Going to where the work actually happens sounds simple. So why can it be so difficult?

In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores Gemba, the Lean management practice of going to the “actual place” to observe work, interact with employees, and understand what is really happening.

Building on previous discussions about learning design and the Analysis phase of ADDIE, Mark explains that observation is one of the most powerful ways leaders can identify gaps between procedures, data, training, and the reality employees experience every day. An informal walk through the workplace can reveal opportunities for improving safety, training, quality, productivity, and employee support.

But Gemba presents a challenge: when leaders go looking, they are probably going to find something.

That discovery creates work. Employees may need resources. A process may need improvement. Data may not reflect reality. Leaders may even discover that their own assumptions were wrong. Combined with meetings, reports, metrics, and the constant pressure of “feeding the corporate beast,” staying behind the desk can become the easier option.

Effective Gemba therefore requires more than physically visiting the workplace. It requires leaders to deliberately create time, overcome inertia, remain curious, and be willing to have their assumptions challenged.

The goal isn't simply to walk around. It is to observe and learn.

Leadership happens where the work happens—and sometimes making a meaningful difference begins with simply getting out of the chair and going to see.

What makes workplace training meaningful? It may have less to do with the presentation itself and more to do with what happens before the first slide appears.

In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French continues the discussion on learning design by exploring the Analysis phase of the ADDIE instructional design model. Drawing from interviews conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation, Mark examines how experienced safety trainers—often without formally calling it ADDIE—use analysis to understand their learners, identify knowledge and performance gaps, and make required training more relevant.

The episode explores a simple but powerful question: Why are we conducting this training, and what needs to be different when it is over?

Examples from safety trainers demonstrate the importance of understanding employees’ previous experience, existing knowledge, job responsibilities, and actual working conditions. Whether conducting forklift training, fall protection training, or another regulatory requirement, meaningful learning begins with knowing what employees already understand and where genuine gaps exist.

Mark also connects Analysis to the concept of Gemba—going to where the work actually happens. By observing employees and talking with them in the field, trainers can compare “work as imagined” with “work as performed” and determine whether training is even the appropriate solution.

The takeaway is straightforward: Before designing the training, understand the work. Before teaching the learner, understand the learner.

Great training doesn’t begin with PowerPoint. It begins with curiosity.

Safety training can check every regulatory box and still fail to connect with the people who need it most.

In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores one of his longtime professional interests: how to transform required workplace training from a compliance exercise into meaningful learning that employees can actually apply.

Drawing from a recent experience attending an eight-hour regulatory certification course, Mark examines why technically accurate training can still fall short. Stock images, regulation-heavy PowerPoint slides, and worst-case scenarios may communicate the rules, but they do not always reflect the reality employees experience in the field. When training and real work do not align, employees may begin questioning the credibility of the message and underestimate the risks around them.

Mark introduces the ADDIE learning model—Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate—as a practical framework safety professionals and leaders can use to improve training. It begins by understanding the audience: Who are they? What do they already know? What knowledge or skills are missing? From there, instructors can design and develop training using relevant workplace examples, hands-on activities, discussion, and actual equipment rather than relying solely on generic materials.

Finally, effective training requires evaluation. Did employees learn something useful? Can they demonstrate it in the workplace? Did the training actually address the problem?

The lesson is simple but powerful: meaningful training starts with understanding who you are teaching and what they truly need to know.