Visual Management to communicate differently in your company

What is Visual Management?  

Present in many Lean tools (5S method, Kanban board, VSM tool...), visual management is an approach that aims to facilitate the understanding of information. By synthesizing the company’s most complex data into visual elements, they become easier for teams to interpret.

These visual elements can take the form of graphical tools, indicators, interactive dashboards or dynamic displays to simplify production processes, organize tasks, facilitate collaboration, identify a problem, be part of a continuous improvement process or optimize decision-making 

By using visual management, companies strengthen their communication and promote a corporate culture based on transparency and efficiency while seeking to increase their productivity.

The benefits of Visual Management

Visual management improves the management of the company

By highlighting the most important information, visual management makes it easier to distinguish trends and identify gaps. It is also a perfect tool to assess the effectiveness of ongoing action plans and readjust them when needed. Visual management proves to be an effective decision-making method.

Visual management helps to better manage teams

With more explicit communication, visual management facilitates a good understanding of the instructions. Visual management also improves employee involvement and stimulates their creativity in the search for new ideas. It is also a perfect tool to accompany in the conduct of change.

How to get started in visual management?

To embark on a visual management project, you must:

Identify key areas

Each company is unique, so it is essential to identify the areas where visual management can have the most impact. Consider the different aspects of how your business works: project planning, task management, internal communication... This will help you determine where visual management can be most beneficial.

Select the appropriate tools

Once you’ve identified the key areas, it’s time to choose the right visual management tools. Many options are available to you: Kanban boards, Gantt charts, mind maps, scoreboards... Be interested in how each of the tools works, how they are implemented, and how they contribute to improving transparency of information, efficiency, and collaboration within your team.

The implementation

The implementation of visual management requires a strategic approach to successfully introduce this methodology within your company. Learn how to train your team, establish consistent visual standards, define clear processes, and encourage adoption. Consider measuring results to make the necessary adjustments and maximize benefits.

Cultivating a culture of Visual Management 

Visual management is not limited to its initial implementation, it is a culture to maintain and cultivate in the long term within your company. Encourage innovation, creativity and improvement. Strengthen communication, engagement and productivity through this visual approach. 

Monitor and measure the effectiveness of Visual Management

Once visual management is in place, it is important to regularly monitor the performance indicators related to this approach. This makes it possible to assess its effectiveness and take corrective measures if necessary to optimize its impact on the digitization of the store.

Bonus: 5 tools to launch your Visual Management project

The kanban board

The Kanban board allows you to visualize the workflows, tasks and progress of the project at each stage. It materializes in the form of columns that represent the different stages of a workflow. Each task is then represented by maps that contain detailed information such as a description, a deadline, the name of the manager... The Kanban board makes it possible to visually monitor the progress of a project and manage priorities.

Benefits for Visual Management: 

• Clear visualization: The Kanban board provides a clear visual representation of the workflow, allowing the team to instantly see current and upcoming tasks.
  
  
• Transparency: Each team member can view the status of the project, which promotes transparency and communication.
  
  
• Priority Management: Priorities are easily identifiable. This facilitates task management and decision making.
  
  
• Continuous improvement: Bottlenecks and friction points are easier to spot, allowing for continuous improvement.

The Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is a visual representation of a project’s schedule on a timeline. It allows to visualize the dependencies between the tasks as well as their chronology in the form of horizontal bars. Each bar represents a task, and the position of the bar on the timeline indicates when the task should start and end. This type of diagram helps to visualize the duration of tasks and deadlines to better manage the progress of a project.

Benefits for Visual Management: 

• Accurate Planning: The Gantt chart provides a chronological overview of the project that helps you plan and allocate tasks effectively.
  
  
• Time management: It allows you to track and manage the time spent on each task to limit the risk of delays.
  
  
• Coordination: By visualizing dependencies between tasks, the team can better coordinate activities to maintain a smooth workflow.
  
  
• Communication: The Gantt chart facilitates communication by clearly showing project progress and milestones to all stakeholders.

Performance monitoring dashboards

Used to measure and display key performance indicators, these tables display a real-time situation in the form of metrics, performance indicators and data relevant to the project. They make it possible to follow the evolution of objectives and results over time. Information is displayed clearly and concisely, making it easy to monitor progress and identify trends.

Benefits for Visual Management: 

• An overview: The global view of key indicators allows teams to follow the progress of a project at a glance.
  
  
• Informed decision making: By visualizing trends and data in real time, decision makers can make more informed and timely decisions.
  
  
• Responsiveness: By quickly identifying deviations from objectives, the scorecard allows a quick response to potential problems.
  
  
• Team engagement: A visual display of progress can motivate the team by creating a sense of accomplishment and responsibility.

The Mind-map

Also called a mind map, it offers a visual representation of interconnected ideas and concepts. It is created by placing a central concept in the center of the page, then connecting branches to represent related ideas. Each branch can branch into sub-branches, creating a tree structure 

Benefits for Visual Management: 

• Organization of Ideas: A mind map helps to organize and structure your ideas visually, thus facilitating understanding and planning.
  
  
• Creativity and Reflection: It encourages creative reflection by allowing ideas to be generated and developed in a non-linear manner.
  
  
• Clear Communication: A mind map provides a clear overview of the connections between ideas, which facilitates communication and understanding.
  
  
• Project Management: It can be used to define steps, objectives, dependencies and responsibilities as part of project management.

The Eisenhower matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a task prioritization method based on two dimensions: importance and urgency. It divides the tasks into four categories:

• Urgent and Important Tasks: To be done immediately.
• Important but Not Urgent Tasks: Plan and set a deadline.
• Urgent but Not Important Tasks: delegate if possible.
• Neither Urgent nor Important Tasks: Avoid or eliminate.

Benefits for Visual Management:

• Key prioritization: The Eisenhower Matrix helps identify the most important tasks and set priorities for better time and resource management.
  
  
• Scheduling optimization: It allows you to plan important tasks before they become urgent, helping to avoid last-minute stress.
  
  
• Delegation effective: By distinguishing between urgent but not important tasks, the matrix facilitates the delegation of these tasks to other team members
  
  
• Elimination of unnecessary tasks: Non-urgent and unimportant tasks can be eliminated or reduced to free up valuable time.

The wall of ideas

It is a physical or virtual space where team members can display and share ideas visually.

An idea wall is a dedicated visual space where team members can post and organize their ideas, concepts and suggestions. It can be physical (like a whiteboard in a meeting room) or digital (like an online platform). Ideas are usually represented in the form of sticky notes or cards.

Benefits for Visual Management: 

• Stimulated Creativity: The Idea Wall encourages creativity by providing a space where ideas can be freely shared and explored.
  
  
• Enhanced Collaboration: It promotes collaboration by allowing team members to contribute and work together to develop ideas.
  
  
• Clear Visualization: The idea wall provides a clear visualization of concepts and suggestions, helping understanding and communication.
  
  
• Innovation: Discussions and interactions around ideas can lead to innovative solutions and new approaches.