Stay Up-to-Date on Webinars

• @LeanDotOrg (Twitter)• @LeanDotOrg (Twitter)

1

June 23, 2011

The Gemba WalkThe Gemba Walk

Jim WomackJim WomackSenior Advisor, Lean Enterprise Institute

2

Housekeeping

• To enlarge slides, use the magnifying glass icon just g , g y g g jbeneath the slides and to the right on your display consoleT dj t th d th l t l th• To adjust the sound, use the volume control on the console or on your computer

• To ask a question, type it into the box at the bottom ofTo ask a question, type it into the box at the bottom of the console and hit “submit”

3

Today’s PresenterJim Womack

Founder & Senior Advisor, Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) a nonp ofit ed cation p blishing confe ence &(LEI), a nonprofit education, publishing, conference & research company; founded in 1997 to help companies create more value & eliminate waste

Co-author of lean classics:• Lean Solutions (Simon & Schuster)

• Seeing The Whole: mapping the extended value stream (LEI)

• Lean Thinking (Simon & Schuster)

• The Machine That Changed the World (Simon & Schuster)

• Commentator & Keynoter on management issues• Author of 100+ essays and articles on management

4

Jim Womack’s Latest Book

Gemba Walks(LEI, March 2011)

• Collection of eletters andCollection of eletters and essays; updated & new materialA il bl b k• Available now as a book and ebook

• Read & download selectedRead & download selected essays: lean.org

5

Bring Jim Womack to Your Gemba

Have the leading lean management thinker help you and g g p yyour team:• Tie together Purpose, Process, People• Develop the all-important “horizontal” view of value • Frame problems in new ways

Assess your progress• Assess your progress

Get details at: Lean.org/WomackGet details at: Lean.org/Womack

6

Lean.org/Womack

A new mini-site on lean.org focused on gemba experiencesg g p

• Featuring new columns from Jim Womack• A wall to share experiences, ask questions, and offer

advise to others in the communityA repository for articles and videos about going to the• A repository for articles and videos about going to the gemba

And more…

7

June 23, 2011

The Gemba WalkThe Gemba Walk

Jim WomackJim WomackSenior Advisor, Lean Enterprise Institute

8

The Gemba Walk

• The purpose is to grasp the situation:

Go see

Ask why

Show respectShow respect

• When there is an issue (a “problem”) or…

• An opportunity/need to improve

9

Who Should Gemba Walk?

• Someone at a higher level or with a broad span of responsibility Who should:span of responsibility. Who should:Observe the actual work being done to create

value and achieve some organizational (andvalue and achieve some organizational (and customer) purposeFocus on a particular process (value stream)Focus on a particular process (value stream)Start at one end & walk to the otherEngage the people touching the processEngage the people touching the process

10

Who Should Gemba Walk?• Line managers, to grasp the situation in

processes over which they have authorityprocesses over which they have authority• Individuals taking responsibility for

understanding and improving processesunderstanding and improving processes over which they have no authorityValue stream “manager” (or “responsible”)Value stream manager (or responsible )Improvement team membersConsultantsMe!

11

Things to Avoid While Walking

• Doing harm!• Doing harm!

• Giving answers!

• “Management by walking around”

G i l• Going alone

12

Focus for Gemba Walks

• Technical (“Taking a Value-Stream Walk at Firm A”)at Firm A”)

• Social (“Making Everyone Whole”)( g y )

• Organizational (“Becoming Horizontal in a Vertical World”)Vertical World )

For the remainder of this webinar let me focus on the “organizational” gemba walk.

13

Three Simple Observations

• Value streams in all industries flow horizontally across complex organizationshorizontally across complex organizations

But…

• Almost all complex organizations are vertical in orientationvertical in orientation

• In consequence, smooth, rapid, waste-f f fffree flow ( = lean) is difficult to achieve

14

Vertical Orientation of the World

15

What This Means• Lean thinkers now need to learn to:Think horizontally ( = see the flows from

end-to-end)h ll ( ll bAct horizontally ( = collaborate across

verticals to optimize the flows)

T id f t l ith• To provide ever more perfect value with less time, effort & cost (waste) = lean

Taking a gemba walk is a great way to learn!

16

Horizontal Focus for the World

17

Changing Focal Planes Is Hard

• We struggle with authority (vertical) versus responsibility (horizontal)

(Matrices simply create conflicts of(Matrices simply create conflicts of horizontal versus vertical authority)

• We lack a context (and a mechanism) for• We lack a context (and a mechanism) for a creative conversation to optimize the horizontal flowshorizontal flows

Gemba walks can help create the context.

18

Authority vs. Responsibility

• We all understand (and seek) authority, a vertical conceptvertical concept.

• We neither understand nor feel comfortable with responsibility as a horizontal conceptwith responsibility as a horizontal concept. But…We can’t turn organizations sideways• We can’t turn organizations sideways.

• So…we need to experiment with assigning responsibility for value streams to individualsresponsibility for value streams to individuals with no authority………… who can lead the gemba walks!

19

who can lead the gemba walks!

A Context for a Conversation

• The walk should lead to a conversation h i l bacross the verticals about:

Current performance of value streamsThe gap between current & needed

performance to achieve a purposeR t ( ) f thRoot cause(s) of the gapThe most promising countermeasures to

close the gapclose the gapWho must do what when to introduce &

sustain the countermeasures

20

sustain the countermeasures

Why This Is So Hard

• The conversation uncovers all of the contradictions and conflicts between the verticals.

• Most senior managers have no means to see their core processes, are paralyzed p , p yby conflicts between the verticals, and don’t know how to respond (so…they don’t and the most powerful vertical wins!)

21

Mechanism to Help the ConversationConversation

• While walking, agree to create a value-stream map showing the performance of every step in the process/value stream:Engaging everyone touching the

processEmbedded in an A3 to permit PDCA

• Then assign someone the responsibility to e ass g so eo e t e espo s b ty toperiodically repeat gemba walks along every value stream….forever!

22

What Senior Managers Must Do

• Listen to the value stream conversations• Listen to the value stream conversations

• As necessary, go see (join a walk), ask why, and show respect

• Avoid giving answers; just ask questions!• Avoid giving answers; just ask questions!

23

What Senior Managers Must Do

• Hold joint conversations with the leaders• Hold joint conversations with the leaders of the verticals (who still have authority) and those assigned responsibility for theand those assigned responsibility for the horizontals on how the behavior and mission of each vertical must change tomission of each vertical must change to optimize the horizontal flow of value.

24

Do We Know How to Do This Today?How to Do This Today?

• No! So what we need now is:

Horizontal, cross-vertical gemba walks, leading to experiments with ways toleading to experiments with ways to optimize different types of horizontals(“The life of lean is experiments ”)( The life of lean is experiments. )

Wide and rapid sharing of findings

I’ll try to do my part as I continue my gemba walks and share my findings!

25

gemba walks and share my findings!

The Gemba Walk

Questions & Answers

26

Stay Up-to-Date on Webinars

• @LeanDotOrg (Twitter)• @LeanDotOrg (Twitter)

27

Resources: Vi it l• Visit lean.org

• Receive the Weekly EletterCh k h k h• Check the Workshop Calendar

• Questions:f linfo@lean.org

617-871-2900

28