Gemba walks are the intentional opportunities that leaders must take to go and see how the work is done by employees using their standard processes and to humbly ask them questions to better understand why things are done as they are.* 

From these opportunities, leaders meaningfully engage staff in continuous improvement while building employees’ problem solving skills. They also yield the observable truth surrounding the health of the process and the organization. 

Doing a gemba walk well takes practice, and leaders must learn to ask the appropriate questions with the right mindset. It is not an interrogation or done to reach a preconceived conclusion. Rather, they are present to learn something new together with the employees who own the process and standard work being observed. Some additional, practical pointers:

• The job of the leader is not to solve problems but to build the team’s ability to do it for themselves.

Gemba walks are an essential Lean leader tool within the design and construct of the Arizona Management System. Gemba is a Japanese term that means “the real place,” and within the language of Lean, gemba is where the value-adding work takes place.* 

Gemba refers to the intentional opportunities that all leaders must take to go and see how the work is actually being done by employees using their standard work processes and to humbly ask them questions to better understand why things are done as they are. 

One-on-one (1:1) coaching is a component of performance management that leaders at all levels - frontline supervisors, managers of managers, and agency executives - use to grow and mentor their staff. As the name implies, 1:1 coaching occurs individually between a leader and team member. Though it is a joint activity involving two-way dialogue, the meeting is primarily for the benefit of the team member’s development. 

To be effective, 1:1 coaching should happen regularly with a consistent structure, frequency and duration as determined by the team member’s role and coaching needs. For example, the cadence of coaching a frontline employee might be weekly for 30 minutes, while an agency head’s direct report may require fewer meetings that last longer to cover broader, strategic discussions. 

We’ve been talking about the role of leadership within the Arizona Management System. Let’s now shift from what leadership is and examine some practical ways it is embodied in agencies where AMS is being deployed. 

But before we do, we should pause to reassure ourselves that in the culture of continuous improvement that AMS inspires, we do not blame. We do, however, hold ourselves and others accountable. Such reassurance is necessary because, as we see with any of the AMS core elements, it takes time to learn and apply the lessons in our work. The same is true for our leaders. So, let us be patient and kind even as we hold leaders accountable for practicing their leader standard work.

The Arizona Management System, our intentional, results-driven approach to performance, sustainable progress and continuous improvement, is based on principles of Lean management. Lean’s principles of continuous improvement date back more than a century and have proven effective in reducing waste and improving service, productivity and efficiency in a host of industries, including government. 

The Lean leadership behaviors embodied in AMS are meant to bridge the gap between Lean tools and Lean thinking. It is not enough for Arizona state employees to learn and master tools of visual management and problem solving; to operate at the speed of business, as Governor Ducey intends, requires a shift in our state government’s culture - i.e., “how we do things here.” 

Within the discipline of the Arizona Management System - our intentional, results-driven approach to performance, sustainable progress and continuous improvement - the role of leadership looks different than it might be viewed in traditional organizational settings. 

In addition to all the things typically expected of leaders, AMS also challenges them to develop people’s problem solving abilities at every level of the organization.

The best leaders lead by example. They harness the strengths and skills of staff and enable them to make the most of their abilities to advance their agency mission. They motivate and inspire employees to act, freeing them of fear that blame will surely come to those who surface problems or fail to perform as expected. These need to be seen for what they are: opportunities for improvement. 

The Arizona Management System (AMS) is an intentional, results-driven approach where every state employee reflects daily on performance, reduces waste and commits to continuous improvement with sustainable progress. 

Because AMS is a system, its interrelated, interacting parts work synergistically; it’s truly a case where the sum is greater than the parts! So, for example, while an agency scorecard is a fine visual performance management tool for showing progress, its value lies less in the “green” than in the “red” by exposing problems for teams to resolve. 

In addition to performance management and problem solving, a third component of AMS - leader behaviors - may be thought of as the linchpin holding the entire management system together.

Intermediate-level problem solving uses relatively sophisticated problem solving techniques to resolve complex problems and manage projects. Within the context of the Arizona Management System (AMS,) teams use a standard, single-page, 11x17-inch (A3) template to manage and document their work. The template aligns with the familiar Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of continuous improvement through five sections:  

• Purpose (PLAN)

• Analysis (PLAN)

• Strategy (PLAN/DO)

• Results & Issues (CHECK)

• Standardize & Sustain (ACT)

This edition of AMS In Focus focuses on the Check and Act phase of problem solving. 

Intermediate-level problem solving uses relatively sophisticated problem solving techniques to resolve complex problems and manage projects. Within the context of the Arizona Management System (AMS,) teams use a standard, single-page, 11x17-inch (A3) template to manage and document their work. The template aligns with the familiar Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of continuous improvement through five sections:  

• Purpose (PLAN)

• Analysis (PLAN)

• Strategy (PLAN/DO)

• Results & Issues (CHECK)

• Standardize & Sustain (ACT)

This edition of AMS In Focus focuses on the Strategy phase of problem solving.