Hide and Seek is for kids. Go and See is for Successful Business

You remember the game, Hide and Seek?  You close your eyes and you wait.  Then you spend a long time looking.  In the game you're having fun looking for your friends; but in a business it is no fun when you have to go looking for where your issues are.

The most effective Lean leaders do not hide from where the work actually happens.  They go to the shop floor everyday and look for flow, essentially how smoothly (or not) the business is running.  Small issues can be identified right away and managers and employees can collaboratively come up with solutions on the spot.  In this way, larger issues are prevented.  In Japanese, this concept is referred to as Genchi Gembutsu.

No matter what the issue is, Genchi Gembutsu is fundamental to understanding the process and the issues.  That is why Greenbelts are trained to engage in Genchi Gembutsu for all kaizens and homework assignments.  Below are photos showing Greenbelts employing the concept of Genchi Gembutsu at an Ontario based extrusion coated and laminated product provider.

Reflection: How many times a week or even in a month, do you visit the gemba? How would visiting the gemba more often help you with your work?