How Obeya is helping the UWV achieve its goals? To support goal setting and achievement, the CIO-Office of the UWV obeya adopted. In doing so, the department is aided by Miriam Lorenzo-Miske of Towson, who advises on the implementation and effective use of obeya. Simone Werner-Lodder, Head of CIO-Office, tells how obeya contributes to the goal achievement of her team and how Miriam supports the team in doing so.
Asked about the CIO Office’s ambitions for 2024, Simon’s first response is immediately appropriate: “They’re hanging in here behind me.”
It characterizes obeya: the approach combines a physical space with a method, to work effectively with multiple stakeholders toward shared goals. The four walls of the obeya coincide with the well-known Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle: one wall with the goals, one with the improvement projects, one with the performance and one with measures.
Simone explains that the main task of the CIO-Office lies in defining the UWV IV strategy, drafting policies and establishing the associated frameworks and guidelines. The implementation of this policy lies with the various divisions, each with its own management and IV department.
Fragmented approach
When Simone began in her role in October 2022, she noticed that each department within the CIO Office had its own goals regarding frameworks, guidelines and policies. This led to a fragmented approach, whereas she was striving for a more cohesive approach: “I wanted an integral direction from the CIO-Office, because in practice there is also a lot of coherence and dependence between the goals of the different departments.”
As an example, the development of architecture directly affects the projects and programs that make up the portfolio. “The same goes for information security, the delivery process and supplier management which again has to consider architecture during tenders,” Simone points out. “It’s no coincidence that these departments are housed in one office, and we want to better leverage their strengths.”
That’s why the department now works with the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle. The trick is to set them up properly as well, Simone explains. “We plan a lot, but do we also sufficiently monitor progress and make enough adjustments at a regular pace? If you want to do those two tasks well, you also need good skills for that.”
“Furthermore, we are exploring whether there are other – and smarter – solutions to accelerate with. We are also setting up a LACE (Lean Agile Center of Excellence) to support our way Of working UWV-wide. We already work agile within UWV and we want to strengthen the agile way of working and functional collaboration within the value streams from our directing role.”
What does the CIO-Office stand for?
Simone seized her start at UWV as a moment to establish together what the CIO-Office stands for, and what the department has to do collectively. “Then very nice goals came out of that.”
Instead of following the conventional path and drawing up a comprehensive plan, she took a different approach: “I had experienced many times that everyone was so busy with the order of the day that we found far too late that we had already deviated a lot from the goals.”
“The obeya made a huge contribution to becoming a team and experiencing togetherness.”
With the introduction of obeya, she saw an opportunity to keep a continuous focus on the goals set at the outset. “But also by having a constant dialogue with each other, in which we determine what is going well and what is not going well and what adjustments are necessary. In short: the obeya helps us to set goals together and to make choices together in order to achieve them.”
The magic of the obeya
Meanwhile, the CIO-Office is beginning to “feel the magic of the obeya,” Simone points out. “The obeya made a huge contribution to becoming a team and experiencing togetherness.”
“This is where we have grown tremendously. There is a focus on not leaving important issues unsaid, but on entering into the conversation with the aim of learning and improving. This enables the team to make sharper choices together, where the chosen goals are really seen as joint goals and no longer as the goals of the various departments. With this, our planning wall has truly become all of ours.”
Also, the performance wall is now being made concrete. This, according to Simone, is also immediately the most difficult. “You want to measure things, but do you have the right information to measure and manage? The fact that performance is measurable and you also know that not everything is measurable yet, makes everything very transparent and that is the greatest value.”
“If you stand in front of the board and you have promised to do something and it is not done, this is also immediately visible. What is important then is that you then have the good dialogue with each other and look for the cause why it hasn’t been done yet. In short, what do we still have to do here and can we help each other here?”
What helps make obeya so effective, Simone points out, is the physical space. “Starting with a physical wall was one of the key accelerators. Everyone literally starts from the same starting point. Also, unlike in a digital obeya, you can’t hide yourself. You have to engage in the conversation. Any kind of dropping out of a participant in the obeya is seen by everyone, so you can get people involved again.”
Obeya coach
However, successfully implementing Obeya and using it effectively does not happen overnight. So in June 2023, Miriam Lorenzo-Miske of Towson came on board as obeya coach.
Obeya launch
“During the launch, we spent quite some time wondering ‘how do we do obeya now?'” outlines Simone. “At that time, we did not yet have Miriam as a coach and we had not established the methodology tightly enough. As a result, we were struggling with the methodology. We were stuck in the strategy wall for too long. As a result, we kept repeating the discussion about the goals.”
“The reason was that we wanted to do everything right the first time,” she explains. “We kept explaining to each other ‘What do we mean by these goals now?’ This blocked us from moving to the other walls.”
“We are using the power of the obeya much more effectively.”
Professional support was therefore most welcome. “Miriam, as an obeya coach, helped the team to address two goals as a first step. She helped with that to move on to the next walls to properly set up the obeya together.”
She also established a professional group with which the initiatives around obeya within the UWV in turn collaborate. “This helps get working with an obeya UWV-wide to a good level,” Simone explained.
All in all, she is very appreciative of the Towson consultant’s contribution. “Miriam is a coach who challenges us in a good way to participate in the obeya. Miriam names the right issues. In addition, she has the patience to give space to make improvements.”
“When you are immature yourself, you need a good obeya coach to help you get this right from the beginning. This is starting to pay off more and more. So we were able to get off to a much better start this year and are also using the power of the obeya much more effectively.”
Great ambition
In the new year, Simone plans to continue embracing obeya. “For the CIO-Office team, we want the use of the obeya to become routine. And for the preparation of the obeya rituals to remain a very natural part of the way we work. That way we can keep the ambition and goals in sight and visibly realize and measure progress.”
Meanwhile, other departments are also embracing the approach. “Across the breadth of UWV, obeya is already being deployed in multiple places within the organization. By establishing the obeya professional group, we want to create a platform in the coming year to effectively learn from each other.”
“At the central IV level, we have an IV that is also going to use the obeya to continue to make sharp choices and maintain focus,” Simone indicated. “This is important, because as UWV, we have great ambition. By making good choices, we prevent too much from falling on our employees.”
