Gemba Walk Checklist Questions

Prepare a list of questions to ask employees as you walk around. Places to find ideas for
questions include the 7 wastes of Lean, 5Sof Kaizen or the 4M’s of production.

Find below a few sample questions, grouped into areas like analyzing processes, problem-
solving, resources and continuous improvement.

Analyzing processes:

 What is the standard or process to which you are working?

 Do you think the standard or process is clear?

 What are we doing to meet the standard or process?

 What is the goal we’re trying to achieve with this process?

 What can we do to improve the process?

Problem-solving:

 What can we do to flag nonconformances immediately so we can implement

corrective action?

 What kind of problems are you running into here?

 Why is this a challenge?

 What have you done to determine the root cause?

 What is the next step?

Tools and resources:

 Are our data and charts up-to-date?

 Do you have everything you need for this process?

 What would help break down barriers to solving problems?

Continuous improvement:

 What is today’s priority? Why?

 What do you intend to improve today?

 What other questions should I be asking?

7 Steps for a Successful Gemba Walk

1. Create a premise or hypothesis that explains why you believe the topic needs to be
addressed. An area leader might pose questions like: a) “I believe that we have excess
WIP in and around our production areas causing excess lead time in delivering products to
our customers. Let’s go take a look.”, or b) “I have a hunch that our absenteeism and
excessive operator rotation could be contributing to our increase in production defects, or
c) Let’s go and see what we can find out.”, or d) “I suspect that our metric boards are not
identifying the root causes of issues. Let’s take an hour and review the effectiveness of our
metric board countermeasures and assignments.”

2. Formalize a list of questions to review during the gemba session. For example, here are
some questions that you might ask when focusing on equipment and tool maintenance: a)
Is there evidence of a formal preventative maintenance and auditing program?, b) Is a
timetable and tracking sheet posted near critical tools and equipment?, or c) Are operators
involved in daily equipment and tool maintenance? or d) Have we conducted a Pareto
analysis of our unscheduled equipment downtime?

3. Share your experiences and feedback as you walk through the area or process. Be sure
to keep the comments and examples reinforcing and constructive.

4. Make appropriate notes and assign follow up homework. Use a “what, who and when”
format to track assignments and create accountability.

5. Establish how often you will conduct gemba sessions with your team. Frequency
should be based on desired skill development as well as issue severity.

6. Cascade your expectations and encourage your reports to conduct gemba sessions with
their respective teams.

7. Foster a “train the trainer” mentality that promotes the importance of your company
being a learning organization.