Continuous improvement initiatives are an integral part of every organisation. According to Ease, there’s a need for constant improvement, whether a company is manufacturing goods or offering essential services. However, it’s not always clear which areas require improvement, and that’s where Gemba’s golden rules apply.
Gemba Walks allow leadership to talk and work with employees at their workstations to get insight into the existing processes and identify areas that need improvement. So what do we mean when we say Gemba or Gemba Lean, and how does one apply its rules in an organisation? Here’s more insight into the Gemba concept.
What is Gemba?
Gemba is a Japanese word that means the actual place. Also referred to as genba, the term was often used loosely in Japan to indicate the exact place where something happened. TV reporters would say they’re reporting live from Gemba, while Japanese police would refer to a crime scene as Gemba.
In the business world, however, Gemba is where value is created. The term is often used in manufacturing to denote the factory floor where raw materials are converted to finished goods. In the hospital, Gemba is the operating room, while in a restaurant, the kitchen is where value is created.
Companies that implement lean leadership principles use Gemba walks, denoting the action of observing and understanding the process, asking questions and learning from those doing the work.
It’s an excellent opportunity for the management and workers to break away from their usual tasks, observe them and identify wasteful activities. Typically, managers make decisions oblivious to the actions in the production department, but the Gemba approach provides an opportunity to understand and make more informed decisions.
Moreover, they don’t just review the results and make superficial comments from a conference room, they understand the systems, process involved and its problems.
What are the Golden Rules of Gemba?
Without Gemba, company meetings are held in vain. The meetings happen without data and facts from the actual work area leading to a mismatch in the set goals and the actual results. Japanese manufacturers followed these five golden rules of Gemba to overcome such hurdles.
Gemba Rule 1: Go See
The first rule requires leaders to visit where the work takes place to avoid hearsay. Direct observations go a long way in making informed decisions. In the words of Fujio Cho, a Toyota Chairman, it implies going to see, asking why and showing respect to the people involved in the process.
Gemba rule 2: Ask Questions
Next, the leaders examine the process from the equipment used, materials utilised and other aspects of production and ask questions. The premise is to view work through different lenses to understand how solutions are given.
Gemba rule 3: Show Respect
In this step, the management shows respect to its employees by using data gathered to identify inadequacies and areas that need improvement. Managers analyse evidence of disconnects between the company’s stated objectives and what they’ve actually observed during Gemba walks. They identify signs of disrespect toward:
- Workers, e.g., being overworked
- Customers e.g., through poor delivery or poor quality
- The company, e.g., through wasteful processes
Gemba rule 4: Cause of the Problem
Here, management finds out the root cause of the problem and develops systems that create value. If using a kaizen view to identify the problems the Gemba walk starts as close as possible, i.e., from the customer and work their way back. They check routines, the company’s culture, standards and the tools used to provide structures that improve learning.
Gemba rule 5: Correcting the problem
Having observed the workers, they eliminate processes that don’t create value. If the employees follow value-driven processes, waste is eliminated, and non-value-creating work is distributed to support other operations. Of course, such a level of leanness is only possible when the hearts and minds of the people at work are committed.
So What are the Golden Rules of Gemba?
Leaders are often known to create more problems instead of solving them. They try to eliminate waste without making visits to understand the processes involved and how employees implement decisions. The result is a group of disgruntled employees and a mismatch between the set goals and objectives.
Gemba golden rules solve these problems by offering a template managers and leaders can use to streamline a company’s operations. They observe the processes involved, ask questions and understand how employees execute the instructions provided. As a result, managers make more informed decisions that show respect to all the stakeholders.
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