Leadership Standard Work

Lean Nation,

This week's blog will center on standard work for management.  So let's begin with a brief definition. Leadership standard work is the hour by hour activities of management to bring a lean improvement system to life.

Many of you are thinking "Hour by Hour"?  "Are you nuts"?  "I do not have enough time to get everything done in a day and now I have work to do every hour"? 

If you look at this work as outside of your roles and responsibilities, then you will be time challenged.  If I'm spending team each hour working on the things I am accountable and responsible for  then this is not extra time.  It simply is how I do my job.

If you can't or won't take this leap,  you can stop reading now.  You will never be able to create a culture of improvement and I would not recommend you waste anymore on this blog.

If you are curious, or you see improvement as part of your day to day responsibilities, then read on.

Leadership standard work is about carving time out of your schedule each hour and focusing on the process, focusing on improvement, or focusing on developing people.   Where should you spend your time each hour?   That depends on what your area of focus is.  But I will prove with a list of topics below and you can choose where you time is best spent.

Leadership Standard Work Topics:
•Address patient/staff/provider safety issues
–Asaichi– (morning market)
•Review and take action on process control
–Audit data integrity
–Address gaps and assign countermeasures
–Adjust  / flex staffing
•Observe and coach on standard work
•Daily huddle (3 layers)
–Delegate / Assign Actions
•Audit 5Sand take actions
•Create missing standards

•1 x 1 coaching

•Communication updates
•Work on improvement
–Formal or informal
–Review and update plans and status
–Work on open items / to do lists
•Survey customers
•Review and take action on results (from performance boards)
•Follow up on suggestions
•Capture  personal and department reflections
•Update our own standard work


There a few topics above likely that you might be struggling with understanding.  I will get into these topics over the coming weeks.

The question I'd like you to ponder right now is determining if this list of activities is on top of your core responsibilities today?  If so you might not be focused on the right things.

I'll discuss how you execute your leadership standard work in the next blog.

Lean Blessings;

Ron

Ron Bercaw
www.breakthroughhorizons.com