Visual Management Research Round-Up: Key Themes for 2025–26
Visual management continues to play an important role in how organisations improve visible accessibility, team coordination and day-to-day performance. Across manufacturing, logistics and regulated environments, research and industry analysis point to several consistent themes shaping how visual tools are being used through 2025 and into 2026.
This round-up brings together the most common findings and observations appearing across industry studies, operational research and workplace practice.
1. Visual Coherence Supports Consistency in Complex Operations
Across many operational settings, research consistently highlights the value of clear, visible information in complex and fast-moving environments. When expectations are easy to see at the point of work, teams are better able to follow standard routines and reduce ambiguity.
Visual management boards, status indicators and prompts help minimise reliance on memory or verbal instruction, supporting more consistent execution across teams and shifts.
2. Visual Tools Remain Central to Safety Communication
Safety-focused research continues to underline the importance of clear communication in maintaining safe working practices. Visual cues such as status indicators, visual controls and safety communication boards are widely used to reinforce expectations and improve shared understanding.
Visual tools support daily awareness and routine adherence, particularly in environments where work patterns vary.
3. Performance Visibility Supports Team Alignment
Studies of operational management frequently highlight the role of performance visibility in supporting alignment and accountability. When key measures are visible, teams are better able to focus discussions, prioritise actions and identify emerging issues.
Visual performance displays remain a practical way to support daily reviews, shift handovers and ongoing improvement conversations.
4. Visual Management Supports Training and Onboarding
Workforce research often points to the challenge of maintaining training consistency, especially in environments with skills shortages or higher turnover. Visual systems are commonly used to support faster understanding of roles, processes and expectations.
By showing standards and routines visually, organisations reduce reliance on informal knowledge transfer and help new team members integrate more effectively.
5. Sustaining Improvements Remains a Key Focus
A recurring theme across Continuous Improvement research is the difficulty of sustaining gains over time. Improvements are more likely to last when standards are visible, understood and regularly reinforced.
Visual management is frequently referenced as a supporting element — helping teams notice deviations, maintain routines and reinforce agreed ways of working.
What This Means for 2025–26
Taken together, these research themes suggest that visual management addresses fundamental operational challenges: visibility, consistency and communication.
As organisations continue to face cost pressure, workforce change and operational complexity, visual tools are expected to remain a practical way to support daily routines and maintain alignment.
Why This Matters
This research round-up reinforces that visual management is most effective when it supports people in their everyday work. When used to reinforce standards and make expectations clear, visual tools help organisations maintain stability while continuing to improve.
As research and practice evolve through 2026, visual clarity and visible standards are expected to remain central to effective operations.
Be clear, at a glance with visual status indicators
Safety communications boards are vital
Visually support performance
provide impetus for daily management initiatives
Visible shift management
Create a real-time visual dashboard
Bring visual, functional and intuitive together
Further examples
Short Interval Control board
Continuous Improvement steps
CI Kanban board with status tickets
Continuous Improvement strategy board
QMS Overview Board
Theatre Improvement Board
CI foreign langauage board
Continuous Improvement status
Concerns Board
Complaints board
Short Interval Control
Continuous Improvement board
Short Interval Control
PDCA board
Use status circles for updates
Kaizen for KPI tracking
Line Continuous Improvement
Kanban Continuous Improvement
Dry wipe status circles
Plan Do Check Act status dial
Processes for Continuous Improvement
Kaizen for Continuous Improvement
Loss Elimination Board
Colour coding Continuous Improvement
Colour code your Plan Do Check Act
Show your targets
Plan Do Check Act Board
Continuous Improvement Process Board
Use colour for Continuous Improvement
Use colour in your 5S design
Kaizen room meeting schedule
Lean environment strategies
The PDCA cycle visually
Show Continuous Improvement visually
Plan Do Check Act status dial
Kaizen PFU boards
Errors Board
Short Interval Control Board
Kanban Continuous Improvement
PDCA cycle
Show your processes
Track daily progress
Workstream whereabouts CI
SIC status board
Track customer feedback performance
Add status dials to your 6S board
Update progress with status meters
Plan Do Check Act board
Use the Plan Do Check Act cycle
Food Production CI
KATA Improvement
Plan Do Check Act
Track targets as a department
KPI board with document holders
Practical Problem Solving board
Visual Management with status dials
Status dials with percentages
Use dry wipe status indicators
Quality Station Continuous Improvement
Our Approach
We create visual management boards everyday. As a result we have plenty of experience. We work for organisations in food production, the power industry, national rail, pharmaceuticals, education, healthcare, packaging and distribution.
Our team works with a simple idea or sketch and creates a professionally designed layout. This is then turned into a highly functional visual management board.
We offer customised options because we want to create the perfect board for you. So, here are a few examples. We can add magnetic areas or a dry-wipe finish (for use with whiteboard pens). Furthermore, you can choose Red/Green sliders or R.A.G. (Red, Amber, Green) status dials so you can quickly and visually update your board. These are just a few examples of the ways in which our boards can be tailored to meet your needs. You may also be interested in whiteboard overlays that can be used on top of an existing magnetic board.
