Pascal Dennis, co-author of Harnessing Digital Disruption
The Four Levels of Visual Management, Part 1
You can’t fix what you can’t see. This applies whether you’re trying to protect your core business or ignite new Growth using Digital methods. Excellence entails making problems visible. The added benefit: visual management frees up ‘white space’ in your brain. You feel lighter, fresher & more creative.
Here are the four levels of Visual Management, in order of increasing power:
Level 1 – Tells only
STOP signs are a good example of Level 1 Visual Management. In our neighbourhood, people blow through STOP signs all the time. In fact, we call them ‘Hollywood stops’ – the driver slows by 5 miles per hour, takes a perfunctory look around & drives on through. Not exactly, Safety First.
A Digital equivalent might be a chart in a virtual ‘Control Tower’ (aka Obeya), say on Miro or Mural, that everybody ignores. Or an Agile team’s kanban board with WIP levels far exceeding defined standards but is likewise ignored.
Level 2 – Something changes, which gets your attention
Traffic lights are a good example. “Hey, the light’s changed to Green. We can drive on.”
Level 2 has more power because, done well, it wakes people up. A Digital equivalent might be a chart in a Control Tower that includes a target line, a Red/Green indicator, and a sticky note below it explaining what’s going on. And a Leader operating rhythm (standardized process) wherein we review our key indicators on a regular basis and act on significant abnormalities.
My regular readers may recall that OpEx/Lean is about wakefulness…. “Wake up everybody! We have a problem...”
Sadly, visual management in many organizations gets stuck at Level 1. Have you ever been in a hospital full of signage exhorting staff with some slogan? “Patient Safety is everybody’s responsibility!”
As W. Edward Deming observed a generation ago, such exhortations amount to blaming the worker. They subtly shift responsibility from senior management to front line workers. “Hey, don’t blame me. I told them not to do it…”
A few years back, my mom had major surgery at a local hospital. The medical staff was dedicated and capable, as usual, but was the management system making their lives easier? For example, was there visual management around infection control, or mis-medication - methods that highlighted abnormalities and triggered countermeasures?
At a deeper level, did senior leaders foster a culture of transparency, psychological safety and involvement? Did team members feel able to highlight – and fix – abnormalities? Were they trained in root cause problem solving?
No, just exhortations: Do something! It’s up to you!
My mom suffered not one, but two infections. And when I wrote to the VP of Patient Safety & Experience, I received an astonishing response. My mom was to blame, not the hospital. Evidently, in the VP’s mind patients and the front-line staff were responsible for safety. (I don’t want to be misunderstood. I’ve been privileged to work with many splendid hospitals.)
Deming taught us that the root cause of the problem is almost always in the system – which senior management owns. Senior leaders cannot take the authority, rewards and perquisites of power – and not accept the responsibility.
Next time, I’ll talk about Level 3 and 4 visual management.
The Four Levels of Visual Management, Part 1
You can’t fix what you can’t see. This applies whether you’re trying to protect your core business or ignite new Growth using Digital methods. Excellence entails making problems visible. The added benefit: visual management frees up ‘white space’ in your brain. You feel lighter, fresher & more creative.
Here are the four levels of Visual Management, in order of increasing power:
Level 1 – Tells only
STOP signs are a good example of Level 1 Visual Management. In our neighbourhood, people blow through STOP signs all the time. In fact, we call them ‘Hollywood stops’ – the driver slows by 5 miles per hour, takes a perfunctory look around & drives on through. Not exactly, Safety First.
A Digital equivalent might be a chart in a virtual ‘Control Tower’ (aka Obeya), say on Miro or Mural, that everybody ignores. Or an Agile team’s kanban board with WIP levels far exceeding defined standards but is likewise ignored.
Level 2 – Something changes, which gets your attention
Traffic lights are a good example. “Hey, the light’s changed to Green. We can drive on.”
Level 2 has more power because, done well, it wakes people up. A Digital equivalent might be a chart in a Control Tower that includes a target line, a Red/Green indicator, and a sticky note below it explaining what’s going on. And a Leader operating rhythm (standardized process) wherein we review our key indicators on a regular basis and act on significant abnormalities.
My regular readers may recall that OpEx/Lean is about wakefulness…. “Wake up everybody! We have a problem...”
Sadly, visual management in many organizations gets stuck at Level 1. Have you ever been in a hospital full of signage exhorting staff with some slogan? “Patient Safety is everybody’s responsibility!”
As W. Edward Deming observed a generation ago, such exhortations amount to blaming the worker. They subtly shift responsibility from senior management to front line workers. “Hey, don’t blame me. I told them not to do it…”
A few years back, my mom had major surgery at a local hospital. The medical staff was dedicated and capable, as usual, but was the management system making their lives easier? For example, was there visual management around infection control, or mis-medication - methods that highlighted abnormalities and triggered countermeasures?
At a deeper level, did senior leaders foster a culture of transparency, psychological safety and involvement? Did team members feel able to highlight – and fix – abnormalities? Were they trained in root cause problem solving?
No, just exhortations: Do something! It’s up to you!
My mom suffered not one, but two infections. And when I wrote to the VP of Patient Safety & Experience, I received an astonishing response. My mom was to blame, not the hospital. Evidently, in the VP’s mind patients and the front-line staff were responsible for safety. (I don’t want to be misunderstood. I’ve been privileged to work with many splendid hospitals.)
Next time, I’ll talk about Level 3 and 4 visual management.
Best regards,
Pascal Dennis
E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org
PS To learn more about my Strategy Execution program, Getting the Right Things Done in a Digital World, feel free to drop me a line.
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