Gemba walk is designed to help you develop a close relationship with your staff in your working place. It also helps you develop good leadership and managerial skills as well. Gemba walk will make you get out of your office and get to know how the work is going on as you meet with employees or people.
Gemba walk is slow, steady but definitely not suspicious. Walking in such a way helps you to draw the attention of your staff towards you. A steady but slow walk will increase the comfort of your employees while working for you and talking to you as well. Remember when you sit in the office, it becomes hard for them to know how you react to situations and thus they may be quiet even when there is a problem.
Developing a Gemba walk will motivate employees even further. Walking in your workplace makes the staff feel that you support them and that you are one of them. Because of the respect, they have towards you, they will be challenged to work hard and thus take your business to a higher level.
There are many things that can be done contrary to the way you wish in your workplace. While you are walking, you are likely to realize the mistakes employees do and strategize how to handle them. Gemba walkthrough does not recommend that you yell at your staff if something is not right. This is where you take notice of what is right and wrong so that you see the way forward.
Gemba walk also allows you to know the environment for your staff better. As you are walking, therefore, you need to have a glance at all directions of the workplace. If it is a building, for instance, you can look at the walls, chairs, and even the floors. From this, you can determine whether the conditions under which employees are working are conducive for better service delivery.
Gemba though should not be done with a particular intention. Workers or people should see you as harmless and only interested in good progress of work. It is wrong therefore for you to walk into Gemba with a negative attitude. This may lead to negative responses from the staff. Furthermore, if the staff discovers that you are unfriendly or a troublemaker, they may hide many things in that you will never understand what to do to increase profits.