Gemba Walks

What should we do during a Gemba Walk?

Go see

Ask why

Show respect

Credit: Fujio Cho, honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation

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 Gemba walks to Go See the visual
controls
Go home Assess
satisfied! census Issues addressed
versus at tier meeting? Conduct a safety
capacity? observation

Assess one
value stream:
plan and
Conduct customer progress
On track with experience deep
strategy deployment Work on my dive
(activities / results)? A3 project
Recognize
employees Evaluate & coach
improvement
Are safety events kata at BU review
Visit a patient.
properly addressed?
Get feedback
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 Gemba Walks: Ask Why & Show Respect

• Evaluate the patterns of thinking and doing used for improvement and to achieve
goals
• Develop a coaching routine supporting continuous improvement and learning

 Use “what”, “how”, “where” to grasp the situation

 Use “Why” later to understand root causes

Adapted from: Mike Rother and Jim Womack

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 Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
What visual controls should you be able to SEE during your
Gemba walks to support your standard work?
• Write actual or proposed visual controls on post-its
• Regroup the post-its by theme on a flipchart

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Tool• PLAN
4: Standing Meetings
Formalize the standard with
expected outcomes
• DO
Conduct meeting. Stand-up if
30 minutes or less
• CHECK
Summarize what went well and
could be done better
• ACT
Use the reflection to improve
the meeting

5
Tool 5: Accountability System

= Task completed on time

= Task not completed on time

6
Tool 6: Personal Kanban

7
Time to Reflect…

Table Discussion
• What is one thing that would make me you a better
Lean executive?
• What will you do in the next 30 days to define or
improve your leader standard work?

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Leader Standard Work
Final Questions?