How do you communicate and share your gemba walk insights and learnings with other stakeholders?

When communicating at any time during any type of improvement effort, I've found it helpful to start with 'Why' and 'What'. We need to be able to answer questions like why is this a priority and what are we expecting to impact when we are communicating. Answering these questions along with sharing your observations tends to open the conversation so you're talking with your audience and not at them.

Before starting your Gemba walk, it's crucial to define your purpose and target audience. This includes identifying the main goals and questions you want to address during your walk. You should also determine who the key stakeholders are that need to know and act on your findings, and how they prefer to receive information and feedback. Having a clear purpose and audience will help you focus your observation, analysis, and communication. When communicating at any time during any type of improvement effort, I've found it helpful to start with 'Why' and 'What'. We need to be able to answer questions like why this is a priority and what we are expecting to impact when we are communicating with stakeholders.

One purpose of Gemba walks is quality assurance and audit. As a quality professional, you may need to audit the shop floor at predetermined intervals to ensure adherence to quality standards and principles. The stakeholders interested in the outcomes include divisional and departmental heads. These stakeholders would be interested in knowing: - Any safety or other critical issues - Non-conformities in processes - Whether the 4M (Man, Machine, Method, Material) are maintained as per standards - Good practices that could be implemented in other processes Tracking and presenting these findings comprehensively with clear visuals helps decision-makers act on your findings and supports continuous improvement policies.

In my experience, effective communication of Gemba walk insights relies on a clear understanding of purpose and audience. Whether identifying improvement opportunities, sharing best practices, or building a culture of continuous improvement, tailoring the message is key. For frontline workers, focus on practical impacts; for managers, emphasize strategic alignment; and for executives, highlight broader organizational benefits. Craft messages with relevant metrics, actionable insights, and value propositions, utilizing reports, presentations, and interactive discussions.

A gemba walk is most effective when it's driven by specific objectives aligned with strategic goals. Identifying the right stakeholders is crucial; they must be able to influence change based on the insights gathered. Tailoring the communication method to stakeholder preferences ensures the findings are not just shared but also acted upon. This focused approach not only streamlines the process but also enhances the relevance and impact of the observations made during the gemba walk.

Diving deep into the trenches with a gemba walk checklist sharpens the focus and ensures no gem is left unturned. It’s not just a memory aid but a strategic tool, allowing stakeholders to see the raw reality of operational challenges and triumphs. Use it, don't lose it.

I love Dave Crysler's checklist. I also make sure that tasks really do feed into the org strategy. There might be reasons why some tasks don't feed into it, but it's good to understand why. I find this helps keep focus on achieving the primary goals.

A Gemba Walk checklist is a strategic tool that guarantees concentration, thoroughness, and consistency, hence augmenting the effectiveness of Gemba Walks. It is much more than just a basic tool. The checklist transforms routine operational visibility into actionable insights by documenting in-depth observations and enabling organized analysis. It represents a dedication to operational excellence by encouraging a proactive culture of ongoing development in which all staff members participate in enhancing the workplace's effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness to the needs of the clientele.

In my experience as an LSS MBB consultant, while a checklist is essential for a gemba walk, the core purpose of the exercise is observational discovery. Include blank pages alongside your checklist to capture unexpected insights. Be open to recording the unforeseen details. If it’s your first gemba walk, you might find a second walk necessary with a revised checklist. This approach ensures thorough and adaptable observations, leading to more meaningful insights and improvements.

After a gemba walk, it’s crucial to summarize and visualize your insights tailored to your audience. When I discovered a warehouse losing $1M annually due to damaged goods, I provided the CEO with a high-level overview, using a simple chart to show how incentive structures led to the damage. For the operations team, I detailed specific instances of damage and proposed changes to the incentive program. This approach ensured leadership and the team had the insights needed to take swift, effective action, reducing losses and boosting efficiency.

When sharing insights with diverse teams, clarity and engagement is the key. Consider creating a "storyboard" of your findings that not only shows trends but also pinpoints the "so what?" moments. Encourage action by linking each insight to potential outcomes, suggesting small, achievable changes.

I'm a huge fan of using Process Mapping for this activity as well as combining this step with the next couple (sharing insights with stakeholders, seeking feedback from stakeholders, and following up to track progress). For me, all of these steps go hand in hand.

Its a good practice to share results and seek support of the Stakeholders / Process Managers after the Gemba walks. To make this engaging and effective, create a summary that includes: - Purpose of the walk - Good practices identified - Findings (Non-Conformities) for improvement Enhance this summary with visuals to help stakeholders quickly grasp the concepts and understand where support is needed. Useful visuals include: Charts: Trends of control/specification limits Graphs: Trends of identified concerns Pictures: Good or bad practices, such as the 5S condition before and after. The goal here is continuous improvement, so providing clear, visual summaries helps engage stakeholders and achieve better results collaboratively.

