CATALYSIS: 2ND CEO FORUM

Leader Standard Work

Didier Rabino
• 4 years at HealthEast Care
System: VP, Lean Sensei
• 8 years at Andersen Windows:
plant manager & architect of the
Andersen Management System
• 13 years at Steelcase Inc.: one
of the developers of the
Steelcase Production System
• 2015 recipient of the Institute of
Industrial Engineering’s
Honorary Member Award
• Principal of Lean Management
Systems LLC
• Director of the AME North
Central Region Board www.LeanManagementSystems.net
Leader Standard Work

Learning Objectives:
• Explain how leader standard work supports the
development of Lean
• Develop executive standard work

Agenda:
• Refresher on Lean and leading with Standards
• Lean Management and Leadership
• Tools for Leader Standard Work

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What is Lean?

TSSC Definition: Lean is an integrated system

focused on human development with strong
organizational culture

Human
Development
Principles

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The Technical Side of Lean

5 - Seek 1 - Identify
perfection value

4 - Establish 2 - Map the

pull value stream 1996

3 - Create
flow
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 The Principle Side of Lean

1. Customers always come first

2. Continuous improvement is a way of
life
3. Our people are our number one
resource
4. Everything is grounded back to the 2004
floor.

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The Managerial Side of Lean

3 - Leader 1 - Visual
Standard Controls
Work

2 - Visual
Accountability 2005
1.Bring the focus on process abnormalities in real time
2.Transform problem identification into assignments for action
3.Help sustain improvements made
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Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
Where are you in the journey of integrating these 3
sides of Lean (technical, principle and managerial)
into your own standard work?

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 Foundation to Lead with Standards

Problem

The fundamental
idea of standards

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 Foundation to Lead with Standards

• There is no problem without a standard (norm,

expectation, goal, objective, desired condition)
• Any condition that is not meeting the standard is
a problem
• It is a problem if an employee does not meet the
expectation
• Who owns the problems?

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Different Types of Problems
Higher

TYPE 4
Mid 1970’s
Innovation
Oriented
TYPE 3
October 1962
Complexity of Problems

Target
Setting Future oriented
May 1951 TYPE 2 with a more open
Gap from ended view for
Standard Future problem
TYPE 1 occurrence resolution
Burden oriented with a
Relief new target state
Recurring emphasis and
situation oriented creative solutions
with strong root
Corrective action cause emphasis
oriented with
limited root
Lower

cause analysis

Lower Time to Resolve Higher

Credit: Art Smalley
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 Objectives of Lean Management

Key Objectives:
1. Get results
2. Improve processes to get
results
3. Develop leaders to improve
processes

“Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work,

live the philosophy and teach it to others”
Jeff Liker - Toyota Way, principle # 9

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 Lean Leadership Model
• The “Leader as Dictator” who tells everyone what to do:
no transfer or cascade of responsibility
• The “Leader as Social Worker” who sets “goals” and lets
everyone do as they pleased: no focus or direction
• The “Lean Leader” who provides maximum flexibility with
maximum control: neither bottom up nor top down

Credit: John Shook

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 Lean Leadership: Flexibility & Control
Maximum flexibility:
• Do not tell exactly what to do: rely on individual initiative
Maximum control:
• Do not allow actions without justifications to the manager
Neither bottom-up nor top-down but:
• Emphasize doing the “right thing” / establishing authority
• Develop systems in which processes are well defined and
individual responsibility is clear

Lean organizations have evolved from a top-down

cascade of tasks to a cascade of responsibility
Credit: John Shook
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 Lean Leadership: Decision Making
• Each justification is rooted in actual practice and results of
activities: scientific method based on data and facts
• Decision making and problem solving are based on Gemba:
Lean Leaders only believe what they see firsthand

Credit: Mike Rother

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 Lean Leadership: Helping / Supporting

• Helping: guiding, asking clarifying questions,

encouraging and challenging
• Not helping: doing for others what they can do for
themselves

Value Creation
Protect
Standard Work

Supportive Leadership Model

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 Lean Leadership: Keys to Success

• Leaders develop strong problem solvers. They are

teachers
• Leaders allow people to solve their own problems.
They provide guidance and direction … not answers
• Leaders set appropriate challenges, support
success, provide recognition, repeat
• Leaders follow processes with discipline,
persistence, and consistency

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Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
How does your HR / OD team support the
development of Lean leadership capabilities?
• Use a flipchart to share with other tables

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 Leader Standard Work: What is it?

• It is the discipline, daily practices and tools needed

to establish and maintain a constant intense focus
on the process
• It defines What the leader should be doing, When
the leader should be doing it and How the leader
should be doing it
• It is no different than standard work for frontline
operations: a hypothesis that is challenged every
time it is used

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 Leader Standard Work: The Benefits

1. Translates the vague Lean principles into

unambiguous performance evaluation criteria
2. Provides a repeatable manageable and teachable
system to focus on results and processes that
yield results
3. Offers a continuity of best practices even in times
of leadership change
4. Enables an average leader to achieve above
average results

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 Leader Standard Work: The Tools

Leader Standard
Work (LSW)

1 2 3 4 5 6

LSW Visual Gemba Standing Accountability Personal

Checklist Controls Walk Meetings System Kanban
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Stabilize, Go See, Learn, Clarify

Reflect, Develop
Make See as a Team, Ownership Prioritize &
Learn, Adjust People & Expectations Flow Non-
Problems Learn as a
Visible Team Cyclical Work
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a Team
Tool 1: Leader Standard Work Checklist

