Most mistakes in the workplace can be avoided with clear work instructions and that ensure quicker, better and safer performance of tasks.
We've collected our top 10 practical tips on instructional design that will help you write better work instructions.
Work instructions are meant to help people perform their jobs.
However, all too often we encounter instructions that don’t focus on that goal at all. They are designed to show compliance with standards. They are made for safety auditors. Created by engineers showing off their technical understanding.
Of course, it is important to be compliant, but if you really want your work instructions to be effective you need to start with the employee:
Now is the time of digital transformation - and in the space of work instructions, there is a lot of room for improvement.
In many places, we come across paper binders full of work instructions and procedures that are unhandy and not available when employees actually need them.
Luckily, digital devices are getting common in the workplace and they have the power of bringing instructions closer to where the action is. Smartphones and tablets can bring instructions from the desk in the office to the pocket of workers in the factory.
Work instructions often are text-based and thus leave quite some room for interpretation and misunderstanding. If work takes place in a context that is highly visual, why use words to describe what needs to be done?
Combining images with text in a smart way is proven to make instructions even quicker to process and easier to understand. We see cases in factories, breweries, distribution centers and healthcare institutions that all benefit enormously from visual instructions.
Powerful illustrations, photos, and animations help people perform their job in a clear and concise way.
In most cases, work instructions include both visuals and text.
Text is not an issue, but make sure the text is easy to understand. This requires application of writing guidelines and templates that ensure the clarity and understanding of text.
Simplified Technical English has some good pointers and some basic things to keep in mind are:
Technical writing for work instructions is often done by engineers and tends to be focusing on the device or machine and its specific parts.
In order to improve the user experience, instructions should be:
We come across a lot of work instructions covering all the technical details of equipment and all sorts of exceptions.
However, that's usually not how the brain processes information in the best way.
Most companies offer before-the-job training for new recruits, however, that's usually not enough.
When people get familiar with the work instructions already as part of the training they know how to use them properly in the workplace and guarantees better performance in the job.
Ongoing on-the-job training with accessible work instructions gives everyone the opportunity to perform their job confidently and safely, without errors.
Employees need to have access to the right instruction at the moment of need. This means you have to think about activating the content.
Knowing how to write work instructions an important step.
But, tracking them to learn about work performance and possible improvements is just as critical. Digital work instructions allow you to follow the action and learn from both the user behavior, the sentiment and their feedback.
The ownership of the work instructions should lie in the workplace.
Wanna learn more about how to write better work instructions?
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