Hmmm, could this be because they see an standardization problem and trying to fix it?!? They are very misguided if they think this sceme is capable of fixing anything. The books are very poorly written, the company does not put down detailed SOPs in writing and striclty enforce their adherance, which means they don't understand the very first meaning of standardization, trainers/checkers each have their own ideas about what is standard and what's not and you can't keep even two of them happy no matter what you do! So there's no shortage of people who are confused about what they're supposed to do and not. Add to that the occasional official email telling us how this is a thinking pilot's airline and we don't want to put everything in writing so there's flexibility etc... The result should not be surprizing to anyone! In aviation, if it's not in writing, it's not standard. Word of mouth is worthless in this business. Throw away the current books, and re-write them. Take a look at the other airlines operating the same equipement & routes and you'll see what I mean! This place revolves around vol. 8s... cheating!! Establish solid standards and enforce them strictly. Get rid of checkers that spread their own personal ideas and prefrences in the name of "this is what they want you to do" instead of pointing out what the book says and expect you to do it that way!
It's an old problem which has an old solution as I mentioned above. There are too many FAA, CAA, NASA and NTSB reports and various books written on the subject if one cares to know! Cathay library carries a few of them by author Tony Kern. When there's a lack of performance issue in an organization, there's always an organizational shortcoming at the core of it. As they say, "garbage in, garbage out"! If you don't like the factory's final product, set tighter standards and make sure they're adhered to! Like any other system that produces a product. If a mistake is made which damn nearly results in a disaster, modify the related SOPs so it's not likely someone else makes the same mistake. SOPs can never be set in stone, becuase people keep inventing new ways of f'ing it up, that's the nature of it! Stop telling people "we put that in the book just to align our procedures with Boeing, but we actually don't want you to do that" unless you have no regard for the standardization mayham and utter confusion that statement will cause on the line!
Establish solid SOPs, present them in well written form, enforce their adherance. Mentoring programs are for amateurs getting started in something for the first time. Have more respect for your troops. They need proper clear guidance & standards to follow and your backing for doing so! That's also called leadership!
Don't even get me started!