Weekly Compliance Analysis of causes

Developing a new routine

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 1

2
5

7
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Tool 1: Leader Standard Work Checklist

IMPROVEMENT
Executives 75% 25%
50% 50%

MAINTENANCE
Directors

Managers 35% 65%

Frontline Leaders 25% 75%

Frontline Staff 5% 95%

Credit: Imai Masaaki

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 Lean Executives: Areas of Focus
1. Commit to Self-development:
• Learn to live the technical, principle and managerial sides of Lean
through repeated learning cycles
2. Coach and Develop Others:
• See and challenge true potential in others through self-development
learning cycles (break down the skills to coach them one at the time
but many times, coaching Kata, TWI-JI process, see-do-teach)
3. Support Daily Improvement:
• Build local capability throughout for daily Management & Kaizen.
Follow weekly purposeful go-see routines on what matters most
4. Create Vision and Alignment to Goals:
• Create True North vision and align goals vertically and horizontally
Adapted from Jeff Liker’s “Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels”

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 “Commit to Self-development”

• Work on personal A3 Weekly

• Gemba walk: Process standard work assessment Weekly
• Gemba walk: employee safety observation Monthly
• Gemba walk: Lean Sensei coaching Monthly
• Work on personal Lean development program Monthly
• Participate in a Lean book club Monthly
• Attend external benchmark Gemba walk Annually

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 “Coach and Develop Others”

• Provide A3 coaching Weekly

• Conduct monthly review / each direct report Monthly
• Gemba walk: value stream review/each direct report Monthly
• Participate in New Leader Orientation Monthly
• Co-facilitate a Lean training (A3, FMS, SD, other) Quarterly

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 “Support Daily Improvement”

• Gemba walk: interview a patient or customer Weekly

• Gemba walk : assess improvement post Kaizen / A3 Weekly
• Gemba walk: observe a frontline huddle Weekly
• Attend system improvement report out Monthly
• Gemba walk: assess an employee injury RCA Monthly
• Gemba walk: review a customer safety event Monthly
• Great new employees Monthly
• Recognize a high performing CI team Monthly
• Participate in a Kaizen Workshop Quarterly

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 “Create Vision & Alignment to Goals”

• Lead your strategy deployment review Weekly

• Participate in the 1-up strategy deployment review Weekly
• Gemba walk: Entity business review Monthly
• Participate in a Value Stream Analysis Quarterly
• Conduct mid-year strategy deployment review Annually
• Conduct annual strategy deployment planning Annually

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 Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
Which of my activities support these 4 areas of focus?
Which activities should I add?
• Use one post-it per activity. Initial the post-its and
place on flipchart under their area of focus

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Tool 2: Visual Controls

• The Leader Standard Work takes the leader to

the visual controls
• Visual controls show expected versus actual

The leader uses the visual controls to:

 Verify the execution of the standards
 Check that gaps are clearly documented
 Ensure appropriate responses to gaps

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Tool 2: Four Levels of Visual Controls

1. Information
• Example: water gauge under a bridge
2. Abnormality
• Example: gauge shows “normal” or “flood”
3. Response needed
• Example: gauge shows level for “close bridge”
4. Status of the response
• Example: gauge with nearby sign “bridge
closed by sheriff on April 7”

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Tool 2: Visual Controls - Process Focus

1 4

2
3

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Tool 2: Visual Controls - Outcome Focus

1
2

4 3

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Tool 2: Visual Controls - Knowledge & Skills

3 34
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Tool 3: Gemba Walks
What should we do during a Gemba Walk?

Go see

Ask why

Show respect

Credit: Fujio Cho, honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation

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Gemba walks to Go See the visual controls
Go home Assess census
satisfied! versus Issues addressed
capacity? at tier meeting? Conduct a safety
observation

Assess one
value stream:
plan and
Conduct customer progress
On track with experience deep
strategy deployment Work on my dive
(activities / results)? A3 project
Recognize
employees Evaluate & coach
improvement kata
Are safety events at BU review
Visit a patient.
properly addressed?
Get feedback
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Gemba Walks: Ask Why & Show Respect

• Evaluate the patterns of thinking and doing used for

improvement and to achieve goals
• Develop a coaching routine supporting continuous
improvement and learning

 Use “what”, “how”, “where” to grasp the situation

 Use “Why” later to understand root causes

Adapted from: Mike Rother and Jim Womack

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 Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
What visual controls should you be able to SEE during
your Gemba walks to support your standard work?
• Write actual or proposed visual controls on post-its
• Regroup the post-its by theme on a flipchart
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 Tool 4: Standing Meetings
• PLAN
Formalize the standard with
expected outcomes
• DO
Conduct meeting. Stand-up
if 30 minutes or less
• CHECK
Summarize what went well
and could be done better
• ACT
Use the reflection to improve
the meeting

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Tool 5: Accountability System

= Task completed on time

= Task not completed on time

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Tool 6: Personal Kanban

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Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
• What is one thing that would make me you a
better Lean executive?
• What will you do in the next 30 days to define or
improve your leader standard work?
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Leader Standard Work

Final Questions?

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 Appendix

A. Visual control for executive team (HealthEast)

B. Visual control for an executive team member (Stanford)
C. COO standard work document (Mercy North Iowa)
D. COO standard work document (Sutter Gould Medical Foundation)
E. Lehigh Valley Leader Standard Work
F. Collective Approach to Designing Executive Standard Work

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