Definition
Standard work that fixes the leader's required actions for maintaining the management system—such as gemba walks, metric reviews, coaching, escalation, and follow-up—on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
In detail
Leader standard work is a core mechanism of lean leadership, but not equivalent to lean leadership itself. It turns "leaders must value the gemba" into executable frequency, routes, checkpoints, and feedback loops. The focus is not on solving problems for employees, but on confirming whether standards are executed, whether abnormalities enter the correct escalation path, and whether responsible persons close items on time. If the checklist only records that leaders visited the site without evidence of discovery, coaching, and follow-up, it is just a schedule.
Example in practice
The plant manager attends the daily management meeting at level 1 and tours a key area every day, reviews red light closure rate and improvement projects weekly, and checks standard updates monthly. During the tour, he found that a delivery red light had no responsible person for two consecutive days. The manager did not directly give a technical solution but required the supervisor to clarify responsibility and completion time according to the escalation mechanism, and followed up in the next standard work to see if it was truly closed.