Visual Leadership
Executives & Supervisors Become Leaders of Improvement
Just as visuality can be used to build performance excellence in your operations, so it can be used to define, shape, and strengthen leadership on all levels—including for executives, plant managers, supervisors, and team leads.
Compelling, natural leaders are rare in any field of work where a flood of priorities compete for resources and attention. How does an executive know when (and how) to say Yes to the few and Wait to the many—without sacrificing operational performance or market growth. What mechanisms can help her/him make these crucial decisions. How do executives learn and grow?
Company leadership is responsible for the corporate intent: finding, focusing, and driving strategic growth through tactical improvement. To do this, many positional leaders need to develop a new understanding of what effective leadership means and how to achieve it.
In far too many companies, the real work of executives, managers, and supervisors is only partly defined and therefore often under-developed, especially if operational excellence is not a well-defined outcome.
Unlike those who imagine that effective leadership as a gift—bestowed upon those rare individuals with a charismatic personality and exquisite business school education—Gwendolyn Galsworth has learned that leadership is a set of skills that can be mastered through the principles and practices of visual leadership.
Visual leadership provides clear definitions as well as the physical or tangible formats that not only help executives and supervisors do their jobs—but, when effectively applied, help them grow and excel.
There is an interesting story behind each photo. Do come back soon and hear Dr. Galsworth’s narration.
There is an interesting story behind each photo. Do come back soon and hear Dr. Galsworth’s narration.
There is an interesting story behind each photo. Do come back soon and hear Dr. Galsworth’s narration.
There is an interesting story behind each photo. Do come back soon and hear Dr. Galsworth’s narration.
Visual leadership includes a powerful array of visual formats, protocols, and practices that train leaders-in-the-making how to:
- Identify, clarify, and target key priorities
- Link them to meaningful actions—projects
- Drive those projects through aligned metrics (not KPIs)
As they learn and use these tools, executives and supervisors, alike, shift their focus from just “getting through the day” to targeting, aligning, driving, and sustaining improvement. They develop and cultivate a compelling need to lead. They become: Leaders of Improvement.
Dr. Galsworth has worked closely with executives for over twenty years—understanding their challenges, appreciating their successes, and observing and assessing their strengths and their struggles. She knows it is not easy for everyone to be an effective
leader; but she also knows leadership effectiveness is achievable. She has successfully assisted this process many, many times.
Her process of developing leaders begins with two sets of seven behavioral skills—one set for executives, another for managers and supervisors. These are first taught in a training room and then coached, day-by-day, in the activities called managing and supervising. Once practiced and understood, the process moves on to the more advanced formats that allow leaders-in-the-making to decide and drive.
Schedule an appointment with Dr. Galsworth to discuss your leadership development needs and goals.
Visual Leadership Training: How we do it
Our visual leadership process with you is typically organized around the three training and coaching sessions. (In some cases, one or several of these three sessions can be effectively delivered online.)
SESSION 1/PROFILE OF THE NEW LEADERSHIP (ROLE DEFINITION). In our first visual leadership session, we introduce your executives and supervisors to a new role as Leaders of Improvement. As part of this, we present the seven elements of Dr. Galsworth’s behavioral profile—first for managers/supervisors and then for executives. This is the anchor of Gwendolyn’s leadership paradigm. Action assignments follow.
SESSION 2/OPERATIONS SYSTEMS IMPROVEMENT TEMPLATE (OSIT). This second session helps site executives define and shape the tight relationship between the organization, its customers, and improvement goals. This is the link between the vision, mission, values, strategy, macro metric, tactical targets, and associated methods. The tool of choice is Galsworth’s Operations Systems Improvement Template (OSIT), an organizing framework leaders use to clarify and implement this leadership relationship role. Homework is assigned.
SESSION 3/THE X-TYPE MATRIX (LINKING & DRIVING STRATEGIC PRIORITIES). Limited resources are one of the dominant factors leaders must consider as they decide to help their company stabilize and grow—or not. The next leadership format that Galsworth teaches is The X-Type Matrix—a framework that helps executives clarify and align resources with high-level strategic and tactical outcomes. Only then can they drive.
In this session, Gwendolyn explains matrix elements and coaches as your executive builds a matrix of his/her own. This can happen during this session or over an extended period (several months if need be). Private (at-a-distance) coaching is an option. The
matrix is then introduced to and vetted by direct-report managers. Homework and further action assignments follow. The vetting process continues until and after launch.
“Galsworth’s visual leadership process delivered on its promise. Where before we were simply managers, we now have a highly effective team of leaders of improvement. Each of us led by a GM who has learned how to decide and drive. This was a very big answer for us that continues to pay off.”
Joe Lewis
VP of Strategic Improvement
Blue Steel Industries
