Purpose This paper aims to provide a synthesis of the results of the previous literature on leadership behaviours that enable successful Lean Six Sigma implementation. Design/methodology/approach The published literature that relates to leadership and Lean Six Sigma has been included. A thematic analysis was conducted on the previous literature which helped in identifying the relevant aspects and associating the behaviours with specific aspects. Findings After analysing the literature, seven key aspects have emerged: communication, culture of continuous improvement, coaching and developing employees, creating vision and aligning goals, employee motivation, employee empowerment and leadership commitment and support. The main leadership behaviours that facilitate and support Lean Six Sigma implementation have been summarised. Originality/value Thematic analysis in this field is scarce, so identifying the leadership behaviours’ themes can help researchers in developing a framework of leadership behaviours. Organisations and practitioners of Lean Six Sigma can take into consideration these behaviours as a key to the successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma. They can adjust their behaviours and know the behaviours that need to be developed amongst leaders. This would facilitate the Lean Six Sigma journey by overcoming the challenges that face practitioners during Lean Six Sigma implementation.

Researchers have identified leadership as a critical success factor for Lean Six Sigma implementation. It is essential to understand leadership behaviours that facilitate the use of Lean Six Sigma. This paper aims to identify leadership styles from the literature that can facilitate Lean Six Sigma implementation, which in turn broaden the current understanding of the suitable leadership styles. Also, the authors aim to explore how leadership styles can enhance Lean Six Sigma operations. The authors systematically reviewed the literature on leadership styles and Lean Six Sigma. The results determined the leadership styles that can enable the use of Lean Six Sigma successfully. These leadership styles are as follows: situational (task-oriented or relation-oriented behaviour), transformational, servant, authentic, empowering, and distributed leadership. The authors provide a better understanding for practitioners and researchers from existing literature on how leaders' behaviours can enhance Lean Six Sigma implementation. It is not clear which style is the most dominant and effective. There is a lack in interpreting how these leadership styles linked to Lean Six Sigma implementation. There is a lack of empirical evidence most of the studies depended on a theoretical base. Very few studies have focused on leadership styles and Six Sigma success; to the best of the authors' knowledge only one paper has studied this. Also, there is scarcity in papers that addressed leadership styles that facilitate Lean Six Sigma implementation. This paper initiates a call to study Lean Six Sigma rather than focus only on either Lean or Six Sigma. This proposition guides future research based on the view that Lean management can share underlying assumptions with Lean Six Sigma characteristics. However, the mean limitation of this review is the use of specific keywords and database to identify studies.