Happy spring! Here’s a story about “Toast Kaizen” that I’ve never told.

In 1998, as general manager at a medium-size manufacturing company, I created the original toast video for my management team. I was trying to get them out of their offices to “go see” not only the factory floor, but their own departments. Managers needed this direct observation to understand our continuous improvement process.

The short video was effective at prodding executives to step out of their offices and observe firsthand what they’d previously constructed from biases and assumptions. One manager, for example, who assumed that month-end “hockey stick” shipments were the result of production “dogging it” during the early weeks of the month, was astonished to discover that the end-of-month push was a result of pulling future orders in to meet sales bogeys. One visit to the floor opened his eyes and resulted in a policy change that leveled shipments. A really big deal.

Making toast, 1989, with my son Ben.

The not-so-good news was that a few managers didn’t know at first how to behave when they got to the floor. In practiced inquisitor fashion, they posed questions in an accusatory style: “Why don’t you do it this way?” They felt compelled through habit to teach and preach rather than just observe and learn. Coaching for them was required—and provided. Encouragement from our company president was, in retrospect, most critical to instilling some gemba etiquette. As Ken Blanchard said, “We need to ‘catch someone doing something right.’”

That advice was effective. Managers adjusted their behaviors. For a while, it was definitely a fake-it-until-you-feel-it experience. But it worked. After a few gembas, employees opened up, sharing ideas and problems. And managers learned why gembas are important. Call it a culture change.

Today, Toast Kaizen is widely recognized as an effective primer to understand waste. Less well-known is a sequel to that video, titled Go See, inspired by my early general manager experience. In 2016, Go See was recognized with a Shingo Prize. While attending that year’s conference to accept the award, I was approached by a team of senior managers from a large transportation conglomerate.

One manager said, “We thought gemba walks were a waste of time. Employees clammed up or scattered when we went to the floor.”

Another manager said, “Then we watched the Go See video. We just looked at each other and laughed. We were the problem. We were scaring people! Now we’re more respectful, and it’s made a huge difference.”

How is your gemba etiquette? Are you observing to understand or to find fault? Please share a story in the comments below.

Published April 13, 2026, in the Old Lean Dude blog.