What is it about?
This article talks about the concept of visual management, which combines generally accepted management principles along with the fine and applied arts to reinforce the direction an organization is going, connect the employees to the mission, drive performance and shape the outside world's view of the company. it discusses the concept in detail, explains who is using it, how it has helped and how to go about implementing the concept.
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Why is it important?
When you visit virtually any company, within a couple of minutes, you form a first impression of it. The space will probably be okay, but that is because it is generally designed to look good, not help the organization work better. Visual management starts with the premise that the space should be designed to help the organization work better by using a series of integrated visual cues that send clear and consistent messages to your employees, customers and stakeholders. This is why visual management is different and important. It treats your space in a whole new manner by integrating it with your mission, vision, values and systems and reinforcing your message(s) by using the fine and applied arts in a powerful and creative manner. Moreover, organizations that have used visual management in the manner described in the article have all seen its value in terms of performance, culture and perception.
Perspectives
Visual management was born out of desperation - I was selected to run a large organization that was believed to be unmanageable. One of the first things I noticed was that the space reflected the organization's culture. That is, it was dreary and depressing with virtually no mention of performance and no recognition of our employees, our customers, our history or our mission. My eventual epiphany was that if we could use the space as another design element to 1) reinforce where we've been and where we were going, and 2) keep our displays in people's faces so they would never forget what we were about or how we were doing, it would help us expedite our journey, which it absolutely did. We added pictures, videos, statues, artifacts, monitors, holographs, sound, etc. in a holistic fashion to focus our employee on the mission and our metrics. This helped change our culture and performance, led to our receiving multiple awards and making several magazine covers, and resulted in our office being bombarded with requests from visitors to see visual management in action. This article talks about visual management, what it is, how it was born, why it works, some of the challenges you may experience in implementing it and gives examples of others who have used it successfully.
Stewart F Liff
Stewart Liff & Associates, Inc.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Transforming Power of 'Visualizing' Your Mission, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/e510932006-001.
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