Here’s a question that might come to mind when we consider standardizing work procedures.

“Will standards turn us into un-thinking robots?”

This is a reasonable concern, and it HAS happened frequently in the history of business:
Control-oriented leaders have used standards to essentially say to their workers, “Don’t THINK, just DO what we tell you…follow these steps! We don’t want your brain, we just want your hands.”

In the Lean Business Culture, the attitude “…We don’t want your brain…” is considered to be TERRIBLE. It’s both disrespectful and wasteful of a person’s God-given abilities. If we do “Lean” right, we use standards for the exact OPPOSITE purpose: to EMPOWER all of us to function together as a team to continually improve our work.