The Gemba Walk

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The Gemba Walk

• Lean Leadership Series

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Topics

• What is The Gemba Walk
• Why Gemba?
• The Gemba Walk
• Whos Doing It?
• Implementing the Gemba Walk
• Focal Points
• The Bottom Line

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What is the Gemba Walk?

• In business, Gemba refers to the place where
  value is created and the general notion is that
  the best improvement ideas will come simply from
  going to the Gemba (bottom-up vs. top-down)
• The Gemba Walk is an activity that takes
  management to the front lines to look for waste
  and opportunities a.k.a. to practice Gemba Kaizen
  which is similar to the western concept of MBWA
  (Management by Walking Around)

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What is the Gemba Walk?

• Gemba walk is a way to build up the learning
  model like senseis apprenticeship
• Senei is also a Japanese work means teacher or
  coach
• The subordinates are just like students or
  apprentices
• A leader should also instill in the subordinates
  the discipline needed to effectively sustain a
  lean conversion and have it improve consistently
• A leader has the responsibility of showing the
  True North direction of his students, coach
  them, point them in right direction and tell them
  when to stop and when to go

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What is the Gemba Walk?

• A leader teaches by stretching ones thinking and
  perceptions through questions that stimulate one
  to consider entirely new possibilities.
• What would you learn if you measured in smaller
  intervals of time?
• What is the team leader supposed to be doing in
  this situation?
• How could these expectations be made more clear?

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What is the Gemba Walk?

• A model that allows an organization to recognize
  the key group in a lean transition., the
  sergeants and lieutenants in the war against
  waste.
• A model that helps identify existing
  communication gaps between operators and
  leadership and leadership and operators. This
  group is vital to successful policy deployment,
  and the development of a cultural of continuous
  improvement.

Gemba walk is a way of learning. A model that
will help you gradually establish a new, lean way
of seeing and thinking.
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Whos Doing It?
Bob Nardelli CEO Home Depot There was a
perception that I was going out to catch people,
he says. Over time they understand that I just
want to see it like a customer. I can do my job
better if I have firsthand exposure to the good,
the bad and the ugly.
Michael Dell Chairman Dell Computer Michael
Dell was known for popping in, unannounced and
without an entourage, at the factories in Austin.
He would just walk around, look, and listen to
people.
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Implementing the Gemba Walk

• Take a walk through the core activities of the
  whole, extended enterprise
• Product and process development.
• Supplier management.
• Customer management and support.
• Fulfillment from order to delivery.
• General management system for the extended
  enterprise. (What do managers do? How do
  managers lead?)

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The Bottom Line

• The currency of leadership is presence.
• Where leaders spend their time determines what is
  important to their organization