Genba, Genbutsu, Genjitsu in Plain English

O.k., I'm tired of playing translator. And I don't speak Japanese!

The three Japanese "G's" are:

Genba
Genbutsu
Genjitsu or Genshou

Genba means the actual place
Genbutsu means the real thing, the actual thing
Genjitsu or Genshou means the actual situation

A lot of people I know cling to the Japanese words for a very simple reason: it is easy to remember the 3G's this way. Another, more cynical, reason is that the Japanese words lend an air of supremacy to the Lean guru at the front of the room who is trying to wow his client.

The drawbacks are you can lose a few people just by pretending that this stuff is more than exercising our common sense - and whether we like it or not, many workers don't like to be told that the Japanese are eating our lunch because of a few simple, easy to remember words. Our workers know the reason we are losing and it isn't because of translation problems!

So here you go: the 3G's in English. Anyone can remember it, anyone can do it:

Go and see
Get the facts
Grasp the situation

I'm still working on the the 3M's!! Give me a break!