Is Your MBWA/Gemba Walk Effective?

If you can't see the problem, you can't fix it. So, go and see. This is the core principle in Genchi Genbutsu, a key activity behind management by wandering/walking around or MBWA. As the MBWA was pioneered by HP in 1970s, Toyota championed Gemba Walk by formalizing and structuring the concept as a part of lean manufacturing. Gemba in Japanese means “actual place”. The concept is quite simple - go to the actual place where the work and activities are taking place, walk around, observe and learn. From top executive leadership to first line managers all can gain unparalleled insight by walking the floor. Although conceptually simple and actionable, may companies and management make critical mistakes around this process. Poorly executed MBWA/Gemba walk can result in improper understanding, biased decision making, creating stress and tension between staff and management and ultimately resulting in poor work and company culture. This can lead to measurable negative consequences for the business. The 5 common mistakes that leaders make doing Gemba walk:

1) Treating the walk as low priority

All leaders have busy schedules - meetings to attend, strategies to plan and implement, data and business needs to analyze and thousand other things. As leaders go up the management ladder, finding time to walk the floor becomes more and more difficult. Senior leaders often rely only on information passed through the management chain and can have built-in biases and personalized conclusions in them. Walking the floor, even if done less frequently because of schedule constraint, will always keep leaders in touch with the pulse of the business and its people.

2) Trying to find fault in employees' work

When doing Gemba walk, the goal is to learn, and gather as much information as possible. This is not a fault finding time. Managers often try to micromanage people during the walk which creates a noticeable negative environment in the business culture. Employees tend to fear the time when managers are walking the floor and become defensive when managers ask them questions. Employees, who fear their manager and think they only get negative feedback, will always be hesitant to share authentic information. Coaching employees needs to be done at a different time unless the manager observes something urgent like a severe safety issue.?

3) Not collecting data and information that can be documented, analyzed and be used for decision making

Managers often don’t take notes as they walk around. Even if they take notes, often they do not use any structured template to guide their observation in the important areas. Not taking methodical notes and data can only lead to lack of information and data consistency. Lack of consistent and regular stream of meaningful data leads to incomplete understanding of the true picture.?

4) Instead of asking questions, fixating on personal opinion about observations

When we observe something, the system one thinking of our brain, as described by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, quickly creates an explanation or story around it. It is the system two thinking that kicks off the analytical and critical thinking side during the observation analysis. Asking probing questions based on an observation can help managers think critically instead of making their own opinion around it. Often employees who are doing the work day-to-day, when engaged appropriately, can provide abundance of knowledge and information, which otherwise might be hiding in plain sight.

5) Doing the walk on a pre-set and same schedule always

If you always do your walk at a set time and schedule two things will happen -

1. Your information will be partially incomplete and will only be valid for that time of the day
2. Employees will anticipate your walk and may adapt to act differently during your Gemba walk, especially if the team is struggling with culture/accountability/reliability issues.?

Leaders should do these instead:

1. Treat each Gemba walk as a learning opportunity. Walk, engage with employees, gather as much information as possible and try to learn from being on-site. Engage your senses and your critical thinking when walking around.
2. Engage employees in the process and get their feedback. When you observe something, ask thoughtful questions as follow up. Be mindful about how you engage with people. Don’t be judgmental, approach with a learning mindset rather than a command-and-control mindset.?
3. Prepare for the walk. Have a checklist and take notes. Be methodical. Modify the checklist based on the areas you want to look at. However, be a voracious observer. Just because you have a checklist, don’t ignore something that you observed but not on your checklist.
4. Ask questions and don't micromanage. Don't try to make decisions or coach or manage employees or tasks. Set aside a different time if you need to coach an employee based on your observation. This is the biggest critical mistake in Gemba walk execution often seen.
5. Vary your schedule and randomize the walk. The goal is to observe your business processes at different time, different circumstances. The reason behind randomizing the walk is not to try to catch your employees red handed - a negative mindset like that during Gemba walk only builds a wall between the management and the staff on the floor.
6. Follow up on the learning from each Gemba walk and communicate with the team including the management team. Learning from Gemba walk reaches its full potential when the knowledge is shared and the observation and data are put under the lenses of many critical thinkers. Diverse thinking on the same observation often leads to brilliant innovative solutions. So spread the knowledge.

MBWA is a powerful management activity. So make your Gemba walk meaningful. MBWA, when done right, builds an impactful leadership presence and ensures that leaders are never far from what is actually going on at the site/floor. Remember Gemba walk is not confined to the manufacturing industry only. Any kind of on-site work environment can benefit from it tremendously. Attached below is a link for checklist template for Gemba walk and exploratory questions. So go, and take a look; walk, listen and learn and never forget to share the knowledge and observations.

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