What is Gemba really all about?

If you've read our first article (The Common Gemba Mistakes.), then we've explored some of the common symptoms/mistakes we see in an organisation's gemba walk. But the better question is usually, what can we do better? In reality, knowing what you're doing is often the first step to knowing what to do better. It's also important to see that I'm not using the word "right" - there is no "right" way - there isn't and shouldn't be a standard process for going to the gemba. But there are plenty of things that you can do wrong if your goal is to continuously improve.

Whilst at risk of repeating myself - I'm going to use the same text from our first article. Going to the gemba is not about fixing things. In my personal view, you also can't "do a Gemba." In the words of Toyota Chairperson Fujio Cho, “Go see, ask why, show respect”. The whole point of gemba walks are to:

• See the reality of a process with your own eyes - where the work actually happens.

• Challenge and disprove your assumptions and opinions.

• Show respect for those doing the work.

And this applies no matter the terminology you use for your walks - be it Gemba, Genba, or Genchi Genbutsu. They all do have subtly different meanings when you look more into it, but the more you focus on this, the easier it is to miss the point of just getting out to where the work happens and learning more. If you did want to look more into definitions, Michael Ballé's post here I think answers this perfectly.

Here's the definition I've come to establish for myself:

Going to the gemba is going to where the work actually happens and learning about the reality of your systems, to understand real problems people face - without blaming the people doing the work.

It's important to clarify what I mean by some of those words in this context:

• Learning: Acquiring new knowledge and understanding by challenging your assumptions, opinions, and emotions.

• Systems: Both technical and social aspects of the workplace, from processes to customers, to how you develop and interact with your people.

• Problem: A situation where you aren't achieving an intended goal/output, or where you believe that you can do something better. In this way, a problem constitutes both a current failure and opportunities to improve (from my perspective, knowing that you can do something better, but aren't, is a problem in itself!).

Without understanding it in this context, gemba (and Lean/CI as a whole in your organisation) easily becomes a tedious, stagnant, and blame based activity. Once we see that gemba is all about trying to find abnormalities, we can then begin to see how every lean concept you've heard of, all boils down to abnormality at a glance.

What is Gemba all about?

What can we do differently?

Improvement is situational. I've worked with many improvement practitioners who have the best of intentions but still fall into the trap of copy-and-paste. If Toyota fixed it this way, then we'll do it... Problem is, you're not Toyota. Ritsuo Shingo was once asked along the lines of "What is TPS? - and how would you answer this to someone who knows nothing about it." to which the response was:

"TPS is the accumulation of small ideas of everybody... [TPS is] always changing, the TPS in the past is not the TPS right now... They are changing depending on the situation.".

The point is, you can't copy and paste something if it doesn't help with the specific situation you are in. What problem do you need to solve, and where do you need to go to find out about it? How does this align with what the organisation is trying to achieve as a whole? What is your true north (the strategic, meaningful vision for the business that gives purpose to everything you do, measured and emotional)?

Go to see, not be seen: Gemba Walks: Are You Going To See or To Be Seen? - Lean Enterprise Institute

Have a purpose

Follow the problem through the organisation, end-to-end. Looking at one area means you're only looking at one side of the problem. When you have an organisation set up into departments, you systematically disrupt communication and fluidity between them. This also means you tend to go to the gemba with the same mentality.

Let the purpose and problem lead you rather than the schedule set out as part of a gemba policy or checklist. Your business is interconnected, and it becomes easy to blame each other's departments when neither department knows the work that each other does. When you change something in one area, it often has an impact somewhere else, this shouldn't be a barrier to change, but problems shouldn't be viewed in isolated areas. Your customer feels the output of the full system, not just one area. Follow the full value stream to get a better understanding - starting at the customer's end is a great place to start.

Look at the whole value stream.

Jumping straight to why can often lead to another scattergun approach to improvement. Ensure the 'what' has been answered before getting to the 'why'. Hopefully, this is what you've started setting out with your purpose.

Then the question becomes, 'Well how do you ask why effectively?'. This is where going in with a solution mindset causes more trouble than benefit. Looking for solutions or ways to implement ideas from your initial assumptions before walking to the gemba will inevitably cause you to jump to conclusions. When we know what we're trying to accomplish, we can then go into understanding what is stopping us from achieving it, and why those obstacles are occurring in the first place. Even if you think you already know why - assume that you don't.

