What is leader standard work (LSW)?
Leader standard work (LSW) is standard work for leaders: the short list of routine tasks a leader does at a fixed time and frequency to keep the management system running. Team members follow standard work for their tasks. Leaders need the same discipline for their management tasks, otherwise the daily management system depends on individual habits and collapses when people are busy, on leave or move on.
LSW is not a job description or a to-do list. It covers the few daily routines that hold the system together: the tier meeting, the walk, the board check, the audit, the coaching conversation. Everything else fits around them. A common rule of thumb is to plan about 80% of a leader's week and keep the rest free for the unplanned.
What goes into leader standard work at each management level?
The routines look similar at every level. What changes across the management levels is the scope and the share of the day that is standardised:
| Role | Share of time standardised | Typical daily routines |
|---|---|---|
| Team leader (tier 1) | 60–80% | Start-of-shift huddle at the board, walk the line in the first hour, check first-piece quality and skills cover, update the board at set times, handover notes |
| Supervisor or area manager (tier 2) | About 50% | Attend a rotating tier 1 huddle, run the tier 2 meeting, a themed gemba walk, review escalations and overdue actions, a scheduled layered process audit |
| Operations or department manager (tier 3) | 20–30% | Run the tier 3 review, attend a tier 2 meeting and a tier 1 huddle each week, coach an A3 owner, audit a sample of direct reports' LSW |
| Site leader | 10–20% | A weekly themed gemba walk, review of key performance indicators against the strategy, monthly strategy and skills reviews |
These ratios are a rule of thumb, not a target. What matters is that each leader has fixed, protected time for the routines the system depends on.
Is a "standard leader" the same as leader standard work?
Yes, in practice. "Standard leader" is a common way of searching for leader standard work (LSW). It does not mean a particular kind of leader. It means a leader who follows a standard routine: the same checks, at the same times, with the same response when something is wrong. The standard belongs to the routine, so any leader can pick it up and run the system the same way.
How does leader standard work link to visual management and tier meetings?
Leader standard work, visual management and tier meetings are three parts of one system:
- The tier meeting sets the agenda. It shows the leader which key performance indicators are red, what was escalated and which actions are overdue.
- The board shows whether the routines happened. If a meeting is missed or a walk is skipped, the board goes stale and everyone can see it. Many sites track LSW on a kamishibai board or the tier board, so completion is visible too.
- The walk checks the board against reality. A gemba walk or layered process audit confirms that what the board says is what is happening on the floor.
Without LSW, boards and meetings drift. Without boards and meetings, LSW has nothing to act on.
What does a leader standard work template look like?
A leader standard work template fits on one page per role and has six parts:
- Purpose and scope: the area, tier and measures this leader owns.
- Daily routines, in time order.
- Weekly routines, such as an audit, a coaching session and one-to-ones.
- Monthly routines, such as a strategy or skills review.
- What to look for in each routine: two or three specific checks.
- Record: a tick, a date and a note, so the sheet shows what was done and what was found.
A supervisor's daily section might read: review the shift handover at 06:15, attend a tier 1 huddle at 06:30, run tier 2 at 08:30, observe one operator against standard work, check that overdue actions on the board have owners, and complete a layered audit on Thursday. For a filled-in example and a printable layout, see the leader standard work template.
How do you introduce leader standard work?
- Start with the system, not the person. List the routines the daily management system relies on: meetings, board checks, audits, walks, coaching.
- Assign each routine to a role with a frequency and a time slot.
- Check capacity. Add up the hours. If the plan does not fit a sensible week, cut routines rather than lengthen the day.
- Write it on one page per role and pilot it for two weeks.
- Make completion visible on the board, so missed routines are seen and discussed.
- Have the next level up check it. A manager reviews the team leader's LSW and asks one question about what was found.
- Review it every few months as the system matures.
Treat it as a long term habit, not a launch. Most of the value comes from months of consistent routines, which is why operational excellence programmes rely on LSW to sustain every other lean tool. Leader standard work: the basics covers how to sort a leader's tasks into must do, should do and nice to do, and how to assess their capacity.
What are the common leader standard work mistakes?
- Writing everything down. A list of every task a leader does is a job description. Keep the few routines that matter.
- Ticking without looking. LSW is a prompt to look, ask and coach, not a compliance sheet.
- No follow-up from the next level, so routines quietly lapse.
- Standardising the activity but not the response. Define what the leader does when a check finds a gap: fix it, raise an action or escalate.
- Only the front line has it. If managers skip their own LSW, team leaders soon stop too.
- Never revising it. Routines that no longer find anything should be replaced with ones that do.