Impact of standard work for leaders on reducing unused employee creativity during lean implementation

Organisations implement lean in production to improve continuously, but implementation may be unsuccessful due to ineffective leadership. Also, organisations have not eliminated the eighth lean waste — namely, the waste of unused employee creativity. The research investigated standard work for leaders in reducing unused employee creativity. The case study, conducted in an automobile manufacturer, indicated that worker ideas increased when employees were trained in lean, and when standard work for leaders was implemented. The research concluded that standard work for leaders reduces the waste of unused employee creativity, and suggests a lean implementation model that can be validated with further work.