The Most Important Skill During a Gemba Walk
The Most Important Skill During a Gemba Walk Isn't Observation—It's Active Listening "Go and see." These three simple words capture one of the most powerful principles of Lean. Whenever a problem occurs, Lean encourages us to go to the Gemba—the place where value is created.
Susaan Demers-Ghajar
7/8/20264 min read
Whenever a problem occurs, Lean encourages us to go to the Gemba—the place where value is created. Whether that is a production floor, a hospital ward, a municipal office or a customer service department, the Gemba is where reality exists. It is where processes become visible, where obstacles emerge and where improvement opportunities reveal themselves.
Most Lean professionals understand the importance of the Gemba Walk. They know they should observe the work, identify waste and ask questions. Yet many Gemba Walks fail to uncover the real problems.
Not because people don't look carefully enough. But because they don't listen deeply enough. Observation Shows What Happens. Listening Reveals Why.
Imagine visiting a department that struggles with long lead times. You observe employees switching continuously between tasks. Phones ring constantly. Colleagues interrupt each other. Information is entered into multiple systems. Customers wait longer than expected.
From observation alone, you can already identify several forms of waste. But observation only answers one question:
What is happening?
It does not explain why. Why are employees constantly interrupted? Why do they keep creating workarounds? Why is information entered twice? Why has everyone accepted this as "the way we work"?
Those answers are rarely found by looking. They are found by listening. The Difference Between Hearing and Listening Many professionals believe they are good listeners. In reality, they are often preparing their next question while someone else is still speaking.
Or they immediately begin analysing the problem.
Or they compare it with a similar situation from another organisation.
Or worse, they start offering solutions before fully understanding the situation.
That is not Active Listening.
Active Listening requires something much more difficult. It requires curiosity. It asks us to suspend judgement, let go of assumptions and become genuinely interested in another person's experience.
This is exactly what makes a Gemba Walk successful. Employees already know their daily frustrations. They know where delays occur. They know which procedures no longer work. They know which systems create unnecessary complexity.
The challenge is not whether this knowledge exists. The challenge is whether leaders create enough psychological safety for employees to share it honestly.
Why Employees Don't Always Tell You the Truth
Imagine your manager suddenly appears at your workplace with a notebook. You immediately wonder:
"Am I being evaluated?"
"Did something go wrong?"
"Should I be careful with what I say?"
Even in organisations with open cultures, these thoughts are perfectly natural. If the purpose of a Gemba Walk is unclear, employees often provide socially desirable answers. They describe how the process should work instead of how it actually works.
This is where Active Listening becomes invaluable. When people experience genuine curiosity instead of judgement, something changes. The conversation becomes real. Employees start explaining why they developed workarounds.
They describe recurring frustrations. They share ideas they have often kept to themselves because nobody previously asked. These conversations are the true value of a Gemba Walk.
Lean Is About People Before Processes
Lean is frequently introduced as a methodology for eliminating waste. While technically correct, this definition is incomplete. Waste does not exist independently. Waste affects people.
Waiting frustrates employees. Poor communication creates uncertainty. Unclear responsibilities increase stress. Rework reduces motivation. Complex processes consume energy that could otherwise be spent creating value.
Improving processes therefore means improving the daily experience of the people working within them. That requires more than analytical skills. It requires empathy. Not empathy as a soft leadership concept, but as a practical capability that helps us understand reality before trying to change it.
This is one of the reasons why Human-Centered Change and Lean complement each other so naturally. Both start with understanding people. Both recognise that sustainable improvement cannot be imposed from a meeting room. It must be developed together with the people who create value every single day.
Asking Better Questions
One of the biggest mistakes during a Gemba Walk is asking questions that unintentionally close the conversation. Questions such as:
"Have you followed the procedure?"
"Why didn't you do it differently?"
"Couldn't this have been prevented?"
These questions often trigger defensiveness.
A different approach creates a completely different conversation.
"What makes this part of the process difficult?"
"What usually happens next?"
"What would make your work easier?"
"What obstacle do you experience most often?"
These questions communicate respect. They acknowledge that employees are experts in their own work. More importantly, they create opportunities to discover root causes rather than symptoms.
The Hidden Waste of Assumptions
Lean teaches us to eliminate waste. Yet one of the greatest forms of waste is rarely included in traditional Lean training. Assumptions. Assumptions lead to unnecessary solutions.
They create improvement projects that solve the wrong problem. They generate resistance because employees feel misunderstood. And they consume valuable time, energy and resources. Active Listening is one of the most effective ways to eliminate this invisible waste.
By listening first, we replace assumptions with understanding. Only then can meaningful improvement begin.
A Skill Every Lean Practitioner Should Master
Technical Lean knowledge is essential. Understanding Value Stream Mapping, PDCA, Root Cause Analysis and the seven wastes provides a solid foundation. However, these tools become significantly more powerful when combined with excellent communication skills. The best Lean Practitioners are not necessarily those with the most certifications.
They are the professionals who make people feel heard. They know that improvement is rarely about convincing others. It is about creating conversations in which people discover improvement together. That is exactly what happens during an effective Gemba Walk.
Active Listening Is Not a Soft Skill
The term "soft skills" has done communication a disservice. Listening is not soft. Listening is strategic. It improves decision-making. It reduces unnecessary assumptions. It strengthens trust.
It uncovers hidden process problems. It increases employee engagement. And ultimately, it leads to better process improvement. In other words, Active Listening is not separate from Lean. It is one of the competencies that enables Lean to succeed.
Continue Your Learning Journey
If you want to become more effective during Gemba Walks, improvement workshops and change initiatives, developing your listening skills is one of the best investments you can make.
Our eCourse Active Listening helps professionals learn how to ask better questions, reduce assumptions, create psychological safety and truly understand what people are saying before jumping to solutions.
Combined with our Lean Foundation eCourse, it provides a powerful foundation for anyone who wants to improve processes while keeping people at the centre of change.
Both programmes are designed to help professionals translate Lean principles into everyday practice. Discover more about our eCourses and our Human-Centered Change approach at www.susaanconsulting.com.
Because successful Lean doesn't start with better tools.
It starts with better conversations.
