Definition Leadership Standard Work

Leader standard work is part of what i include in my third principle of manufacturing excellence i e it is the disciplined use of an authorized formal system.

Definition leadership standard work. Leader standard work can be the difference between knowing and not knowing if the bungee cord will hold. But that s part of its beauty. To make the shift you as a leader must change what you do but not haphazardly or impulsively. When they vary from the documented process leaders can determine if their process is more effective thus driving kaizen.

Leader standard work is a set of behaviors and recurring activities that advances a lean thinking culture. Just as operators have standardized work for their value adding activities you need predictable repeatable standard activities that build people s problem solving muscle and move them ever closer to daily continuous improvement. It also allows leaders to review the process in real time observing operators as they conduct tasks part of leader standardized work. What can be captured in the leader standard work or standard work for supporting functions are.

For supporting functions and managers defining standard work can be more challenging especially since their work cannot be planned 100. Leader standard work is seemingly redundant. The alternative is leader standard work which is a set of actions tools and behaviors that are incorporated into the daily activities of leaders at all levels. Leader standard work is the repetitive pattern of activities that represent the current least wasteful method of planning and controlling normal business processes.

For different leaders in the organization the typical breakdown of standard work might be in the following. In simplest terms lsw is a check list of leadership activities that are performed on a daily weekly and monthly basis. A lean organization is driven by its standards. Because it is the same exercise it also creates a robustness to our processes that unlike anything else can accomplish.

Standard operating procedures are used for production staff to describe was needs to be done and how to do it. Standardized work is the safest. Typically manufacturing companies are meticulous about creating standard work for machine operators e g job instructions. Like the standard work for any process leader standard work must be documented practiced consistently and changed only with reflection and experimentation.

Certainly in the previous gemba example the leader s standard work led the leadership team to change its approach to the supplier and in doing so reinforced its leadership skill.