So let’s say that you wake up one day and say: “Living without intention is no fun. I thought that living a care-free, happy-go-lucky life would be the way to go, but here I am, stuck in a dead-end job with no idea what comes next.” This is a great step forward, but to move from where you are to living with intention requires some work. It’s not possible to live without intention one day and begin living with it the next. So what are the necessary conditions for living with intent?

This is why measurement and transparency are key components of any effective management operating system. If everyone has access to the same information and that information is shared consistently through time, then the gap, dare I say gulf, that can exist between the information that makes its way up to the C-suite and the reality of operations at ground level can be closed. 

You can’t help improve that which you cannot see. You can’t hold an individual or team accountable for that which is not measured. Visually showing the blinking red or amber lights in addition to the green ones in your department lets others in the organization see that your part of the company is not perfect. Adopting and weaving visual management systems into the flow of work is an important tool to show that it is not only acceptable, but expected, that we all work together to improve upon organizational challenges.