Think less first. Observe more.

What Maersk’s 15,000+ Genba Walks can teach us about leadership, psychological safety,
and human capital management

Change how work is done. Make Smart Work happen.

How do high-performing companies develop people and strengthen organizations?

At SmartWorks, we study leading companies around the world not simply as “best practices,” but through the lens of HLS —
Human Leadership System.

Our aim is to explore which everyday leadership behaviors help people and organizations grow, and whether those patterns
can be found across different companies, industries, and cultures.

This time, we turn to Maersk.

In examining Maersk’s more than 15,000 Genba Walks, one simple leadership behavior stood out to us:

Observe before you conclude.
Think less first. Observe more.

This is not yet a universal principle of HLS.

It is an Insight emerging from our analysis of Maersk — one that we will continue to test as we study other companies around
the world.

1. Start by seeing reality

When a problem occurs at work, we often move immediately toward solutions.

Leaders, in particular, may begin asking:

What is the problem?
What should we change?
What should I tell the team?

But there may be an important step before all of that.

See what is actually happening.

A Genba Walk is not simply about receiving reports in a meeting room.

It means going to where the work is actually being done and looking with your own eyes.

Look at the work.
Look at the process.
Look at the workplace.
And look at the people.

The important point is not to evaluate too quickly or jump immediately to an answer.

First ask:

“What is actually happening here?”

We often mistake the picture in our heads — what we believe “should be happening” — for reality itself.

But when we observe the workplace carefully, small differences often emerge between the expected condition and the actual condition.

Improvement begins by noticing those differences.

At SmartWorks, we describe this basic process as:

SEE → ASK → GAP → ACT

SEE — See the reality.
ASK — Ask before assuming.
GAP — Identify the difference between what should be and what is.
ACT — Take a small action and learn from the result.

Do not rush to the answer.

First, look carefully.

2. Observing people changes the conversation

Observation is not only about equipment, processes, or performance data.

From an HLS perspective, one of the most important things a leader can observe is people.

Imagine speaking with a team member.

We often think first:

“What should I ask?”
“What should I tell them?”
“What advice should I give?”

But before that, look at the person.

What is their expression like?
How does their voice sound?
Are they quieter than usual?
Do they seem hesitant?
Do they look as if they want to say something?

When a leader notices these small signals, the next question may change.

Instead of immediately asking,

“What’s wrong?”

it may be better to ask:

“Is there anything on your mind?”

Or perhaps the right response is not to ask immediately at all.

Sometimes giving the person a little more time creates a better conversation.

When observation changes, the question changes.
And when the question changes, the dialogue changes.

This is one reason why “seeing” may be such an important leadership behavior.

3. Psychological safety may also begin with observation

Psychological safety has become an important topic for many organizations.

Companies introduce new policies.
They provide training.
They introduce one-on-one meetings.

All of these can be useful.

But psychological safety is not created by systems alone.

It is also shaped by small, repeated leadership behaviors.

Notice the other person.
Recognize small changes.
Ask before judging.
Listen to the end.

These behaviors contribute to a feeling that:

“It is safe to speak.”
“It is safe to express an opinion.”
“It is safe to say, ‘I don’t know.’”
“It is safe to talk about a mistake.”

One possible sequence is:

Observe → Dialogue → Speak Up → Learn → Improve

First, observe.
That creates better questions.
Better questions create dialogue.
Dialogue makes it easier for people to speak up.
Problems, mistakes, concerns, and ideas become visible.
Learning becomes possible.
And improvement follows.

In this sense, observation is more than a work technique.

It may be an important starting point for psychological safety and organizational learning.

4. From “teaching the answer” to “developing people who can learn for themselves”

This also has important implications for people development.

Traditionally, organizations have placed great emphasis on teaching:

the right knowledge,
the right method,
the right answer.

These remain important.

But when change is fast and yesterday’s correct answer may not work tomorrow, they are no longer enough.

