Visual management enables businesses to communicate important information about processes and procedures. Where preventative maintenance and facility operations are concerned, using visuals can be an effective way to convey expectations and processes quickly to keep everyone working to the same guidelines.
Visual tools and resources span a wide range of options, from symbols and illustrations to labels, photographs, and video content. Here’s how your business can use visual management to minimize costs and reduce the risk of facility disruptions, while still achieving maximum impact.
Key Visual Management Tools and Techniques
Visual management can be broadly categorized to communicate the following:
- Information: The facts and knowledge that employees need to work safely.
- Instructions: The procedures in place that everyone on-site needs to follow.
- Performance: How your facility is performing and progressing with projects and metrics.
A variety of visual management tools and techniques are available to help improve facility operations. In addition to signage, one of the most important tools in the workplace safety toolkit is visual work instructions which standardize processes and boost efficiency by providing step-by-step instructions with clear visuals.
These instructions can take the form of diagrams, pictures, or flowcharts and are especially useful in environments where tasks are repetitive or technical. For more complex guidelines, video content can be highly effective to help people understand the message and instructions you’re trying to get across.
Another visual solution is a dashboard. Visual dashboards display key performance indicators (KPIs) in a format that is easy to interpret at a glance. They can track production rate, safety metrics, or overall facility performance, enabling managers to make data-driven decisions in real time.
Task boards and scheduling tools are also invaluable and can be improved with visuals, providing transparency into workflows and ensuring that assignments are clearly communicated. Each of these tools, when applied strategically, can significantly improve operational efficiency and team alignment.
What Are the Benefits of Visual Management in Facilities?
There are many reasons to start incorporating visual management into your facility operations. The first is that you can quickly improve communication among departments, providing information in a clear and easily digestible format. It makes it easier for employees and visitors alike to understand and act on operational data without the need for verbal explanations.
Visual management tools such as performance boards, dashboards, and color-coded charts ensure that everyone on the team, regardless of their role, can see what’s happening in real time. This visual accessibility promotes stronger collaboration and coordination, as well as increased accountability. When workers can clearly see their tasks, progress, and performance metrics on a visual display, it fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility, whilst making it easier to track performance to ensure that everyone is aligned with organizational goals.
Similarly, these tools can help your business to comply with regulations as well. Regulators like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have various forms of regulatory requirements for facilities, and keeping track of them can be challenging. Visuals help to provide a quick, at-a-glance look at where you’re at so you can stay on track.
Finally, visual management enhances problem-solving by helping teams quickly identify issues as they arise. When bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and errors become visible through charts or dashboards, teams can address them faster before they escalate, driving continuous improvement in operations. Whether it’s staying on track with KPIs, showing them how productive they’ve been with daily or weekly tasks, or making sure they’re using machinery and equipment safely, visuals provide a wealth of benefits to ensure the overall facility is working smoothly.
Visual Management Principles to Consider
There are several principles that facilities managers need to bear in mind to effectively implement visual management.
Ensure Clarity and Simplicity
The visuals you use need to be understood quickly and at a glance. If people need to spend time working out what the illustration or diagram means, it’s ineffective and could actually result in wasted time or increased accidents through miscommunication. Workers similarly need to have a background knowledge of the symbols and graphics you’re using.
Standardize Symbols and Graphics
Sometimes, visuals will have a similar look, so make sure that workers understand what established symbols mean so they know how to act accordingly when they see instructions containing these logos. Ongoing staff training can help here by incorporating visuals into your training programs.
Maintain Visual Distinctiveness
Your visuals also need to stand out—when there are announcements, using visuals will help to draw people’s attention quickly and alert them more efficiently than text alone. Processes and procedures change and evolve, so being able to adapt and update your visuals quickly is also key.
Adapt and Streamline Processes
Sometimes visuals need to communicate a standard task while, in other circumstances, you’ll have very specific information you need to add, such as if there’s a change to machinery or a new regulation that needs to be adhered to. The purpose of visual management is to streamline your processes and make communication easier, so you need the system you have in place to be adaptable.
Foster Employee Engagement
Despite the benefits, implementing visual management strategies comes with its unique set of challenges. Resistance to change is one of the most common hurdles. Employees may feel overwhelmed or uncertain about new systems, so it’s vital to communicate the benefits of visual management and involve them in the process from the beginning.
Maintain Relevance Over Time
Another challenge is maintaining the relevance and effectiveness of visuals over time—dashboards, boards, and visual cues need to be regularly updated to reflect current data and avoid becoming stagnant or cluttered. Information overload can also be an issue, so it’s essential to prioritize and simplify visuals to ensure clarity.
Visual strategies offer significant advantages for facility operations, from improved communication and increased accountability, to enhanced problem-solving. Using tools like visual dashboards, performance boards, and color-coded systems can transform how your team works together, reducing errors and improving overall efficiency.
Chester Avey has over a decade of experience in business growth management and cybersecurity. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with other like-minded professionals through his writing. You can connect with Chester by following him on X (formerly Twitter) @ChesterAvey.