Once you know your purpose and you've started the walk, assume you know nothing - the what and why begins to become more intuitive.

Ask what, then why

A bad system will beat a good person, every time. Be process focussed on your gemba walk - look at how the system people operate in supports what they are trying to achieve. Rather than ask "Who did that?" think more about "Why has that happened in the first place?" and "Why does our process cause that to happen?". Observe the process and then see how we can remove non-value-add and waste from that process with the people who do it.

I once went on a gemba walk in an organisation and came across a recent non-conformance that had gone through the company standard problem-solving process. The defect they had found was that a part serial number had been stamped incorrectly. Upon going to understand the gemba, I saw every part serial number was manually stamped - letter by letter, number by number, all day, every day. I was not surprised to see their problem solving A3 end on "Human error".

Now these were good people, and by human error, they weren't accusing the people of being bad at their job, in fact when I enquired, their response was "well it is just human error, I know these people do their best, but you're bound to make an error doing that all day, nothing we can do about human error." so I said, "I agree, so why on earth haven't you looked at the system they're in and try to improve that with them instead?"

Human error is an easy route to an answer, but a hard route to a solution. Process thinking is a hard route to an answer, but is the easiest route to a solution.

Be process focussed

Instead, focus on going to learn, because our brains are naturally quite bad at jumping to conclusions. Take this little question as an example, go with the first answer that pops into your head:

If a bat and a ball together cost £1.10, and the bat costs £1.00 more than the ball, how much is the ball?*

Focus on understanding the problem and learning more about the individual processes and the interconnected system as a whole. You'll be surprised by what you learn if you're open to problems being opportunities. Dig into the "why?" rather than jumping to "how can we fix this?". Leaders aren't those who know the answers, leaders are those that can enable others to walk the right path.

*If your head jumped to 10p, it shows how your brain leaps to the conclusion without really trying to work out the underlying logic. The correct answer is 5p.

Stop trying to find the solution

Being good at improvement comes with practice, not textbooks. The sooner you go to the gemba with the right purpose and mindset, the sooner you can start learning what actually happens where the work takes place. Learn to see Muri (Unevenness), Mura (Overburden), and Muda (Non-value add work) everywhere you look. Once you can see it, rather than trying to get everyone into making solutions, ask yourself if they can see waste in the same way that you can.

The only way you can continuously improve is when everyone is improving in the same direction, every day. Start giving solutions or keeping your knowledge to yourself, and you're robbing people of the ability to become better problem solvers. When I started my lean journey my focus was 'doing the do', learning, understanding, failing, and learning more to achieve success at the end. Now when I enter organisations to help them improve, my focus shifts to understanding what they are trying to achieve and seeing if they see waste/problems in the same way that I might - and equally what elements they are seeing that I may be missing. My role is to ensure they can continue improving after I have left.

I can't solve their problems without learning - and they can't solve their own problems if they aren't able to see what a problem is. Being able to see the problem is the first step in being able to solve it - so be a coach - show and engage others how to see waste and embrace them as opportunities, and let them do the same back. Being an expert is knowing you know nothing.

If you haven't already, I would highly encourage you to look at Mike Rother's work Toyota Kata to be more effective at coaching at the gemba.

Walk the talk, then be a coach

This is mandatory. But we also have to understand what we mean by respect in an improvement context. This doesn't mean not being rude or being overly positive - it means respecting peoples values, effort, and skills, and by people, we mean everyone from workers to customers. The organisation may be a series of processes, and I would always encourage you to problem solve the process, not the people, but people are what add the skills, knowledge, and respect to allow that system to operate and improve.

It means:

• Taking a sincere interest in the work that they do, and understanding the problems they face.

• Helping remove muri, mura, and muda from the systems they operate in.

• Developing their skills and capabilities to be able to do their work effectively. We need people, so it only makes sense to develop them.

• Removing your assumptions that "it would be fine if people just did what they were told".

• Challenge people to reach their potential - and their potential is much greater than you probably think. Respect is understanding the skills they already have but also challenging one another to improve our capabilities.

• Engaging the people in the processes you are improving. They know the work, they feel the pain. So how can we support removing the obstacles in their way?

Show respect

"When you are out observing on the gemba, do something to help them. If you do, people will come to expect that you can help them and will look forward to seeing you again on the gemba."

Taiichi Ohno