People increasingly need to be able to:

observe for themselves,
form questions,
think independently,
take small actions,
and learn from the results.

In other words, organizations need not only to develop people who know the answer, but people who know how to keep learning.

This connects directly to the growing emphasis on self-directed growth and career ownership.

Instead of waiting for a manager to provide the answer:

See the reality.
Ask a question.
Try something.
Observe the result.
Learn.
Then try again.

When this learning cycle becomes part of everyday work, not only individuals but the organization itself becomes more capable of learning.

5. What does human capital management actually look like in practice?

This leads to another major management topic:

human capital management.

Many companies now speak about people not simply as a cost, but as capital whose value should be developed over time.

The idea is important.

But a practical question remains:

“What should we actually do differently?”

Build more training programs?
Visualize skills?
Improve people analytics?

These may all be necessary.

But human capital does not grow simply because an organization uses the term “human capital.”

People strengthen their capabilities, judgment, initiative, and learning capacity when those qualities are used and developed
through everyday work.

That is why daily leadership behavior matters.

A leader can:

Observe people carefully.
Ask before giving the answer.
Create an environment where opinions can be expressed.
Help people learn from mistakes rather than hide them.
Give people opportunities to think and test small ideas for themselves.

Through these repeated actions, people gradually strengthen their judgment, initiative, and ability to learn.

Human capital management is not simply about calling people “capital.”

It is about creating an environment and a system in which people can grow through their daily work.

This is one of the most important Insights we believe Japanese companies — and organizations elsewhere — can take from the Maersk case.

6. HLS — connecting leadership behavior with the growth of people and organizations

At SmartWorks, we are studying how everyday leadership behavior contributes to the growth of people and organizations through
HLS — Human Leadership System.

In the Maersk case, we focused on one particularly basic behavior:

Observation.

The sequence may look like this:

Observation
↓
Dialogue
↓
Speak Up
↓
Psychological Safety
↓
Learning
↓
Improvement
↓
Growth of People and Organizations

A major management concept such as human capital management ultimately has to become visible in the everyday behavior of
individuals and leaders.

Otherwise, the concept remains abstract.

The role of HLS is to explore how broad ideas can be translated into concrete behaviors that people can practise every day.

7. Action — what can leaders do tomorrow?

Large-scale reform does not always have to come first.

A leader can start by changing one small behavior.

Before speaking with someone, observe them

Notice their expression, tone of voice, and behavior.

Before answering a problem, see what is actually happening

Ask:

“What is actually happening?”

Before asking for an opinion, reconsider the question

Instead of only asking:

“What do you think?”

try asking:

“How do you see the situation?”

If someone seems hesitant to speak, create more space

Ask:

“Is there anything that is difficult to say?”

Then resist the urge to immediately provide your own answer.

Give the other person room to think, act, and learn.

Again:

SEE → ASK → GAP → ACT

See.
Ask.
Recognize the gap.
Take a small action.
Learn from the result.

This may be one practical way to turn human capital management from an abstract idea into everyday behavior.

An Insight from Maersk — and a hypothesis to keep testing

Our analysis of Maersk suggests something important:

Leadership may begin not with giving answers, but with seeing reality more clearly.

And seeing reality includes seeing people.

For now, we regard this as an Insight emerging from the Maersk case.

As we continue our HLS Global Case Research across Denmark, the United States, India, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and other countries,
we will test whether similar patterns appear elsewhere.

If they do, what begins as an Insight from one company may gradually become something more universal.

That is how we intend to develop HLS:

not by starting with conclusions, but by observing, comparing, and learning from real organizations.

For organizations facing these challenges

Human capital management needs to become concrete leadership behavior.
Psychological safety needs to be strengthened in everyday work.
People need to think and act more independently.
The next generation of leaders needs to be developed.

SmartWorks supports organizations in connecting everyday leadership behavior with the growth of people and organizations through
the perspective of HLS — Human Leadership System.