Implementing Obeya: find the right starting point for your organisation
Obeya is a way of setting direction together. Goals, work and problems are brought together in one place, helping teams review progress and agree on next steps regularly. There is no single right place to start. You can begin with the management team, a department or service area, a team keen to get started, or a programme. Each starting point has its benefits and practical considerations. We help you choose the approach that suits your organisation.
Four starting points
There are several ways to introduce Obeya. The right starting point depends on your organisation's needs and circumstances.
| Starting point | Benefits | Practical considerations |
|---|---|---|
| With the management team | A shared vision and direction are established from the outset. Teams also have a management board to escalate issues to from the start. | This requires the management team's time and active involvement. The vision session helps establish that commitment. |
| With one department or service area and its teams | The initial scope stays manageable, with connected boards from the outset. | Keep the wider organisation informed so others understand the approach and how they can get involved. |
| With a team keen to get started | Early, visible results can help build support from others, including management. | Agree in advance how to escalate issues the team cannot resolve, and discuss any disagreements between the team and management. |
| With a programme or project | Work involving several departments is brought together in one place, giving everyone a shared view of progress. | Clarify how the programme or project board connects to departmental boards. |
Starting with a team keen to get started
A team keen to get started can quickly demonstrate the benefits of Obeya. Agree on two things before you begin.
- How to escalate issues. Agree on where the team can turn for support with issues it cannot resolve on its own. For example, the manager could raise the issue at an existing management team meeting or review it with the team at its board.
- How to handle differences in working practices. A team adopting a new way of working may find that it does not always fit with existing management practices. These differences are normal. Discuss them openly so the team and management can agree on a way forward.
Grow your network of boards from there
Build on your starting point by adding boards for teams at other organisational levels or in related areas. Expand at a pace that suits your organisation. The management team's involvement can develop over time.
Add a board for a department or team at the next organisational level, or a Kanban board for day-to-day work. Keep that work linked to the goal it supports.
Connect with a team whose input your work depends on. Link cards across your boards and send work to the other team's board inbox.
Add a board for the department or management team. Escalate issues your team cannot resolve, and communicate decisions back to the team.
Learn how boards connect on our From strategy to execution and Meeting structure pages. For a local authority example, explore Obeya for local government.
Step-by-step plan: the key steps in introducing Obeya
Together, we review your current situation and choose the right starting point for your organisation.
Where appropriate, the management team develops a shared vision and sets direction together in a vision session. If you start with a team, it develops its own vision, aligned with the organisation's overall direction.
The people who use each board build it themselves, adding their own goals and metrics and agreeing on how to run their meetings. They use the software from the outset.
Each board has its own Navigators from within the team. They learn how to prepare for meetings, guide discussions and follow up on agreed actions.
The team puts its board into practice in its first board meeting. The Navigator adds items to the agenda and records decisions and agreed actions on the relevant cards.
What helps: active management involvement
The network of boards becomes more effective when management takes part in regular board meetings. This involvement can develop over time; it doesn't all need to be in place from day one. These practices help:
- Red signals a need for help. Welcome red cards as an opportunity to identify where support is needed, without assigning blame.
- Start with the difficult problems. Begin the meeting with issues that are holding up progress. This is one of the golden rules covered in the training.
- Respond with support or a decision. When an issue is escalated, management provides practical help or makes the decision needed to move it forward, rather than simply requesting a report.
- Close the loop. Communicate the decision back to the team and board that raised the issue.
- Make decisions together at the board. Use the information on the board to guide discussion and agree on next steps.
- See the work first-hand. Managers occasionally join team or departmental board meetings to understand what's happening and ask how they can help. The aim is to support the team, rather than check up on it. In lean, this is called going to the workplace, or gemba.
Get to know the software with a free trial
Your free trial gives you an environment of your own for 30 days, with no installation needed. Explore the software by setting up a board, creating cards and trying out a meeting. During a meeting, we'll help you choose how to introduce Obeya in your organisation. Want to explore first? Take the product tour.
Frequently asked questions about implementing Obeya
What is the approach to implementing Obeya?
The approach has fixed steps: an introductory meeting in which you choose the starting point, a vision, the Obeya basics training in which the team builds its own board, the Navigator training and the first meeting at the board. After that, boards are added at the levels below, alongside or above, at your own pace. What differs per organisation is where you start.
Can you start with one team?
Yes. Obeya basics is designed for one team of up to 20 people, with three or four Navigators from that team. Agree beforehand where issues go that the team cannot resolve on its own. After that, boards can be added for neighbouring teams or for the department.
Where do you start when implementing Obeya?
That depends on your situation. You can start with management, with a single department or service area and its teams, with a team keen to get started or with a programme. In a meeting, we decide together what suits you.
Can we start if the management team is not taking part yet?
Yes. In that case, agree beforehand where issues go that the team cannot resolve on its own, for example the existing management team meeting. Visible results often convince management too.
What if the team's approach clashes with management?
That's normal when a team starts working differently. Talk it through together and agree where issues go and how decisions are communicated back. That way, it becomes a conversation rather than a conflict.
Does the whole organisation have to take part at the same time?
No. You start where it fits, and the network of boards grows from there: at the levels below, alongside or above, at your own pace.
How do you prevent Obeya from becoming a reporting board for the management team?
The management team doesn't make decisions based on what teams report, but discusses what's stuck in the meeting at the board. A team marks a card red to ask for help, not to justify itself. And every board belongs to the team that works with it.
How do you make an Obeya board?
The people who work with the board build it themselves, in the Obeya basics training. The board starts with Why we do it, in line with the organisation's direction. Then come Where we are heading, the goals, the metrics and the steps per month. Read more on What is Obeya?
Curious where you could best start?
In a short meeting, we choose the starting point that suits you, together.