures to a new organization, just for the sake of achieving a simple goal.
The new organization can follow well defined standards and would finally grow to be a mature organization, which would follow standards and have organized and efficient workflows and in some instances they may create their own bad habits.
A question I usually get: "Policies and procedures introduces too much bureaucracy and hampers productivity".
This scenario arises if the purpose of the standards, or procedures that was put in place, are just for the sake of standardization and not for the sake of streamlining and improving the flow of activities. It is like using an antibacterial soap to clean your hands, while wearing a pair of rubber gloves, in a room disinfected by UV rays. Standards or procedures defined for the purpose of improving or streamlining workflow are always simple and easy to follow.
A question I usually get: "Does it mean once we define a process or procedure we should not ever violate it?" This might not be possible as far as standards or process and procedures are followed by human beings. There would be improvements in the workflow, that might have to be introduced due to change in technology or change in scenario or for the sake of achieving a significant milestone or goals which would impact the lives of lot of people. But such violations should be consciously approved and documented and reviewed so that they are not repeated and become a bad habit.
An example: After traveling 20 miles trekking in hot sun and with the destination just 1 mile ahead we may ask our kids to walk thru a dirty and filthy ravine so that we can reach the destination and rest, rather than asking to walk around another 500 yards. However we wont ask our kids to walk thru a dirty or filthy ravine in our neighborhood on a normal day, instead we would ask them to walk around and avoid it.
The point is violating standards or process and procedures should be done when many peoples lives are at stake and not for the sake of achieving a 5pm deadline on a Friday.
Do not try to circumvent it. Even if we don’t follow we can still ask others to follow or we can start at any time. It is going to make our life better.
If you have the habit of chewing your nails or picking your nose, would you encourage your kids to do so. If you smoke would you encourage your kids to smoke. I hope the answer is a unanimous "no". When the kid grows into an adult they make their own choices what they want to do.
The very same analogy applies to following standards, policies and procedures in an organization. Just because, a legacy organization does not follow policies and procedures, one should not encourage circumventing standards, policies and procedures to a new organization, just for the sake of achieving a simple goal.
The new organization can follow well defined standards and would finally grow to be a mature organization, which would follow standards and have organized and efficient workflows and in some instances they may create their own bad habits.
A question I usually get: "Policies and procedures introduces too much bureaucracy and hampers productivity".
This scenario arises if the purpose of the standards, or procedures that was put in place, are just for the sake of standardization and not for the sake of streamlining and improving the flow of activities. It is like using an antibacterial soap to clean your hands, while wearing a pair of rubber gloves, in a room disinfected by UV rays. Standards or procedures defined for the purpose of improving or streamlining workflow are always simple and easy to follow.
A question I usually get: "Does it mean once we define a process or procedure we should not ever violate it?" This might not be possible as far as standards or process and procedures are followed by human beings. There would be improvements in the workflow, that might have to be introduced due to change in technology or change in scenario or for the sake of achieving a significant milestone or goals which would impact the lives of lot of people. But such violations should be consciously approved and documented and reviewed so that they are not repeated and become a bad habit.
An example: After traveling 20 miles trekking in hot sun and with the destination just 1 mile ahead we may ask our kids to walk thru a dirty and filthy ravine so that we can reach the destination and rest, rather than asking to walk around another 500 yards. However we wont ask our kids to walk thru a dirty or filthy ravine in our neighborhood on a normal day, instead we would ask them to walk around and avoid it.
The point is violating standards or process and procedures should be done when many peoples lives are at stake and not for the sake of achieving a 5pm deadline on a Friday.
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