In these posts I will tell you about my thoughts from the Gemba from the past week. They are meant to make you think and reflect on the subject and comment with your thoughts. In that way we get a discussion rolling and we all get a bit wiser and a bit more knowledgeable!
Do we need to get leaders to think differently about the Gemba?
When I see and speak to a lot of leaders it is not that the Gemba is a stranger to them. They visit the Gemba often and they do care about their employees. Some really care a lot about them. Some even too much and they get involved in the personal life of their employees and sometimes begins to favour selected employees from others. But that must be a subject for another post.
So what is that the leaders see when they go to the Gemba? Do they really see the struggles and the pain that employees are experiencing when they run from one machine to the other whilst Andons are blinking and bangling? Or is that we as leaders go blind to what the employees really are experiencing and we accept it as "the way things are"? Could it be that we either accept the bad working conditions or kind of shut our eyes to the ugly truth? All in the sacred name of making the numbers and reaching the targeted delivery service level?
If that is so what can we do different? Should we go back to the Lean basics, i.e. using the Ohno Circle or even better begin working on the line as the first thing we do when we start? If we have been working on the line for 14 days or a month maybe and experience the struggles and the pains that our employees experience would that make us more aware of what it is like working in the Gemba? And would that make us more ready to keep on improving the working conditions and the daily life of our employees? Would that make us really understand the value of using the Kaizen concept about small daily improvements with a minimum usage of finances? Remember the Kaizen mantra: "Use your head before you use your wallet".
Trying to sum up the inputs from my first "Gemba thoughts of the week" I am coming to the conclusion that we might need to rethink "Going to the Gemba" and Gemba Walks and go back to the Ohno basics: Before you become a leader you should really understand and feel what it is like working in the Gemba.
But is that really possible? Will the companies or the management accept such a behaviour or way of thinking? Of course we have heard numerable stories from Toyota that this is what they do. But is that really the answer to my question on how we begin implementing improvements that is just laying there to be harvested? We need to get away from the firefighting superheroes and create farmers. Farmers plants sees, nurture the plants and help them grow and then harvest the fruits. Just like the rice farmer in the picture. We need to build and nurture our employees and leaders.
What are your thoughts on my Gemba thoughts of the week? Do you think I am right? Or do you think I am wrong? Do you have a completely different nuance on my thoughts? Please don't just read my thoughts. Feel absolutely free to chip in. All comments are welcome! I am just trying to highlight a subject that I find important and to get wiser on it.
Here is a link if you want to know more about my thoughts about Kaizen:
What is Kaizen and why should I care