Visual management is trending in manufacturing and logistics business units. But what is the reason behind this trend? Well, it is certainly due to the benefits that effective visual management provides. Here are 5 of them.
1. Provides Transparency
Management often complain that there is a lack of transparency in their teams. Due to readily available information today, transparency is now just a basic expectation of employees. By displaying work visually, it makes it easily accessible, but more importantly it sends a powerful message of openness and trust.
2. Fosters Psychological safety
When work is shared so openly, teams feel safer to be vulnerable with one another. As per Google’s 2015 research it is referred to as psychological safety and drives high performance amongst teams. It certainly helps team members to share their difficulties when they see that problems are not something to be ashamed of but something to be openly discussed and solved.
3. It Increases Accountability
An obvious outcome of transparency is an increased level of accountability. Of course, if you want collaborative accountability then team goals are the best way to go. For an example, a visual management board for sales department can act as a motivational force for all team members to act and own the outcome as they get to see their team target for the week and the shortfall.
4. Reduces Risk
Another least known or observed benefit of effective visual management is its ability to help with risk management. When all the work is visible and accessible easily, teams and leaders can try resolving issues early and there is reduced possibility of overlooking those errors or issues.
A work flow board is a most common method to understand the status or progress within teams and processes. With effective implementation of visual management projects, it is clear when tasks don’t move as expected, which may have implications to the fate of a project-a success or a failure.
5. Greater Team Alignment
In any organizations teams are bombarded with many complex priorities. With the help of visual management tool, it can get one or many teams on the same page in lesser time. Depending on the department and tasks, this could reflect as basic ‘Focus of the day’ or your major objectives for a given quarter. When this occurs, teams make decisions that contribute to accomplishing the same outcomes.
Management gurus strongly believe that effective visual management can provide key benefits for their teams. One must keep in mind that every team will have different needs, goals and contexts and therefore requires the right implementation.