What is the right (and wrong) way to do a Gemba Walk?

Lean management is all about change — the kind that happens step by step, not all at once. And one of the most effective ways to spark that change? The Gemba Walk.

This Lean favourite gets managers out of the boardroom and into the real world, where the work actually happens. But we’re not talking clipboards and hushed whispers here — it’s about managers observing, asking questions, and most importantly listening to those on the ground to uncover opportunities for real improvement.

While Lean is all about the quest for perfection, there’s no finish line. Improvement is a moving target, and every walk through the workplace is a chance to learn. Here’s how to nail it.

What does Gemba mean?

Gemba (also known as Genba) is a Japanese term meaning “the actual place.” Japanese TV reporters sometimes refer to themselves as reporting “from the Gemba.”

In business, it refers to the place where value is created. For a news anchor, that would be the studio. For an actor, it would be the stage. And for a factory owner, this would be the factory floor.

What is a Gemba Walk?

The idea of the Gemba Walk comes from Taiichi Ohno, one of the key minds behind the Toyota Production System and a driving force behind Just-in-Time manufacturing. Ohno believed that if you really want to know how work gets done, you need to experience it first hand.

His philosophy was simple, and like all great ideas, really obvious once someone voices it: leaders shouldn’t stay stuck in offices or rely only on reports. They need to step onto the shop floor — to watch, to listen, and to learn.

Over time, this hands-on approach became a core part of Lean thinking and evolved into what we now call the  Gemba Walk.

When it’s done well, a Gemba Walk nudges managers out of their usual routines and helps them spot opportunities and issues they might otherwise miss. It also builds stronger connections between leaders and teams, breaking down hierarchies and fostering genuine trust.

Foundations of an effective Gemba Walk

Another Toyota superstar, Fujio Cho, famously said the Gemba Walk should consist of three elements: “Go see, ask why, show respect.” Here’s what each of these means.

1. See

This call to action encourages leaders to leave their usual routine and see what’s happening on the Gemba. So if you were the head of a car manufacturer, you’d visit the factory to see what’s going on, talk to employees on the shop floor, and look for things that could be improved. This activity isn’t limited to Founders and CEOs — managers of all levels can do this.

2. Why

The goal is to identify and eliminate wasteful activities to improve value. The best way to do this is to listen to your team and use different problem-solving techniques, such as a fault tree analysis, to identify the root cause of any issues in the process. As ‘ask why’ implies, it’s the manager’s job to ask and listen rather than talk.

3. Respect

We’re not checking up on staff here. Showing respect means being approachable, listening well, and learning.

What a Gemba Walk isn’t

When we picture a boss, some of us might think of a person in a suit sealed away in a glass office, or barking “get back to work” before disappearing to the boardroom. This is the opposite of what a Gemba Walk should be.

A  Gemba Walk isn’t about enforcing authority or catching errors — it’s about building trust. Leaders should approach the walk as collaborators, not inspectors.

When employees feel like bosses are breathing down their neck, they’re less likely to speak up. To get real insight, managers need to embody humility and a commitment to making things better — not to critique.

How to do a Gemba Walk that gets results

If you’ve been in the organization for a while, then define some goals and objectives before you begin. If you’re new to the company, you may benefit from a more unstructured approach. Whichever route you take, there are ten core steps you should follow.

1. Choose your theme

You can keep things broad or zoom in on something specific — either way, having a theme in mind will help you focus your questions. It could be safety, waste, productivity — pretty much any area that matters to the business.

If you’re using project management software, take a look at what they’re telling you. Are there delays? Bottlenecks? Those clues can point you toward a useful theme for your next walk.

2. If you’re new, keep it flexible

If you’re new to the organization, don’t feel like you need to have everything figured out on your first walk. In fact, it’s often better to keep things open at the start. A looser approach can give you a clearer feel for how the team works and how things flow day to day.

Use those early walks to get a feel for the place — ask basic, thoughtful questions and start building trust with the people you meet. Over time, as you settle in and see more, you’ll start spotting patterns and get a better sense of where to dig deeper next.

3. Prepare a checklist of questions

Come to the walk prepared with a list of thoughtful questions so you don’t get sidetracked. Here are some for starters.

• What are you working on at the moment?
• Are you following a process?
• Are there any problems with the process?
• Why do you think there is a problem?
• How do you think we can fix this issue?
• What do you think is the root cause of the problem?
• Who do you report to if there is a problem?

4. Get other viewpoints

Other people might notice things you wouldn’t — or ask questions that never crossed your mind. That fresh perspective can uncover issues or opportunities you hadn’t spotted. Think about who you bring along on a walk based on what you’re focusing on. The right mix of people can make a world of difference.

Potential collaborators:

• A manager from another department might spot issues you’re too close to see.
• A vendor could offer usage tips or flag misuse of equipment.
• A sales rep might share customer problems you hadn’t considered.

5. Prepare your team

Don’t give the team a jump-scare. Let them know what’s about to happen, mentioning what’s involved and why you’re doing it.

You might want to share your checklist of questions beforehand so they have time to prepare their answers. Sharing the questions via email also allows people who missed your walk to add their thoughts.

6. Focus on processes (not people)

Managers need to separate performance evaluations from process evaluations. If you start giving people personal feedback, your focus gets diluted, and people may turn defensive when what you want is for them to be candid and honest.

7. Go where the work happens

Put yourself in the heart of the action and follow the value stream. Your physical presence will help you spot wasteful activities and opportunities in different areas of the business you might otherwise miss.

8. Record your observations

Your focus should be on listening rather than talking. With that in mind, note down your observations (or record interviews on your phone), but don’t offer feedback at this stage — no matter how tempting.

You wouldn’t critique a dish before the chef’s finished cooking it. In the same way, you shouldn’t offer your conclusion until you have all the information.

