Get in the Gemba

I would love if I could sit at my desk and send emails knowing every message would be read in detail and acted upon exactly as I envision.  I would be king of my domain as if I were a puppeteer in my central office like the brain of an organism that commands each operation to work in unison completing tasks, developing skill sets, and implementing strategy with every click of the 'send' button.  Oh if it were so easy!...

Before my imagination takes off in a direction of designing an office modeling a cerebral cortex, I remember how effective my most recent email edict was after constructing it perfectly with just the right amount of detail, explanation, and direction - I was certain that it was going to be received and executed exactly according to my vision without question.  That's almost never the case.  In fact, the more we might think an email is all that's needed to get our point across, the more we find ourselves frustrated when it's not.  There's much more "hands-on" leadership needed to ensure understanding of the message and a successful outcome.

This topic can quickly explode into the huge scope of change management however I'd like to focus on Gemba.

If you've done any work with the Japanese business principles of Lean, 5S, Kaizen, or the like, you may have heard about Gemba.  There's no need for me to dive into the history or nuances since you can read stacks of literature to your heart's content with some simple internet searches of Dr. Deming.  However it's important to understand the concept to make sure you're doing everything possible for a positive outcome with those email directives.  Gemba (or genba) is the source or the place of action (whatever the situation might be).  It could be on the production floor in a manufacturing setting or on the retail floor in a department store.  In my case, working primarily on building professional teams, the Gemba is usually the team members themselves.

To embrace Gemba as a leader means getting involved.  Not so much that you're taking away accountability, but enough to fully understand what the issues are and the best way to move forward.  Depending on your level of responsibility, this could vary in terms of how much detail you need to make a decision and guide others.  You're responsible to provide your employees with objectives that meet your vision.  If they aren't performing and it's significantly impacting your overall goals, you may need to go to the gemba and get involved to understand what's going on.

Unfortunately, sending that single email restating the goals you already gave them isn't going to be enough if you really need them to remedy the situation.  It's time to roll up your sleeves and get in their business, but doing so in a way that retains their empowerment and responsibility while providing enough guidance to make sure you get what you need.  I'll review some tactics on how to do this in another post.

Bottom line - get in the gemba!  Become familiar with areas needing improvement by getting out of your email command center to talk to your most valuable asset (that's your team).