Where the word comes from
Nemawashi (根回し) combines ne, root, and mawashi, going around. A gardener preparing to transplant a tree digs around the roots and wraps them so the tree survives the move. Applied to organisations, the move is a decision, and the roots are the people whose support it needs.
How nemawashi works
- Draft the proposal with the problem, the options and a recommendation, usually on one page such as an A3.
- Visit the people affected one at a time or in small groups: the teams who will do the work, the functions whose resources it uses, the managers who will approve it.
- Listen and adjust. Each conversation surfaces an objection, a constraint or a better idea. The proposal is revised before the next conversation.
- Confirm formally. By the time the proposal reaches the decision meeting, everyone has seen it and shaped it, so approval is quick and implementation starts with support already in place.
Why lean organisations use it
- Decisions are slower to reach but faster to implement, because the people doing the work helped design it.
- Problems with a plan surface early, when they are cheap to fix.
- It respects the knowledge of the people closest to the work, one of the core ideas of lean.
- It avoids the public conflict that makes people defend positions instead of improving ideas.
Nemawashi and ringi
In many Japanese companies nemawashi precedes ringi, the formal circulation of a proposal document for signatures. Nemawashi is the informal groundwork; ringi is the written record of agreement.
Common mistakes
- Treating it as lobbying for a fixed answer rather than genuinely improving the proposal.
- Skipping the people who will do the work and only consulting managers.
- Letting it drag on with no date for the formal decision.