ABSTRACT
Making workplaces visual is an integral part of Lean deployment. However, let me tell you that workplaces will not be visually managed just by wishing it. Teams will not be able to adopt and practice visual tools for performance excellence merely by being aware of visual management. What leaders need to know is that we need a holistic approach to installing and institutionalizing a visual management system. For this, an approach has to be put together by the Lean professionals and kept in mind as the Lean journey progresses. Together with this, leaders have to create an environment in which teams are encouraged to come up with various ideas for visual tools that can be used in managing workplace performance. These tools will change as the journey of Lean matures and different interventions come to play. The worst thing is when someone reads about a set of tools in a book and simply implements them indiscriminately in the workplace. The type of techniques used should be driven by the type of Lean intervention under way. You will see that the visual management tools change, are replaced, and also improve over a period of time. The tools have to be relevant to the context. All the visual techniques in a workplace have to work in tandem to meet the larger organizational objectives. Figure 47.1 shows an approach that can be kept in mind while instilling visual management in an organization. You need to remember that this approach has a service industry bias, but a similar one could be devised for a manufacturing company also.
