Decision-making doesn’t happen in a snap. One decision is usually preceded by a range of impressions, thoughts, interpretations, ‘mini-decisions,’ and actions. This is mostly an internal process, triggered by the tangible world. So, what if you boil external factors down to one thing: a picture?
Picture-perfect pearl: boiling things down to the essence
Not too long ago, consultant André Hagelen handed us a picture of a pearl and asked, “What is Texas Digital’s pearl? Or, what distinguishes you?”
Our initial response — a one-minute story around Visual Management — didn’t suffice. We needed to bring it down to one sentence (ideally, one word, but we’re not there yet). To be honest, we racked our brains over it. There was some serious brainstorming involved in the process, and we weren’t on the same page right away. But here’s what we ultimately came up with: “A crystal clear picture of where you stand given your objectives.”
See what one picture accomplished? It served as a prompt, triggering an entire process that helped us arrive at a definition of ‘our pearl.’ And that’s the power of visualization.
Filter and visualize: set the decision-making process in motion
Let’s stick with the pearl for a few more moments. While discussing our distinguishing factor, the following thought occurred to us: you can sift through thousands of oysters, only to find a single pearl. That’s a bit like randomly searching an ocean of data until you find that one piece of actionable information you need.
And while actual pearl hunting is at least partly dependent on randomness, a business environment allows for developing a strategy. When sharing data, you need to filter it. Only share real-time, actionable information that’s relevant to your employees’ decision-making process. Also, present it in an appealing way — as the above example describes, one catchy picture can set the entire decision-making process in motion. And several carefully selected, relevant images on one screen enable well-informed decision-making. They provide employees with an at-a-glance overview of the status quo, thus empowering them to make on-the-spot decisions — and this type of autonomy increases employee happiness (which should be your number-one priority!).
Want to explore your Visual Management opportunities? Please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are happy to perform a Quick Scan and discuss your information sharing strategy.