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What is Gemba Walk?   

The term “Gemba” comes from Japanese, meaning “the real place”. The Gemba walk (pronunciation: GHEM-buh) is a concept developed at the Toyota Production System in Japan by Taiichi Ohno, often considered the father of Just-in-Time production. The Gemba Walk is a beneficial method used where leaders or teams go to the actual workplace (Gemba) to observe, build trust and engage with employees, processes, and the work environment. By directly observing operations and gathering insights from frontline workers, the Gemba Walk aims to identify opportunities for improvement, solve problems, and enhance overall efficiency and quality.  

Why use the Gemba Walk?  

Leaders, stakeholders and teams should use the Gemba Walk method for three key benefits. This supports three attributes of lean manufacturing principles; Go and See for leaders to take regular walkabouts, Ask Why for exploring problematic situations through listening, and finally Respect People as collaborative partners to fix problems. 

1. Gemba helps you gain a deeper and more direct understanding of the operational challenges and pain points faced by end-users and stakeholders. By observing users in their actual work environment, identify usability issues, system inefficiencies, and areas for improvement. This firsthand knowledge enables you to develop more human-centric solutions and make informed decisions about system enhancements or changes. 
2. It promotes collaboration and engagement with users and stakeholders by establishing a dialogue, building relationships, and fostering trust with these stakeholders. This collaborative approach ensures that ideas are developed in consultation with those who have practical expertise, leading to more comprehensive and innovative solutions.
3. It helps leaders and stakeholders to understand the broader organizational intricacies and complexities as a total whole. By observing processes, interactions, and dependencies, you can identify potential integration points, dependencies, or system gaps that could be addressed.  

How to use Gemba Walk?  

7 Steps of Gemba Walk 

1. Select a Theme to focus your efforts on and maximize effectiveness, such as productivity, cost efficiency, or safety. Prepare a list of questions as a guide but remember that the true purpose is to uncover insights beyond what you would perceive from your desk. 
2. Prepare your Team for the Gemba Walk by emphasizing that it is a collaborative process aimed at continuous improvement. Communicate the goal of enhancing workflow and easing job responsibilities to alleviate any concerns or doubts, encouraging team members to feel comfortable and freely share their thoughts and ideas. 
3. Focus on the Process, not on People. During a Gemba Walk, emphasize process improvement rather than evaluating individuals. Avoid focusing on personal abilities to minimize resistance and encourage collaboration. Make it explicit that there are no right or wrong answers and that the goal is to understand the value stream flow and identify opportunities for optimization, not to conduct employee evaluations. 
4. Be where the Value Stream is by locating yourself along the value stream work, you can pinpoint areas of potential waste activities, offering optimal opportunities for improvement and enhancing overall performance. 
5. Record your Observations. Don’t make Suggestions during the Walk. Write down everything that grabs your attention or even record it with your smartphone. You will probably be tempted to offer a solution, but this would be wrong. Leave the analysis for later. You will be much more precise after you have all the facts available.  
6. An Extra Pair of Eyes. It is a good idea to invite a colleague from another department or function. Someone who’s a totally objective observer tends to offer a fresh perspective and ask different questions that you may never ask.  
7. Follow-up. After walk you need to share and review notes and observations with the team what you have learned or seen. Inform participants either way if you are going to take action after the walk about the upcoming changes and why they are necessary. 

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