Gemba: what you see on the floor that the report does not show

The report shows the result. On the floor you can see how that result is made.

Gemba is the Japanese word for the place where the work is done. In last mile, for me, that was the ramp, the warehouse and the loading areas. That is where the numbers came from that showed up in the report the next day: Loading Time, Delay, Damage and Incomplete.

In KPIs do not improve in Excel I wrote about why you have to go where the process happens before you demand a result from a table. This essay deals with the next question: once you are there, what do you look at, how do you behave, and what do you do with what you see?

What I have and what I do not

My work in last mile covered the ramp, the warehouse and the loading areas. In the hotel I worked directly in Front Office and Night Audit.

I do not have a fixed schedule or a documented frequency for a Gemba Walk. I do not have a fixed list of questions I asked people. I do not have a documented case where I could compare a report exactly with what I saw myself. And I do not have a concrete, documented reaction showing how people experienced the manager being there.

The problems I saw on the ramp and in the warehouse were real. But I will not turn them into a made-up story about a wrong report.

What I looked at

On the ramp and in the warehouse, my attention went to a few things again and again:

• how the carts and transport boxes were organised;
• loading gates that were left open;
• discipline in parking and moving around the ramp;
• scanning, how loads were organised and whether procedures were followed;
• anything that could affect Loading Time, Delay, Damage and Incomplete.

None of these appears as a line of its own in the report. The report says Loading Time was high. It does not say the carts were organised badly, or that movement on the ramp was disorderly. You only see those things there.

In the hotel, my relationship with the floor was different. I did not go to the floor. I was the floor: Front Office and Night Audit were my daily work. There the risk is the opposite. You are so far inside the work that you may stop seeing the process as a process.

Not an inspection walk

A manager can go to the floor and understand nothing more. If you only go to find out who is not doing the job properly, people see it as an inspection. And a process that is being inspected behaves differently while the manager is there.

Gemba should not be an inspection walk. It should be a way to understand the process, to listen to people and to find the obstacles the numbers do not explain.

I do not know how people experienced my being there. As a principle, I believe a manager's presence on the floor should help people solve problems, not make them feel constantly watched.

From observation to action

Seeing is only half of it.

In last mile we followed the operational problems and the KPIs in the daily stand-up. We had communication and follow-up on problems with the Shift Leaders and Dispatchers. I will not claim that every observation from the floor was written down and taken to the stand-up systematically. I have no proof of a personal routine like that.

But I have seen the other side too. I have recorded cases where requests for clarification about delays, damage and incomplete orders did not get an answer in time. That is the point where many observations get lost. Someone sees the problem, asks about it, and the question goes unanswered. The next day the problem is still there, but now it looks normal.

So being on the floor is not enough. You have to listen to people, check the facts and turn what you observe into concrete actions.

What I would tell a new manager

If I were talking to a new manager who never leaves the office, I would tell them not to try to understand the whole operation from reports alone.

If Loading Time is high, go and see what happens during loading. If Incomplete goes up, follow the path of the order. Do not start by looking for someone to blame.

And when you come back, write down what you saw. Not the impression, the fact. Then decide what happens with it, who takes it on and when it is checked.

A visit to the floor

If I were building it today, a visit to the floor would have five questions. It is not a routine I had on record. It is how I would do it now.

1. Which result brought me here? A number from the report, not a feeling.
2. What did I see? Facts, not impressions.
3. What did the people doing the work tell me? Before I explain.
4. Which obstacle does the number not explain?
5. What action follows, who takes it on and when is it checked?

The first question takes you to the floor with a reason. The last one brings you back with an action. Between them is the real work: seeing and listening. You can fill in the sheet below here after a visit and copy it. The KPI Diagnostic helps with the first question: understanding what the number is telling you before you go and look.

A manager who only sees the report knows the result of the work. A manager who also goes to the floor has a chance to understand how that result is made.