Obeya is NOT just another Japanese word

How does something come to life? “Seeing is believing”. If you can see it, you will believe it. You have proof, you can talk about it etc. 

Following my previous article about 5 simple steps that will help you to successfully execute your company strategy, I would like to focus today on one in particular that is a game changer for your Strategy Execution. It is called Obeya: from Japanese, “large room”, which is a visual management instrument, leveraging on transparency and collaboration, that connects strategy to execution. By entering in a physical Obeya space or a virtual Obeya Whiteboard, you can immediately see a 360 degree overview of the current strategy of an organisation, understand immediately where they stand and what is the direction they are heading towards.

Many companies that have implemented the Obeya concept share that this results not only in successful strategy execution and engagement across different levels but also in a cultural change, in transparency and collaboration on all levels, in less time spent in meetings, emails, 1 to 1s, escalations and reporting. Why? Simply because we have focus like never before.

Obeya is a Lean concept originating from Toyota. The following article is not an explanation on what an Obeya is but more a reflection on my experience why I find this model so powerful and truly outstanding. If you want to find more information on the concept, please, check the provided references below. Today, I choose to zoom on the following:

• Systemic thinking with visualisation

• Rhythm and routine

• Cascading & Connecting different departments in your organisation.

• Systemic thinking with visualisation:

• Dedicate a space in a physical room or start your virtual whiteboard by visualising your Purpose and Strategy. Place your strategic objectives. 

• On the right side of your physical or virtual wall, map your short/ mid-term objectives: 3-6 months and how you will measure success (aka Objectives & Key Results- OKRs) and build a space with your Strategic Dashboard mapped to those objectives. This board will be updated regularly and show in one glance if your performance is in line with your ambition (green) or if it is below that ambition (red). Remember, less is more.

• Visualize the plan for the next 3 to 6 months in line with your OKRs. Tip: use the same swimlanes to show the relation of a particular objective and the activities you are planning to do to achieve that objective. Link it to the performance. If you see that you do not do well on a particular objective (in red), that will be an indication that you probably need to pay more attention and maybe plan in a different way if you still want to achieve it.

• Integrate your Continuous Improvement in the same visual as well: if you have indicators that something is in red regularly, you might need a more structured problem solving: e.g. kata experiment to get back on track. Visualize the improvement initiative and update/ follow this on the wall as well.

• Maintain a leadership action board: could be a simple Kanban board where you keep track of important actions that need to be followed on a regular basis in order to support the system

Example of how your Obeya may look like

• Rhythm and routine:

Now that you have a beautiful structured space which visualises and connects your system, it's time to use its power. The beauty of Obeya is that it is a place where people gather, where they have all the information they need to make the best decisions that support the future of their business. In order to do that, a couple of events are recommended: 

• a regular place where you will be following on the performance and the planning: e.g. fortnightly

• a leadership action board 2 to 3 times per week: a discussion on any new problems or issues that need a follow up.

• a way to follow on the on-going improvement initiatives: maybe a regular catch-up between particular people involved in the improvement 

There are a couple of ways you can go about this:

• You can revise your existing meetings and adapt them/optimise them to be in line with the Obeya principles, making sure they are  held in the Obeya physical or virtual space. 

• You can start from scratch with new events. Should this be the case, make sure you have a grace period and cancel any 1 to 1s and side meetings with different teams and departments which contribute to further misalignment and meeting sickness. Instead, invite all the people who need to be involved to the Obeya.

Do the rhythm and the routine efficiently and I can guarantee you that you will significantly reduce the amount of meetings you have in your organisation and increase the collaboration and the transparency. The visualisation also supports further the efficiency as you do not need to discuss everything. Acknowledge and celebrate what goes well (in green) but focus and deep dive the conversation predominantly on where the problems are (in red).

Unless your Obeya information is strictly confidential, provide open access to the room/board. After all, your strategy will be executed if it is freely communicated to the ones that contribute immensely to its successful execution. 

• Cascading & Connecting different departments in your organisation.

Obeya is a great communication tool as well on all levels of your organisation: a way how leadership can discuss and communicate the strategy, the main goals, the performance, the main improvements in the organisations to middle management and the different teams as well as a way how the team can communicate with each other and with leadership through the established artefacts and regular cascading mechanism through the leadership action board. 

You are not limited as well to create only one Obeya in your organisation. You may want to create more than one, especially if you are a very big corporation. At the same time, be mindful that if you have more than one Obeya, you will need to have a mechanism to connect the information  so that the communication chain does not break. Feel free to connect with me further to discuss what is the best approach to start introducing this powerful tool in your organisation and how we can connect the different departments in your organisation via Obeya so that you set yourself for optimal success.

Good luck! 

References:

• Obeya Association: https://obeya-association.com/about-obeya/what-is-an-obeya/

• Leading with Obeya: https://leadingwithobeya.com/what-is-obeya/