A Gemba Walk is a management practice from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean management. "Gemba" (現場) means "the real place" – i.e., the place where value creation actually takes place (factory floor, office, IT system, service desk). In a Gemba Walk, managers, coaches, or consultants go to the place where things happen to observe processes, involve employees, understand causes, and promote improvements.
Practical relevance
Key elements of a Gemba Walk:
• Go there (Genchi Genbutsu): Problems can only be understood when you see them at their source.
• Observe, don't judge: Perceive the process and the environment before drawing conclusions.
• Ask questions, show respect: Employees are involved, not controlled.
• Initiate improvements: Obstacles and potential are made visible.
In agile contexts, the Gemba Walk is often used to accompany teams in their daily work, e.g., in development, service, or operations.
Typical misunderstandings
❌ "Gemba Walk = audit" – no, it's not about control, but about learning together.
❌ "Only for production" – Gemba Walks are just as effective in offices, IT, hospitals, and administration.
❌ "Once a year is enough" – the benefits come from regularity.
❌ "Managers immediately provide solutions" – in the true spirit of Kaizen, the focus is on asking questions and understanding.
Relevance for organizations
• Transparency: Problems and bottlenecks become visible, not hidden.
• Culture: Respect and genuine interest in work promote trust.
• Continuous improvement: Direct input from the work environment.
• Faster learning: Managers understand real causes instead of relying on reports.
Organizations that conduct regular gemba walks develop a routine of learning and improvement—central to lean and agile transformations.
Real-world example
An IT service center introduced weekly gemba walks with department heads. Instead of PowerPoint reports, managers met at the service desk, talked to employees, looked at ticket backlogs, and discussed obstacles. The result: bottlenecks (lack of automation in monitoring) were identified and prioritized more quickly, and incident processing times were reduced by 20%.
Application outside of lean production
• IT & DevOps: Joint walkthroughs through pipelines or incident management.
• Agile frameworks: Inspect & Adapt and team reviews are modern variants.
• Change management: Managers consciously "embrace change" in order to involve those affected.
• Healthcare: Doctors and managers visit wards to understand working conditions.
The principle remains universal: Go there – observe – ask questions – understand – improve.
How good coaches use Gemba walks in practice
• Preparation: Define the goal of the walk (e.g., quality, safety, flow).
• Attitude: Listen and ask questions, don't dictate solutions.
• Key areas of observation: flow, waste, quality, employee perspective.
• Follow-up: Document findings, initiate small improvements, clarify responsibilities.
CALADE perspective
At CALADE, we use Gemba Walks specifically in projects and programs—not only in production, but also in knowledge work, IT, and transformations. Our coaches and consultants are trained in the method and support managers in understanding the real causes on site, rather than basing decisions solely on key figures and reports. This results in practical, sustainable improvements that employees support.
Related terms
• Kaizen
• Genchi Genbutsu
• Toyota Production System (TPS)
• Inspect & Adapt
• Continuous Improvement (CI)
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