9. Don’t jump to solutions too quickly

When something looks clearly off during your  Gemba Walk, it’s tempting to leap in and fix things. But hold it right there — acting too fast can lead to quick fixes that don’t really solve the problem, or worse, cause confusion. The point of the walk isn’t to make instant decisions; it’s to learn.

Take a step back. Look at what you’ve seen, piece it together, and take time to understand what’s really going on. The root cause is often deeper than it first appears — and a bit of reflection will lead to better, more lasting solutions.

11. Use a Gemba Kaizen circle to guide improvement

Once you’ve had time to go through your notes, it’s a good idea to bring people together for a Gemba Kaizen circle (Kaizen is another way of saying ‘continuous improvement’).

Basically, this is a focused session where you share what you’ve seen and work as a group to come up with ways to improve things. It helps to include people from different roles or departments so you get a range of perspectives on what’s really going on.

The goal is to mix frontline experience with big-picture thinking — to get to the root of the problem and come up with changes that actually work. And when you involve others in the process, you not only get better ideas, you build a sense of shared ownership that makes real change more likely to stick.

This is where problem-solving techniques can come in handy — specifically, root cause analysis or the A3 Problem Solving technique. You could also hold a secondary meeting between you and different participants to add as many varied viewpoints to your findings as possible.

12. Close the loop with a follow-up

No-one likes being watched, then hearing nothing back. In the interest of transparency and trust, you must share your findings with your team and those you questioned — even if the results are underwhelming or inconclusive.

This is a sign of respect (one of the key steps) for the people you’ve observed. It’ll also encourage people to participate in subsequent  Gemba Walks.

13. Implement and measure

If you are going to make some changes, explain your reasoning to your team, share the next steps, and then begin organizing your team’s schedule so they can adopt the changes quickly and efficiently.

3 real-world examples of  Gemba Walks

Now you know the steps, let’s make this more relatable with some hypothetical examples.

Example 1: Manufacturing

Scenario: A production manager at an electronics factory notices long delays between component assembly and packaging.

Gemba insight: During the walk, they discover that parts are frequently moved between floors without clear labeling, leading to confusion and rework.

Outcome: They introduce color-coded labels and reduce handling errors by 40% within two weeks.

Example 2: Software development

Scenario: A new engineering lead at a SaaS company wants to understand why feature releases keep slipping. The team is fully remote, so they rely on emails and project management updates.

Gemba insight: By observing virtual daily stand-ups and asking “why,” they find that developers are regularly pulled into urgent bug fixes due to unclear ownership.

Outcome: They create a rotating on-call system, which helps the team stay focused and cuts emergency interrupts in half.

Example 3: Hospitality

Scenario: A hotel operations manager investigates complaints about slow breakfast service.

Gemba insight: Watching the kitchen team in action, they see that the toaster is too slow for demand, creating a backlog. The servers also run out of clean cutlery midway through service.

Outcome: They upgrade the toaster, add a backup cutlery station, and reduce guest complaints by 60% in the next month.

Bonus: How to do a Gemba Walk with a remote team

Just because your team doesn’t work in a factory or share the same office doesn’t mean you can’t do a Gemba walk. The whole point is to see how work really happens — and that still applies, even if “the place where the work happens” is a screen. And no, we’re not about to recommend turning up at someone’s house.

Start by redefining what Gemba means

In a traditional setting, the Gemba is a physical space. But for remote teams, that’s a virtual space. It might be a project board in Backlog, a shared Google Doc, a flurry of messages in Slack, or a regular team huddle on Zoom. The key is to be curious about those spaces. Where do the decisions happen? Where do things slow down?

Observe — don’t just check in

This isn’t about micromanaging; it’s about noticing. Take some time to look at how work flows through your team’s tools. Are tasks jumping around? Are deadlines being pushed? Are certain people overloaded while others wait on input? You can learn a lot just by quietly looking through Backlog or whatever tool your team uses to manage work. Listen, don’t snoop.

Talk to people like a human

Once you’ve got a feel for the flow, have conversations. We’re not talking performance reviews or vague check-ins.

Pick one or two people and ask: “What’s working well for you right now?” or “Is there anything that’s slowing you down that I might not be aware of?” You’re trying to understand their experience of the system. Let them show you how they work. Screen sharing is great for this. You might be surprised by what they point out.

Connect the dots, but don’t jump to conclusions

As with an in-person Gemba Walk, you’ll need to analyze the results. Look for patterns rather than jumping in and fixing things. Maybe multiple people are struggling with unclear priorities. Maybe a particular tool is creating more friction than it solves. Take notes and reflect on what you’ve seen and heard.

Hold a virtual Kaizen circle

Once you’ve gathered a few insights, pull a small group together and set up a video chat. You’ll ideally want a mix of roles or departments. Share what you’ve noticed, and open the floor for ideas. Keep it relaxed. This is just a conversation to find out what’s getting in the way, and how you could make things better.

Follow through (and keep it going)

Don’t let good ideas fizzle out. Use your project management tool to create follow-up tasks, track experiments, and show progress. That way, improvements don’t just live in people’s heads or disappear into a meeting black hole. You’re making the loop visible. And the next time you do a Gemba-style check-in, you’ve got a better baseline to build on.

Bring data to the floor with project management software

Gemba Walks are about seeing what’s really happening — but project management tools can help you walk in with sharper focus.

Software with Kanban workflows like Backlog give you a clear view of task delays, bottlenecks, and team workloads before you even set foot on the floor. That means you’re not just walking blind — you’re walking informed. And when it’s time to follow up? You can log issues, assign owners, and track progress, all in one place.

Ready for less guesswork and more action? Try Backlog for free today!

This post was originally published on May 22, 2020, and updated most recently on July 11, 2025.