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Practical guide · Lean leadership and employee engagement

What is a gemba walk? How to do one

Short answer

A gemba walk is a planned visit by a leader to the place where the work is done, to watch the process, ask the people doing it what gets in their way, and follow up on what they learn. Gemba is Japanese for the actual place. To do one, pick a theme, walk a set route, watch before you ask, ask open questions, write down what you saw and close the loop.

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What is a gemba walk?

A gemba walk is a leader going to where the work happens, on a plan, to see how it really runs. Gemba (also spelled genba) is Japanese for "the actual place". In a plant that is the shop floor, but it can be a warehouse, a lab, a site or an office.

Three things make it a gemba walk and not a tour. You see the work yourself instead of reading a report. You ask why, and listen to the people who do the job. And you show respect: you are there to learn what makes the work hard, not to catch anyone out.

It is not an audit or an inspection. An audit compares an area with a standard and usually scores it. A walk is for understanding, so nobody is graded. See gemba walks vs audits for the full comparison.

Gemba and genchi genbutsu are close but not the same. Gemba is the place. Genchi genbutsu is the principle of going to that place and seeing the facts for yourself before you decide. A gemba walk is one way to practise it.

Why do it, who walks and how often

Reports show what was measured. A walk shows what they leave out: the workaround at a machine, the instruction nobody follows because it is out of date. The people doing the work usually know about these already. A walk gives them a regular chance to tell someone who can act.

Who walks and how often (a common starting point)
WhoRhythmWhat the walk is for
Team leader or supervisorDaily, as part of the start-of-shift routineSafety, the day's plan, problems from yesterday
Production or area managerWeekly, on a fixed dayOne theme per walk, such as flow or standard work
Plant manager and leadership teamWeekly or monthly, on a rota across areasSeeing real conditions and checking that earlier actions closed

Fix the rhythm in leader standard work. A short walk that always happens beats a long one that gets cancelled.

How to do a gemba walk, step by step

  1. 1

    Prepare a theme

    Choose one thing this walk is for, such as waiting between steps, how work instructions are used, or how material reaches the line. Tell the area the walk is to learn.

  2. 2

    Walk the route

    Plan the stops in the order the work flows, from material coming in to product going out. Go while the work is running, and keep it short, around half an hour.

  3. 3

    Observe before you ask

    At each stop, stand and watch several cycles of the work. Look at the people, the product, the tools and the layout. Hold back your opinion until you have seen what is actually going on.

  4. 4

    Ask open questions

    Ask what, why and "show me" questions, such as "What gets in your way here?" and "What did you do the last time this happened?". Avoid questions that can be answered yes or no, and avoid ones that carry a verdict.

  5. 5

    Note what you saw, not what you think

    Write facts: "three boxes of parts waiting at station 4", not "poor flow". Facts can be checked and acted on.

  6. 6

    Follow up and close the loop

    Give each action that needs doing an owner and a date. Tell the team what will happen. Start the next walk by checking those actions. If nothing comes back, people stop telling you things.

The post how to perform an effective gemba walk goes through each step in more depth. If part of the team is off site, digital gemba walks covers what carries over.

A gemba walk checklist: what to look at

A checklist points your attention and is not a score. Use the group that matches your theme.

Gemba walk checklist by area of focus
AreaWhat to look atA question to ask
SafetyGuards, walkways, how people lift and reach, whether anyone works around a hazardWhat is the most awkward or risky part of this job?
QualityHow defects are found, what is done with a bad part, whether the standard is visibleHow do you know this part is good?
Flow and wastePiles of parts waiting, walking, searching, rework, stopped machinesWhere do parts wait longest, and why?
Standard workWhether the written method matches what is done, and whether it is currentShow me how you do this. Is that how it is written?
5S and visual managementWhether things have a place, whether a problem shows up at a glanceCould someone new tell at a glance if something is wrong?
PeopleSkills, cover for absences, whether ideas get a responseWhat have you suggested lately, and what happened to it?

The free [gemba walk checklist](/templates/gemba-walk-checklist) has 30 prompts in these six groups, a walk plan and a findings table. The [gemba walk field guide](/templates/gemba-walk-field-guide) adds a pocket set of questions by area.

An example of a gemba walk

This walk is illustrative. A production manager walks a machining area on a Tuesday with the theme "where does work wait?". The walk takes 30 minutes.

Illustrative walk: what was seen and what was asked (machining area)
StopWhat the manager sawA question asked
Bar stock rackMaterial pulled for the whole week, stacked in the aisleHow do you decide how much to pull at once?
LatheA pile of finished parts waiting for drilling, and the operator checking the next job's drawingWhat happens to those parts after you finish them?
DrillingThe operator waiting for a fixture that another cell hasShow me what you do when you need it.
Inspection benchParts queued, with no sign of which are urgentHow do you know which job to do first?

The manager fixed nothing on the spot. The notes became three actions with owners and dates: a second fixture, a marked limit for the pile before drilling, and a way to flag urgent jobs at inspection. The next walk began at the drilling cell.

Common mistakes

  • Turning it into an audit. Scoring people or areas teaches them to hide problems. Watch the process, not the person.
  • Walking without a theme. Without a focus it becomes a tour and nothing comes out of it.
  • Fixing things on the spot. Questions that help the team see the problem teach more than solutions. A safety hazard is the exception: deal with it at once.
  • Not following up. A walk with no actions, or actions nobody checks, costs more than not walking, because people stop trusting it.

For worked walks by area and purpose, see the gemba walk examples. To keep walks and their follow-ups in one place, see audit management.

Go deeper

This page is the short version. These guides cover each part in full.

All our articles on this subject are in the lean leadership and employee engagement topic.

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FAQ

Questions about what is a gemba walk

  1. A gemba walk is a planned visit by a leader to the place where the work is done. The leader watches the process, asks the people doing the work what gets in their way, and follows up on what they learn. It is for understanding the work, not for inspecting people.

  2. Gemba is Japanese for the actual place. In lean it means the place where value is created, most often the shop floor, but it can also be a warehouse, a lab or an office. The idea is that problems are understood best by going there and seeing the work.

  3. Pick a theme for the walk, plan a route that follows the flow of the work, watch several cycles at each stop before you ask anything, ask open questions, write down what you saw rather than what you think, and give every action an owner and a date. Check those actions on the next walk.

  4. Ask open questions about the work itself, such as where parts wait longest, what makes the job hard, what happens when something goes wrong, and to be shown how a task is done. Questions about waiting, walking, searching and rework point to waste. Avoid questions that blame a person.

  5. An audit checks an area against a standard and usually scores it, so findings are about conformance. A gemba walk is for learning how the work really runs, so nobody is graded. If a walk starts to feel like an audit, people hide problems and the walk stops being useful.

  6. A regular, predictable rhythm matters more than length. A common approach is for team leaders to be on the floor every day and for managers to walk weekly on a fixed day, written into leader standard work. Keep walks short enough that they do not get cancelled.

  7. Gemba is a place: where the work happens. Genchi genbutsu is the principle of going to that place and seeing the facts for yourself before you decide. A gemba walk is one way of practising genchi genbutsu.

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