There is a Lean practice commonly known as “Going to Gemba” (apologies for the Japanese Lean jargon – sometimes there just isn’t a better English term). This practice is that of going to place where value is created and observing the work. Through observation, the individual develops their ability to see waste that might not be visible to the people engaged in the work.

That’s great for leaders intent on improving work processes – yet there is another, potentially more valuable and definitely richer, purpose for going to gemba.

See if you can, through observation only, determine what might be going on in the lives of the people doing the work. For an example of the possibilities watch this video produced by Cleveland Clinic.

Now go practice. There are plenty of places that will work: airport terminals, shopping centers, public parks. Watch people as they go by. What might they be feeling and thinking? What kind of mood are they owning at the moment? Work at growing your ability to empathize with the moods of strangers.

Then try it at gemba, and start to empathize with the moods of colleagues and friends.  What moods are now visible? Psychologist Shawn Achor defines happiness as the joy one feels striving for one’s potential. Having a sense of the moods, what can the enterprise do to improve the work so that a mood of striving for one’s potential prevails?

As much as Lean practitioners hate process waste, wasted human potential is far worse. Developing empathy within the enterprise is one path toward helping people strive for their potential.