The Art of Nemawashi

Nemawashi is the building of support for a project through advance communication and consensus. The Japanese term nemawashi (根回し) comes from “to dig around the roots” in order to prepare a plant for transplant. Without proper nemawashi, a bonsai tree transplanted to new soil may die.

Many people first hear of nemawashi in the context of Hoshin Kanri (policy deployment) which is a fact-based approach to planning and tracking breakthrough objectives. As awareness of the Toyota Way and its elements become more mainstream, the mention of nemawashi as a management behavior has increased.

In business how many projects die because ideas were transplanted to minds that were not prepared to nurture them? The only place I can think of in the U.S. where nemawashi is practiced regularly is in Congress. This is because the passage of laws requires the support of a majority of votes, hence lawmakers spend time and effort to gain support from others for their ideas.

How to Get Started with Nemawashi

Like much of kaizen, there’s nothing mysterious about nemawashi. It’s not a science (though you could take a scientific approach) or a 12-step process. If you have a project that requires decisions and support, here’s how to get started:

Create the project document

What is the current condition? What are the root causes? What is it costing us to do business this way? What are possible countermeasures?

Tip: Fit this on one page, even if it’s a big piece of paper (A3 size).

Review the project document with people

Do this in person (in many cultures doing this individually will yield better results than review in groups). Ask each person if they understand the current condition, the root causes and the actions proposed. If you are a leader, prepare to listen and teach, but resist the temptation to justify or explain.

Tip: Send the project description to people in advance so they can review it and prepare for your face to face meeting.

Rewrite the project document

At this stage the document is no longer a proposal.  The document is now a summary of what has already been agreed to by those who influence and make decisions in the organization.

Tip: Keep the original document hard copy with your notes to show the various changes and inputs you gained from people throughout the nemawashi process. Until nemawashi becomes second nature this “draft” document will help people visualize how it works and how their ideas and inputs were valued.

Meet to decide formally to support the project

This should take less than an hour, including time for questions and clarifications.

Tip: If at first you fail to gain smooth agreement at this meeting, spin the PDCA cycle and learn why. Did you miss certain people in the nemawashi process? Was the project document unclear? Did the nemawashi process go on too long so that priorities changed?

What Are the Three Benefits to Nemawashi?

There are three main benefits to the nemawashi process:

1. You will have a better understanding of the current condition as people challenge the initial assumptions and the results of root cause analysis.
2. It creates ownership for the project because others have had a chance to influence and shape it. People support what they create.
3. Time doing nemawashi will elminate time wasted in meetings.

When Should You Implement Nemawashi?

The project design phase, or Plan phase of PDCA is the best time to do nemawashi. How long should this process take? Only as long as is required to be sure the project will successfully be transplanted into the minds of the people who have the ability to nurture or neglect it. The more that people in positions to influence significant change practice nemawashi, the greater the chance of success will be for these changes.

What Do You Think?

Do you think following a nemawashi process would benefit your projects?  Have you tried this methodology before?  Let us know in the comments!

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