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Gemba walks are not to be confused with management by walking around (MBWA). The primary purpose of Gemba walking is to teach. When you are the Gemba walker, you are playing the role of sensei (mentor, coach, teacher). The role of the sensei is to ask questions, introduce new tools and approaches, stimulate new thinking, teach, and (sparingly) to give advice.

How do you start a Gemba Walk in your plant? It may seem overwhelming but it doesn't need to be.  Don't walk into the workplace looking for everything.  If you do, you will accomplish nothing while causing confusion. This simple list is a good place to start.  Use this list to build your own Gemba Walk theme.

The gemba walk how-to guide has its merits. But we need to be careful. Gemba walk templates, observation points, and sample questions can appear formal, audit-like, creating distance between the observer and the observed. We should worry less about doing the gemba walk the right way and focus more on doing the right thing by people. This means treating people as individuals and showing them respect. This means taking a genuine interest in person in front of us, in how they see reality and and learning how they wish to influence outcomes in their lives and work. Ultimately, the gemba walk is not about the gemba or the walk. It is all about the humble listen.

Leaders should adopt a 'gemba mentality' Firstly, leaders on a gemba walk need to realise that they cannot and should not provide the answers and solutions to the problems they encounter. They are primarily there to coach the process owners to take ownership of solving problems and developing solutions to make the process more effective and efficient, while also eliminating waste. It is the leader's role to ensure that all the people who are involved in the process are actively engaged in improving it.

Very simple things to do while in Gemba

Skip it. Avoid it. Leave it out. Never touch the stuff. Don't be tempted. Stick to the story. Succeed through subtraction. This man is a lean thinker. And he bears an uncanny physical resemblance to both John Shook and James Womack, after they borrowed some hair from Mike Rother. If Elmore Leonard cared what a gemba walk was, he might say something like this:

A good reminder that during our Gemba walks we need to notice safety issues.

Lesson 1: The critical importance of the simple act of walking. When you get bogged down, distracted, or even discouraged rediscover the power of going to see. Lesson 2: Never walk alone. What is the benefit if only you see the current state and think of a better way to create a future sate? Always walk the value stream with the people who touch it. It will be their efforts who are needed to improve it. Lesson 3: Expand your focus. Many look primarily at the steps in the value stream and ask how to remove the waste. You must ask about the support processes to get the right people to the right place in the value stream at the right time with the right knowledge, materials, and equipment. Lesson 4: Reflect first on the purpose of the process. Focus on what problem the customer is trying to solve and ask whether the existing process, now matter how well, run, can effectively address their problem. Pay special attention to the way people are engaged in the operation and its improvement. Lesson 5: Make work fulfilling. There is nothing worse than seeing good people trapped in an unfulfilling process that they lack the power to improve. Lesson 6: Stability before full panoply of lean techniques. The process must be capable (able to produce good results every time) and available (able to operate when it is needed).

Yes - 5S is very relaxing!

If one of them happens to be a tall table for standing meetings, let me know. I'd like to replace the table in the Creative "War Room" with a taller version and eliminate the chairs. However, I need to find one with roughly the same circumference as the current table since we use it for design reviews.

Brian - I'm game. Let's do it.