Reflection - Visualization

Challenge

I work in a governmental organization responsible for the training of personnel in  various subjects and specializations. I have to manage teams of trainers, instructors  and subject matter experts (SMEs) responsible for the delivery of training and skill  assessment. Most often we find ourselves struggling to meet the “customers” needs  for the required “number” and “skill level” of trainees. In our case the “customer”  (the government/state) requires us to keep up with a high demand for trained and  specialized personnel. The trainees come from different skill levels and educational  backgrounds. Our training resources, i.e. the instructor cadre and training material  (classrooms, simulators, equipment and settings) have to be optimally used in order  to meet our goals. Finding innovative ways to optimally employ our means and  resources in order to improve the quantity and quality of our training is a challenge.

Selection

When it comes to seeking new ground for innovation for my organization, I most  often turn to the use of the Visualization tools. By visualizing what is involved in the  training processes, sketching out ideas and depicting needs, inputs and outputs, we  manage to tap into our creativity in an almost playful manner.

Application

In order to identify innovation opportunities in our procedures, I ask clusters of  collaborating teams to make casual sketches of their work processes and general  modus operandi in the form of mind maps.  The clusters may include training teams,  administration teams or even mixes of both. The pictures depict all the entities  (human or material) and related procedures involved, highlighting problems with red  stickers and ideas with green stickers. Then each teams sketch is placed on a large  board. All teams examine this, “unconnected”, collage of pictures and they identify  the intra team connections and collaborations. These are then depicted on the board  and the total picture becomes apparent. At the same time, the teams try to  eliminate “red stickers” and examine “green stickers” as potential solutions or  innovations. New stickers are added during this brainstorming process.

Insight & Approach

By depicting all the different parts of training and administration processes the  teams can visualize aspects of the organizations way of work not previously visible or  even understood. Resource and facilities reallocation needs become apparent.  Procedural bottlenecks are identified. Cross disciplinary collaboration (i.e.

cooperation between SMEs of different specialization, or administrative support to  the instructor cadre) is promoted.

Having identified the potential ground for improvement, the teams prioritize on the  needs, focusing on things that will have the quickest impact on the results. Through  a continuous evaluation and feedback process the teams assess the results and fine  tune their action plans in case of positive results, or decide on a new plan,  continuously adjusting the organization’s modus operandi.

Within the process of visualizing the organizations structure and procedures and  identifying potential ground for improvement, small but quick changes are made to  continuously improve results. Occasional small failures and step backs may occur ,  but in the long run it has been proven that you can steer the organization to better  results with smaller innovative course changes.

