Seeing is Believing: Accelerating Operational Transformation by Engaging Leaders Outside the Boardroom

The Gulf Between the Strategy in PowerPoint and the Reality on the Ground

In every organization, there exists a "gulf between strategic intent and practical execution". Many transformation initiatives fail precisely because the leaders who design them are too far removed from the reality of the daily work. They draw up ambitious plans based on assumptions, without a visceral understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist on the ground.

To close this gap, there is an extraordinarily powerful method of learning and alignment: "Go, See, Together" (GST). This approach is based on the idea that direct and shared experience is the most effective catalyst for change.

• Go: This involves leaving one's own organization to observe innovation in practice at another company that has already solved a similar problem.

• See: This refers to the power of social proof. Witnessing a new way of working functioning successfully overcomes skepticism in a way that no report can achieve.

• Together: This is the crucial element. The experience must be shared by the entire leadership team to create a common understanding and aligned commitment.

The case of Porsche in the 90s is legendary. On the brink of bankruptcy, their CEO took his entire management team to Japan to learn the principles of lean management. That shared experience was the catalyst for one of the most successful industrial transformations in history.

GST: The Antidote to Resistance to Change

Making the Invisible Visible: The Power of Visual Management

The same "seeing to understand" philosophy must be applied internally. Especially in knowledge work, problems and bottlenecks are often invisible. Visual management is the practice of bringing this work to light. Simple tools like Kanban boards, whether physical or digital, which show the workflow, make the invisible visible. They allow teams to collectively see where work gets stuck and collaborate to solve it. This pragmatic and "on the ground" philosophy is fundamental to VSC's approach.