Why use a Lean Visual Teach Poster?

2nd December 2021 - Lean Enterprise Academy

Why use a lean visual teach poster?

After many years of research and experimentation, we have found that a lean visual teach poster concept works best. It is common to try and learn or teach through the use of tedious slide decks and presentations. However, condensing the information down onto a piece of paper (similar to an A3) can benefit the teacher and the learner.

Leaders as Teachers & Coaches

Why use a lean visual teach poster for Leaders as teachers & coaches? Leaders as teachers & coaches is a core concept when it comes to developing your capability in lean thinking & practice. However, most of us are not trained on how to teach. The usual method of long winded powerpoint presentations are not so effective at engaging learners.

The images/pictures on a teach poster are used over words to stimulate interest and discussion. They are are simple, image-based triggers based on the key concepts and learning points. This makes it easier for the leaders to teach and coach the topic in a more engaging way.

Therefore, you can ask what the images represent and why that is important. In addition, leaders can bring in their own experience, examples and knowledge to support the images and make the teaching more real! This enables a more relaxed stye of teaching for the leaders and even more engagement for the audience.

Visual Learners

Why should visual learners use a lean visual teach poster? Research has released that 65 percent of the general population are visual learners, meaning these people need to see information in order to retain it. There is also a missing component that visuals add to communications where written and verbal methods do not – speed. Studies show that the brain can process images and videos 60,000 times faster than text, therefore making image-based communication invaluable.

People retain 80 percent of what they see, compared to 20 percent of what they read and only 10 percent of what they hear. This is especially true in our fast-paced digital culture, where information overload is common, multi-tasking is the norm and attention spans are short.

To add structure to some of our teach posters, they are usually split into 2 sections, top and bottom. There are also other supporting visual posters to show examples/or explain what good looks like. The teach posters always start with a basic explanation of the Lean Transformation Framework and how the topic relates to it. Watch John Shook’s video of LTF here to find out more.

Teach Poster Breakdown

4 Step Rapid Problem Teach Poster

The top section of the poster explores the purpose, process and people of the topic. This is done to ensure the basic knowledge of a topic is understood first by covering:

Purpose – positions the subject and why it is important

Process – is the conditions & considerations to require it

People – the roles and responsibilities required to make it happen

The bottom section of the poster goes into more detail to gain a deeper understanding of the thinking and practice behind the topic, in a step by step approach. This usually focuses on “teach” and then immediately “try out” approach. (enables flexible learning approach and time taken as well).

As shown above, the Lean Enterprise Academy has developed a 4 step rapid problem solving teach poster. We are also running a Rapid Problem Solving webinar based on this. The session covers the upper and lower portion of the teach poster. Find out more information here.

Supporting Facilitation Guides

Our visual teach posters follow a structured approach to learning which is simple to use. They are supported by a visual facilitation guide to help leaders explain the Teach Poster correctly. The Facilitation Guide covers the Important Steps, Key Points and Reasons Why for each of the images. This can therefore assist you and/or your team when starting out to teach.

The Key Points are to ensure understanding of the Important Steps. Think of them as the special pieces of information which you need to impart to your team to really get them to understand what you are trying to say. Finally, the Reasons are an explanation of why these steps and points are necessary.

Other Benefits of a Visual Teach Poster

A visual teach poster can be used in the workplace or even at home (if you are working remotely). Displaying the posters makes it easy to remember the topic and can be left in the workplace for future reference. In addition it can be used as a reminder to follow the correct thinking and application. A poster is also a visual trigger to remind leaders that part of their day-to-day role is to teach and coach others to become capable.

Click the “+” and watch an explanation of the Teach Poster Concept below.

Teach Poster Concept Video Explanation

Dave Marriott explains the ‘Teach Poster Concept’ as an effective way to teach and coach others.

Where can I find Lean Enterprise Academy Teach Posters?

Each course/on-demand webinar on our Learning Platform provides a downloadable template of our teach posters. However, we also offer physical copies on a selection of our teach posters (and support materials).

We are in the process of developing more physical teach posters (and supporting facilitation guides) for various core lean subjects. If you have any queries, you can get in touch via email: [email protected] or by completing our enquiry form.