Leadership Nudge 185 - What not to do on a Gemba Walk

You may feel like you're giving gifts to your team when you try to solve their problems, but try to avoid being the "good idea fairy" or Santa on your Gemba Walks. Simply observe and focus on flattening the power gradient.

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[murpho]

Hey David. Our Leadership Team does "Gemba Walks" as a matter of normalcy - both to stay close to our Coaches and their impact, as well as to allow them to coach our coaches. Hardest thing to learn is to NOT be that good idea fairy! Great video.

[wimheemskerk]

Resist solving it using your authority? Depends on the type of Gemba Walk? I seem to be missing some nuance here.

As I understand it, a true gemba walk involves submerging yourself in the work, experiencing it from an employee in the position you went to. It should be working with, neither showing off with an overload of ideas (or authoritive moves), nor just looking on without contributing. Going around like Jack Aubrey is the obvious trap, a more insidious one is IMHO that too many 'gemba walks' are really just a quick a tour of the place, not experiencing it.