Do the Gemba Walk

Brandt Von West
Ever had someone tell you how you should do your job, while simultaneously knowing nothing about it? This is where the Gemba Walk comes in.

A Gemba Walk is the action of walking around the business with the goal of identifying problem areas and generate improvement ideas.

The term Gemba is of Japanese origin meaning “actual place”. The term is used in business to identify the place where the value is created and is used to stress that improvements require direct observation of current conditions where work is done.

It also has been adopted by many other industries as a means of understanding every part of the business from the bottom up. Time spent with workers who interact with the public give leaders a fresh perspective into customer wants and can lead to developing new services and products to meet projected demands.

A Gemba Walk is a way to gather information through six steps. Identify problem areas, Learn how things work, Explore new methods and opportunities, Analyse why something works or doesn’t work, Document your findings, Diffuse tensions or trouble spots. The Gemba walk is not a time to find fault and call out employees on shortcomings, it’s not there to try and quickly implement a change on the spot. It’s not to disregard employee input; especially since getting that input is one of the main goals of a Gemba Walk.

By focusing on the operation, listening to employees and taking the time after a Gemba Walk to reflect on what action is needed, leaders foster a cooperative edge in their business. They also avoid creating the fear that Gemba Walks are set up for punitive action against individual employees, a sure way to decrease morale and make employees reluctant to share information.

Investigation always comes before accusation. Be the leader your business needs and start your Gemba walk.