Leader standard work is a repeatable set of management practices that helps leaders understand current conditions, develop people and follow through on problems. It is not a script for controlling every employee action. The routine should make important leadership responsibilities dependable while leaving room for judgment about the work.
The Lean Enterprise Institute's definition connects leader standard work with developing employee problem-solving capability. Our lean leadership principles describe the broader behaviors. This resource turns that idea into illustrative routines that a supervisor or manager can adapt within existing authority.
Start with the question the routine must answer
Identify what a leader repeatedly needs to know or support. Are unresolved decisions aging without an owner? Are supervisors practicing a new handoff agreement? Are problems raised but not answered? The routine should reveal that condition and create an appropriate next action.
Avoid beginning with a long list copied from another operation. A daily walk, meeting or check has value only if its purpose is understood and its information is used. State the purpose, frequency, evidence and response for each element before adding it to a schedule.
Supervisor example: the start of the working day
An illustrative supervisor routine could begin with the approved current-work record: confirm the priority, identify missing inputs and check whether the next decisions have authorized owners. Then have a brief team conversation about changes that affect today's work. Required safety or quality briefings remain governed by their own procedures.
The evidence might be one unresolved decision with a named owner and checkpoint, not a signature showing the supervisor attended. If the routine repeatedly surfaces the same missing input, the next step is an improvement conversation with the responsible team—not more pressure to complete the check faster.
Supervisor example: observe and coach one situation
Select an appropriate work situation to understand with the employee. Ask what outcome is required, what is happening and what makes the next step difficult. Listen before suggesting a solution. A leader does not need to visit every station to learn from one carefully chosen problem.
Use gemba walk questions to distinguish observations from assumptions. If coaching is appropriate, agree what the employee will examine and what support the supervisor owes them. Follow the authorized route for concerns that require qualified technical or safety judgment.
Manager example: review the response system
A manager's routine can focus on the problems that supervisors cannot resolve within their authority. Review the age of unanswered requests, the decisions repeatedly escalated and the support promised by other functions. Ask whether the management system is responding, not simply whether frontline teams are reporting.
A hypothetical manager might review two unresolved capacity questions each week. One is awaiting an authorized priority decision; the other needs verified workload information. The manager assigns different next steps because waiting for a decision and gathering evidence are different conditions. Counting both as open items would hide that distinction.
Manager example: develop a supervisor's judgment
Choose one real decision to discuss with a supervisor. Ask what they observed, what options they considered and where their authority ends. Review the result later. The manager's standard work includes developing the next level's capability, not taking every difficult decision away from it.
The coaching conversation template offers a practical structure. Keep the conversation tied to a real opportunity rather than requiring a quota of coaching sessions that generates paperwork without useful practice.
Record exceptions and close the loop
A simple routine record can state the intended practice, the actual condition, an exception and the response owner. If urgent authorized work prevents the normal routine, record what requires attention later. The purpose is to preserve the important responsibility, not punish reasonable adaptation.
Look especially at promises made during observation or review. A leader who asks about problems and never returns teaches people that raising them has little value. Close the loop with what was decided, what remains open and when the team will hear more.
Review whether the routine still serves the work
Periodically examine what the routine revealed and what changed because of it. Remove checks whose information is unused. Adjust the cadence when the situation changes. A perfect completion rate with recurring unanswered problems is not evidence that leader standard work is effective.
For a team facing the same leadership gaps across levels, review the published engagement approach or discuss the actual work with Shannon. The aim is dependable observation, coaching and response—not a larger checklist.
About this resource: Prepared with AI-assisted drafting from published guidance. Examples are illustrative, not reported client results. Cover illustration: AI-generated.