Gemba means “the real place”—where work actually happens, problems become visible, and leadership behavior matters most. These posts explore what going to the gemba really means beyond symbolic walk-throughs, dashboards, or status updates.
Drawing from Lean, Toyota practices, healthcare, manufacturing, and knowledge work, this archive focuses on gemba as a leadership practice: listening more than talking, asking better questions, building trust, and creating the conditions for daily improvement rather than fear or performance theater.
As we start easing into the holidays, I wanted to share a few throwback posts from this day or this week from previous years: From this date in 2009: The Emperor’s Sacred Cow’s New Clothes – “Flexing” Hospital Staff I’d…
For the Lean minded individual, Spike’s “Bar Rescue” is so much more than just a television show. It is basically a weekly, or binge-watched, case study on process improvement in bars across the country. “Bar Rescue” is another example of how any industry can benefit from continuous improvement.
Mark's note: Today's guest post is a return visit by Gert Linthout, from Belgium. Gert and I were part of the same Lean healthcare study trip to Japan back in 2012... Once upon a time... It was some years ago, when we guided a Lean transformation project in a regional hospital. The ambition was to drastically improve...
...this WSJ article caught my attention: "The Coach Who Won't Leave the Locker Room." The sub headline is "Why Carolina Panthers' Ron Rivera has become obsessed with integrating himself into his players' personal workspace." An NFL coach is at "the gemba" during a game, of course...
Joe Swartz and I have been working for a while to put together our first onsite Kaizen workshop at his health system, Franciscan St. Francis Health – all day tomorrow and Thursday morning. We’re excited that the workshop / conference sold…
As often happens, I have too many open browser tabs full of articles that I was going to potentially blog about. Too much WIP (a problem that Jim Benson will discuss in our upcoming Boston workshop). So, it’s time for…
Valentine’s Day isn’t just about flowers and chocolate. It’s about flow.It’s about respect.It’s about asking “Why?” five times. If you’ve ever said “gemba,” “poka-yoke,” or “stop the line” with a straight face, this post is for you. Welcome to Lean…
My wife and I were late to the wildly popular podcast “Serial,” but we listened to the first six episodes while traveling over the holidays. I ran hot and cold on the serialized non-fiction story about a murder… it was…
This tweet and photo made me chuckle the other day… If it’s “your right” or “your left” as you’re going up or down the stairs, collisions are going to happen if everybody followed these instructions: In Japan, during our…
Here’s the third cartoon collaboration with artist Carrie Schurman, CMA (AAMA), a workflow facilitator at a health system in Florida. See all of the cartoons here. More to come! This cartoon is not inspired by any particular incident or any real health…
Recently, while watching part of The Simpsons marathon that aired on FXX, I was inspired to write this post: “Proof That Nelson from The Simpsons is Not a Good Kaizen Coach.” That led Simon from Germany to point out a different…
Joining me for episode #208 is Michael Bremer, author of the recently released book How to Do a Gemba Walk. Michael is president of The Cumberland Group, a business improvement consulting firm based in Illinois. In today’s episode, Michael talks about…