Visualizing data post-gemba walk is crucial for impactful communication. Tools like Pareto charts can illustrate the most common issues, while process maps can depict workflow inefficiencies identified. Including a SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers) diagram can also provide a high-level view of the process and its interfaces, ensuring stakeholders understand the context and implications of the findings. It's important that the visual tools selected align with the audience's familiarity with operational concepts to maximize understanding and engagement.

When sharing gemba walk insights with stakeholders, I always tailor my communication to what they care about most—whether it’s the story behind the findings or the numbers that back them up. For instance, some executives are more driven by the narrative of how a problem impacts operations, while others are focused on the hard data. It’s crucial to tell the story with a clear call to action, ensuring that the insights lead to meaningful decisions. I also make sure to have additional details in my back pocket, ready to dive deeper if needed, so that all stakeholders feel confident and informed about the next steps.

Good opportunities are during meetings where top management is present. Make sure to mention that is the team the one that get the results. Always give credit to the ones that make things happen.

Effective communication post-gemba walk is crucial for operational excellence as it drives action and improvement. Tailoring the message to your audience ensures that insights are not only shared but are also understood and valued. Visual aids such as process maps and Pareto charts can be particularly powerful in conveying findings succinctly. Additionally, framing recommendations within the context of observed data and potential impact can foster stakeholder buy-in and facilitate the transition from insight to action.

Another important aspect of sharing your insights is understanding your audience. You may need to communicate the same thing to different groups and therefore may need to adjust your communication style and method. For example, if you're communicating with direct stakeholders (people doing the work and closely related) they are more likely to be interested in detailed finding and analysis whereas indirect stakeholders (people in upper management or elsewhere not directly related to observations or improvement efforts) will more likely be interested in the anticipated impact and results of the work being completed.

Você precisa primeiramente entender o tipo de público que vai se interessar pelos seus pontos chave identificados e li??es aprendidas. é importante que essa comunica??o seja feita em plataformas que os ouvintes estejam adaptados, pois assim vai facilitar muito o desdobramento da informa??o até todos os colaboradores.

I make it a priority to fully understand the insights and requests of the employees before sharing them with the executive team. It’s easy to miss something crucial or misinterpret issues if you don’t take the time to validate your understanding. This approach not only ensures accuracy but also builds confidence among employees, showing them that I am truly advocating for their needs and not just passing on “bad” notes to leadership. Whenever possible, I also invite team members to share their insights directly in executive meetings. This not only gives them exposure to leadership, which can be valuable for their careers, but it also adds authenticity to the discussion, showing that the insights come directly from the frontline.

This is a vital yet sometimes overlooked aspect of many improvement initiatives. I learned the hard lessons early on in my leadership career that lasting change is built on open communication and working together with the people who are both closest to and near the processes being evaluated and ultimately improved. Another great lesson I have learned is that when the team is brainstorming improvement ideas, it's best to try them all as quickly as possible. The reason is that you never know how one failed test may lead to another incredible innovation. When we say "no" to an idea, we are sending the wrong message to the team and over time this will kill culture and the teams willingness to participate in future activities.

In my experience, stakeholders are more supportive of audits and Gemba walks when they see themselves as partners rather than mere recipients of findings. This collaborative approach helps achieve continuous improvement and high-quality systems, benefiting the entire organization. Seeking feedback and input from stakeholders enhances the auditor's knowledge and understanding, making future Gemba walks more effective. By committing to a common goal, all stakeholders can work together more efficiently to drive improvements.

“Getting feedback and input from stakeholders is essential for effective communication and continuous improvement. As someone in the field, I believe that inviting stakeholders to participate in discussions and brainstorming sessions not only validates findings, but also enriches understanding through diverse perspectives and experiences.” A collaborative approach fosters a culture of participation and enhances the likelihood of meaningful and sustainable improvements.

In my experience, Gemba is most important activity that has to be carried out in all manufacturing units. A set frequency has to be executed and to be conducted regularly. Communicating the Gemba observation with stakeholders will result in effective and improving the quality in the process. Also, being aligned and benefiting the entire organization to improve the process, increase the productivity, making the process/product defect free.

Without this part of the process, we would have no way to understand the impact or changes that we have made. It's important to identify any and all possible Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) going into any type of actual improvement event. This way we can understand the full impact or results of what has been changed.

Just remember to keep it simple. If you structure how you do your Gemba Walk, it can be explained very easy to others. Here one suggested approach: 1. Define the Topic 2. Go and See 3. List the Areas of Opportunity and Best Practices Found 4. Create a quick Action Plan to avoid losing momentum