Leader standard work. It’s a popular tool among lean and continuous-improvement driven organizations, and done well it helps move company culture from one driven by firefighting to one driven by a workforce of problem-solvers and the leaders who help coach those capabilities. Done poorly, leader standard work helps no one.

In this episode of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, hosts Dr. Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer continue their exploration of popular lean tools and the behaviors behind making those tools work. The tool they discuss is leader standard work, and the behavior behind the tool is consistency. (Saleh uses the word ‘consistency’ and ‘discipline’ interchangeably.)

Briefly, leader standard work is the critical routines or rituals, as Saleh calls them, that leaders perform to support their continuous improvement system. Leader standard work could include, for example, gemba walks every morning, weekly scheduled one-on-one coaching sessions, weekly or monthly Hoshin reviews, or a host of other activities.

A key to their effectiveness, the podcast hosts say, is the discipline/consistency to maintain the scheduled routine regardless of changing priorities, unexpected interruptions or personal preferences. Leaders can’t simply cancel coaching sessions because something else comes up and they get busy.

Leader standard work “can't be ‘when I have time to do it’ or ad hoc,” Saleh says. As a leader, “I can't ask the organization to have certain discipline that I can't exhibit myself. And so that's really the tool behind leader standard work is how do I create my own standard of things I'm supposed to do, rituals I'm supposed to do every single day, so they don't get washed down or diluted in my busy life?”

Moreover, he adds, lasting discipline depends on connecting routines to a meaningful purpose. Otherwise, leader standard work “becomes a compliance audit of leaders—are they doing it or not— and I think that could be enforced in the beginning, but then what happens is that there's no question about it: it will die.”

Building the Routine

Saleh and Dyer also dive into actions that both impede and improve leader standard work. For example:

Time management. Dyer outlines how quickly unexpected events can interfere with routines and shares an action he has seen organizations take to mitigate the unexpected. “What kills time management? Well, every time there's a crisis that pops up, all of a sudden, it's all hands on deck. That just ruins the entire day, and we get out of the rhythm of the day. Or when the CEO shows up unexpectedly, and you’re required to put together a quick PowerPoint presentation unexpectedly, and now all of a sudden, your day is shot,” Dyer says.

Organizations from the CEO on down must instead be supportive of the consistency and routine of leader standard work, he says. “Where I've seen it be the most effective is companies that put out the edict that says something like … before 10 o'clock there will be no scheduled meetings, and so you can only schedule meetings after, say, 10 o'clock, which then frees the morning up for the leaders to do the things that you're talking about.”

Training/guidance. Dyer points out that leaders may need to practice the skills required of leadership in a continuous improvement-driven organization, and that’s where continuous improvement professionals can provide guidance and coaching. “If you're not used to doing this, the first time you go out to the gemba, it can be very awkward,” he says. “But after you give it some time, it'll become more and more routine, and it will become easier to do because you'll develop that skill. It's a unique skill, to actually go out and talk to workers without it being accusatory or finger pointing or fear mongering. You’ve got to be out there to say, ‘hey, I'm here to help.’”

The Leader Standard Work Progression

The podcast hosts also dive into the progression of leader standard work. Early on, it may be very prescribed as leaders are learning skills and building muscle memory, but eventually (they suggest several months) it moves from prescribed to motivated, meaning leaders are seeing the benefits of improved culture and performance, and want more.

Dyer says he believes there is yet a third step in the progression. “It's going from prescribed to being motivated, and then at some point we've got to lock that in to the job description, to the promotional criteria,” he says.

Saleh adds a caution. “I'm not suggesting here that every minute of a leader's day has to be prescribed. Those could be three or four or five things. And the higher up you go, the more freedom you have.”