Key Points

• A Gemba Walk is a fantastic way for employees and their leaders to intermingle and learn from one another.
• The hope with any Gemba Walk is that leaders can understand where there are challenges inside an organization that need to be addressed.
• If done right, a Gemba Walk should provide leaders with plenty of documentation and data to make sweeping changes.

Originating from the Japanese term “Gembutsu,” “Gemba Walk” is essentially a lean management practice that has an organization’s leadership visiting the “actual place” where work is done. This might be a factory or an office, but the goal is to give company leadership an inside view of how things are going, as well as enabling leadership to see what processes are being performed. 

The hope is that any instance of a Gemba Walk allows senior leadership to look behind the curtains and see what’s going on with the people who are doing the actual day-to-day work. The hope is that they can gather insights that would allow them to create better processes for employees, who in turn can be more productive and generate a stronger bottom line. 

What Is a Gemba Walk? 

Widely considered a powerful learning tool for continuous improvement, Gemba Walks is an idea and a belief that complements both Lean methodologies and Six Sigma. The goal is that every Gemba Walk takes place intending to immerse senior leaders in the day-to-day life of those doing impactful and meaningful work. 

Anyone participating in a Gemba Walk should do so by talking to employees and understanding the challenges they face. If there is to be any hope for process improvement, these Gemba Walks must yield actionable takeaways that senior leadership can use to course-correct. 

Problem-solving is essentially the name of the game, as going directly to the source of any operations can identify potential issues or inefficiencies that might only be discovered in person, not through data on a spreadsheet. 

The ultimate goal is that a Gemba Walk will foster more open communication between frontline workers and those in a position to effect significant change. If leaders are truly open-minded while doing a Gemba Walk and listen to the suggestions being offered, it can make a tremendous difference for all parties. 

Key Elements of a Gemba Walk

To determine what makes for a successful Gemba Walk for process improvement, there are three key elements. The first is to “Go and See,” which essentially redefines the above by providing an opportunity for leaders to observe what is happening on a shop floor or work space and identify inefficiencies. 

The second key element is for leaders to go in and ask why something is or is not working. The leaders on a Gemba Walk will do as much listening as talking. The takeaway for anyone in leadership is to come out of a Gemba Walk with a clear understanding of the issues at hand by actively engaging in conversation. 

The third and arguably most important element is to show the same level of respect to the workers as leaders themselves want to receive. These are the people who do the actual day-to-day work, and it’s essential that if inefficiencies are occurring, fingers are not pointed and accusations are not thrown around. 

What Are The Benefits of Gemba Walks

Regardless of whether you are an employee, a leader, or an organization, it’s important to know exactly what the benefits are of a Gemba Walk. 

For leaders, it’s an opportunity to see firsthand what the operational challenges are across a company. It’s also an opportunity to get up close and personal with your employees and build a rapport with them that makes them feel comfortable being honest and forthright about what is actually taking place. 

As an employee, a Gemba Walk allows you to feel heard without any concerns about your job. It’s also an opportunity to learn more about what leadership expects from employees within an organization. However, the real benefit for employees may be that having leaders come by and talk to them makes them feel supported and, in turn, provides a much-needed morale boost, which in turn leads to improved processes.

Organizations also find benefits from Gemba Walks, as there is every opportunity to utilize this process to locate and identify opportunities for improved productivity. The hope is that a Gemba Walk reveals where current inefficiencies are occurring, as well as waste that can be eliminated or reduced to increase the bottom line. 

How To Do Gemba Walks

Start by Picking a Theme

For argument’s sake, this article primarily focuses on process improvement, but the reality is that a Gemba Walk can encompass multiple aspects. If it’s not about process improvement, perhaps it’s about identifying cost inefficiencies or gaining a deeper understanding of workplace safety. The goal before any Gemba Walk is to enter knowing precisely what you, as a leader, want to learn more about. 

Preparing Your Team

For a team leader who will be on the receiving end of a Gemba Walk, focusing on process improvement, the team must be prepared for what is to come. This means that they should know this isn’t anything to be worried about, and that it’s all about improving the processes they currently undertake to make them more efficient and help make everyone’s job easier. 

The reality is that whenever senior leadership arrives asking questions, it can feel like employees are being evaluated and that their jobs are on the line. The goal here is to ensure that employees know it’s okay to be open and honest about the challenges they face, inefficiencies they encounter, and resources they lack, which would help them perform their jobs more effectively. 

Focusing on Process

If a company wants to make the best use of a Gemba Walk, the leaders participating need to remember this isn’t an evaluation of how well teams are performing. Instead, it’s an opportunity to identify areas where challenges affect process improvement methods. The hope is that leaders come with questions and or checklists they want to learn more about, so the focus is truly on the processes and not the people. 

Define Roles and Responsibilities

Knowing that there must be a focus on the process, roles and responsibilities must be determined ahead of time on the leadership side of a Gemba Walk. Someone should be appointed to initiate initial conversations with questions, while another person is designated as the note-taker. Others will simply observe and only chime in with questions as they arise. 

Observe Only

Quick throw in here as a reminder that Gemba Walks are only about observing and not about making any actual changes in the moment. During process improvements, there must be an opportunity to digest information and then return to the table with ideas on how to improve processes, rather than just making ad hoc adjustments. Record what you see and learn, and then look for patterns later. 

Document the Process

As leaders undertaking a Gemba Walk to improve processes, it’s incredibly important to document everything. This is exactly why it’s so important to observe initially, as documentation of the things learned is available later on. The goal is to digest as much as possible, but it’s important to have notes to refer back to as questions arise after the Gemba Walk has been completed. 

It’s also important to take detailed notes for multiple Gemba Walks, as if you are taking a walk on a shop floor, you need to know what’s happening on different shifts and at various times of the day. Comparing documented notes will help identify patterns and learning. 

Keep the Door Wide Open

Arguably, the last and most important takeaway from a Gemba Walk is to keep the door wide open. For employees, it’s helpful to know that leaders will be available if additional questions or concerns arise. As leaders, employees must understand that the conversation can be a two-way street, where both parties can learn, provide honest feedback, and improve processes. 

As opportunities for improvement are identified, the door being wide open will ensure that these changes can be implemented. If the door closes immediately after a Gemba Walk ends, it’s taking everyone right back to where they were before it began. If this doesn’t happen, the takeaways from the Gemba Walks and the understanding on how to make changes to improve processes can begin.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Are you interested in learning more about Gemba Walks? If so, you can find some really great tips for a successful virtual Gemba Walk if you have a team that is remotely dispersed. Additionally, you can examine how Gemba may be the key to engaging employees and enhancing their performance. 

Of course, it’s also important to know more about process improvement, especially how psychology plays a big role in any resistance to change. If you are even more serious about process improvement, you can learn more about how you can integrate Lean Six Sigma with agile in the future. 

Conclusion 

The goal of any Gemba Walk isn’t to come away with any sort of judgment on employees or leaders. Instead, the hope is that leaders will come away with a true understanding of what employees need to do their job better and improve processes in a meaningful and impactful way. For employees, there is also hope that a buildup of rapport will break down once-giant barriers between leaders and managers within an organization.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Smederevac/iStock via Getty Images.