If a Picture is worth a THOUSAND words then a visit is worth a MILLION

Effective leaders know where to give "Their Gift of Time". 

Many executives spend hours reviewing PowerPoint decks and a plethora of Reports about the businesses numbers. Of course this then stimulates a ton of questions and perhaps clarification. This involves the engagement of others within the organization which of course then places them in a state of disarray. Meanwhile, the answers to their biggest problems are three floors down—on the production line, in the clinic, at the service counter. 

The missing leadership behavior? Going to SEE. 

A simple clarifying question can require a combined commitment of several hours from various people within the organization. Hours that could have been better utilized working on something strategic ... and let us not forget the person who asked the question may be waiting for an answer for several hours ... too late to do any corrective action.

The typical organizational reaction ... "How can I get everything done with limited time?"

Going to See with a purpose. In lean management, we call this "going to gemba"—the actual place where value is created. Not to inspect, but to understand, support, and coach. 

I have always coached leaders to follow a high-level standardized day:

Start of Shift to 11AM | Focus on eliminating Disturbances to Flow

11AM to 1PM | Time for departmental updates and KPI review

2PM to Business Close | work on Strategic Initiatives

To address Disturbances to Flow you first need to know what they are. Daily Management is the perfect tool for this in many ways ...

• Forces you to visit where areas where value is created

• Get to meet almost everyone every day

• Obtain unfiltered information

• Celebrate your Team's success

• Gives you an opportunity to understand, support and coach

Tip: Take your team on your Gemba walk.

Part of the Gemba walk solution is that it is smart time management. The one move that will make this easier is entrusting certain jobs to other people. Having your Team join you eliminates the need for dozens of e-mails, follow-ups and hoping you have identified the right resource.

A business is complex to run and requires deeper expertise in various areas. As business leaders you need to establish reliable networks of internal and external resources to help them deal with the challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

“If you can find someone who can do a task more efficiently and effectively than you can, then invest in that,” “The payback will surprise you!”

I usually harvest a 4 to 1 return on my Gemba walk investment. I like talking to our people, I like to see what condition our facility is in. But best of all, it typically reduces about 60-80 emails from hitting my in box.

I also offer a warning ... since humans love to be effective problem solvers and knowledge I have experienced that my Leadership Team decide to conduct advanced Gemba Walks interviewing all our Team Leads and Supervisors. One of Supervisors mentioned this to me one day and let me know this became a 90 minute daily distraction when he was supposed to use that time to get his department running.

Ultimately Daily Management and our Daily Gemba walk is the best Leadership investment you can make. And being there capturing the scene in your memory is worth more than a Million Words.

There are Tips & Tricks to maximize this investment, which have not covered here, but feel free to contact us for additional dialogue.