With the transformation of companies, the needs for real-time management and growing collaboration, the role of managers is changing. They must therefore have adequate tools for greater transparency, efficiency, flexibility and collaboration. In this article, we deliver the ideal toolkit to accompany the manager of 2020.
The Gemba: being on the ground
In Japanese, Gemba means “the real place where things happen”. In practice, this means not staying behind your desk, but moving around in the field to observe a situation. Support in the field helps to create and strengthen the link between the manager and his teams. This makes it possible to better understand the difficulties encountered and the efforts made by being at their side and to answer any questions they may have. In addition, it is a key motivating factor for employees.
The advantages are multiple: giving concrete information in real time to the manager, encouraging communication with the teams in the field, displaying indicators and useful data for everyone… For it to be effective, the Gemba panel must be organized, easy to read and understand, by displaying objectives of quality, safety, productivity, etc.
Monitoring with alerts in the event of drift
For ever greater responsiveness and efficiency on the part of the teams, it is essential to set up an alerting system. Either by the automation of e-mails (sent for example if a task is not carried out on a specific date), or directly via the wallboards if you have deployed them (with color codes for example), or by notification on your different software (calendar, ERP, CRM, etc.).
Again, the benefits are many. Your teams and you will be able to follow the various projects in progress, the blocking points or the successes encountered on a day-to-day basis. Several levels of alerts can be set: first directly to the employee concerned, then to the manager, and finally to management.
A visual management wallboard
One of the first tools to implement is the digital wallboard. It allows you to share all the useful information with your teams: objectives, action plans, agendas, presences and absences, good practices, tops or even flops… you can clearly display the KPIs in real time , effectively manage your projects, bring them to life and involve your teams, even remotely! Obviously favor digital technology to involve all employees, even those on the move, to facilitate real-time updates, to also simplify the reporting process… One of the main advantages is the customization of the panels: we advise you, however, to co-construct wallboards with your teams, to boost their involvement.
Team rituals
Team rituals are also an essential tool for the manager of tomorrow. In several forms, they make it possible to share information between teams and managers in complete transparency. This can be, for example, daily five-minute briefs, followed by weekly, monthly or even quarterly meetings, with all or part of the teams… These are privileged moments, essential to the good balance of your employees and their productivity.
Here again, the benefits are numerous: same level of information for everyone, vertical exchanges, encouragement of collaboration… For the dynamic to be stronger, don’t hesitate to organize these rituals around digital visual management panels, a real support for managers, but also teams. For more involvement, do not hesitate to suggest that your teams take the lead in these briefs. To go further on this subject, we invite you to read our dedicated White Paper.
Connectivity to the Information System
Today, companies need to deploy several software to meet very specific business needs. Faced with the emergence of remote collaboration and these ever more complete business tools, interconnection with the Information System is a point of attention. It reduces multiple entries and improves data reliability. Knowing that a good manager is a manager who has reliable, up-to-date and secure information.
As a reminder, data reliability requires the implementation of good practices and the definition of master software in order to guarantee data reliability.
The manager of tomorrow is a connected manager, who supports his teams by taking advantage of the various tools at his disposal. He is no longer alone in defining and monitoring action plans, but carries out his missions in collaborative mode with all of his teams, for greater commitment and efficiency.
