Appear like a god, disappear like a demon.

神出鬼没

Sinshutukibotu.

A phrase we use to describe how our boss appears and disappears suddenly at the Genba. Taiichi Ohno was such a person. He would show up at the Genba without warning. Sometimes he would stand right behind you without notice. He was famous for these behaviors, and many people remembered his episodes.

My coach was the same way. One day, my cell phone rang, and I answered it. The coach said, “I’m outside.” He was outside the factory without giving any notice. In fact, I had just met him the day before, and there were no signs he would be visiting the next day. As I escorted him to the Genba, we saw that the machine was down. I started making excuses, saying that this machine “happened” to be down. I was in deep trouble. “How often do you think I can come to this Genba? Do you think there's rare downtime while I'm visiting this place? Are you saying some miracle is happening right now?” I learned my lessons. And as I got used to my coach showing up at the Genba randomly, I realized the truth: The Genba should be ready to accept the boss’s visit at any time.

Many factories “prepare” for the visit. They paint the floor. 5S suddenly improves. The mountain of defects somehow vanishes. Boards are updated. And then the show begins. But it is a fiction. The tour follows a scheduled path. No real questions and answers. It's just passing time—a boring performance.

Is this the right attitude?

One of the business owners said, “I hate following the tour. I didn’t sign up for this.” So he derailed. He took a detour from the planned route and entered the warehouse. “This doesn’t look right. Hide, fix this.” He walked to the other side of the line. He talked with operators, listening to their concerns. The owner got along well with my coach. Sometimes, the whole tour lost track of the two because they were observing something outside the plan. Both of them were trying to capture the real situation. “I know what you want to show, but I also want to know the truth.”

Sinshutukibotu. Literally means, “appear like a god, disappear like a demon.”

The word comes from ancient China. There is a book called “Huainanzi,” and in this book, this phrase appears. It is stated that those who are good at using soldiers are Shishutukibotu. This word traveled to Japan and was influenced by the Japanese Shito. Shinto has many gods and demons. These beings don’t always appear or disappear in the same way. They are free. It is not easy to know precisely where or when these will occur.

As we become accustomed to this kind of presence, we learn a truth. “Be ready at any time.” You never know when you'll encounter “God,” so keep doing good. You also never know when you'll face a demon, so be prepared for challenges at any moment. Please don’t assume they only see what you want them to see. Don’t think that bad things happen only when you allow them to. You must always be ready for it.

And it is the boss’s responsibility to create such an environment. Don’t be the predictable person who can be easily manipulated. If the boss only shows up in the morning, they will behave well then but neglect the rest of the time. Don’t always take the same route; that route will stay clean, but the rest will remain messy. There was a third shift that was suffering. The plant manager and I paid a visit. A large group of people was returning from smoking. The last person to come back after hiding the smoke was the shift supervisor. As he walked in and saw the plant manager, he freaked out. The plant manager didn’t yell or get angry but said, “I’m sorry, but this is my mistake. I didn’t come to see for a while. Now I see, do you want to be the solution or the problem?” From that day, the third shift became the best shift.

And don’t think of this Sinshutukibotu as discipline or enforcement. It is also true that my boss appeared when I needed help. “Thank God you are here. I have some questions.” When they appear when you need them, they seem like God. If they are there all the time, you might start relying on them too much. That’s not good for developing an independent thinker. But just because we want an independent thinker doesn’t mean we can abandon them. We need to provide support at the right time. One of those times is when someone pulls the Andon and asks for help. The other is when the coach decides, based on observations of how long it takes the trainee to face the problem. The key is that the student should know they have support and feel it consistently. This feeling is what Sinshutukibotu creates.

Are you becoming the predictable guy or Sinshutukibotu?