Gemba Walk Questions- Practical Leadership Tips

Checklists can be wonderful things.  As a pilot, I’ve been trained to use checklists for every phase of a flight: preflight, takeoff, enroute, emergencies, descent, approach, landing, taxi, and shutdown.  The purpose of a checklist is to ensure critical procedures & sequences are followed correctly, particularly in such complex situations as aircraft and airport operations. 

In my lean coaching activities, checklists can provide valuable guidance, especially for folks learning a new procedure.  A recent question to the Lean Enterprise Institute (lean.org) asked about the use of checklists during gemba walks.  Jim Womack replied that the use of checklists typically depends on the experience level of the leader.

The most interesting aspect of Womack’s response was not about the checklist; it was about the questions he uses as an experienced practitioner.  Womack provided a few simple questions for leaders to ask during gemba walks:

• What is the purpose of this process?
• Who is responsible for it?”
• Is this process achieving its purpose and, if not, in what ways is it failing
• What are the causes of these failures?
• How are the people touching the process consulted and engaged in improvement?

As leaders, we often get pulled in many directions, only superficially engaging with our revenue creating processes.  We seem to spend most of our time on the support roles and interactions rather than on improving the core functions that pay the bills.  Womack’s questions will help us focus on the important aspects of the business during our gemba walks.

How can you use these questions during your next gemba walk?  You do have regularly scheduled gemba walks, don’t you?

david

Key Words: Checklists, Gemba Walk, Questions

Womack, J.(2011, July 13). Gemba Walk Checklist? Retrieved August 5, 2011 from: http://www.lean.org/womack/ColumnArchive.cfm?y=2011#Col1867