Obeya for local government: from council to team
A municipality works with a council programme, domains, departments and teams. The council adopts the council programme; the management team of the civil service translates it into goals on its board. With Wendbaarsturen every level below the council has its own board, and those boards work together. A goal from the council programme goes down to the teams. A bottleneck goes up until someone can solve it. And the decision comes back.
The chain from council to team
This is how a municipality is often organised. From the management team of the civil service down, every level can have its own board. This is an example: every municipality chooses its own boards. If the municipality works with programme management, a programme can also get its own board.
| Level | Where the work is | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Council (elected) | The council programme | The council adopts the council programme. That is the starting point for the boards. |
| Management team (civil service) | Obeya board of the management team | Translates the council programme into goals and divides them over the domains |
| Domains | An Obeya board per domain: Social, Physical, Public Services and Operations | What the domain contributes to the council's goals |
| Departments | An Obeya board per department, below the domain's board | The department's goals and the teams' bottlenecks |
| Teams | An Obeya board or a Kanban board per team | The everyday work, linked to the goals above |
How the council programme gets onto the boards
The council adopts the council programme. The board of the civil service's management team starts with Why we do it, derived from the council programme. Then the management team adds the goals, one row per theme. That turns the coalition agreement into a list of goals with an owner and a period.
With Send to board a goal goes to a domain's board. The domain places it on the board itself.
Domains, departments and teams translate the goal into their own work and report back what is feasible and what is needed.
When the work under a goal is done, the goal above ticks itself off. The management team sees 3/5 done, for example.
Example: issuing permits faster
This example is made up. It shows how work moves across the boards in every direction: down, up and sideways.
| Direction | From | To | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down | Management team | Physical domain | The management team sends the council goal Issue permits faster to the board of the Physical domain. |
| Down | Physical domain | Permits, Inspection and Enforcement department | The domain translates the goal and passes it on to the Permits, Inspection and Enforcement (PIE) department. |
| Down | PIE department | Permits team | The department hands the work to the Permits team, which works with a Kanban board. The team comes back with what is feasible: faster is possible, but not with the number of lawyers it has now. |
| Up | Permits team | PIE department | The team sends the bottleneck Too few lawyers to the department's board. There it goes under What is holding us back and on the agenda. |
| Up | PIE department | Management team | The department first looks at what it can do itself, for example redistributing work within the department. That is not enough. Only then does it pass the bottleneck up a level, and via the Physical domain it reaches the management team. |
| Down | Management team | Permits team | The management team takes a decision on extra capacity. The decision goes back down and lands with the team, on the card it was about. |
| Sideways | Customer Contact team | Permits team | At the front desk, residents often ask about their application. The two teams link their cards about the waiting time at the front desk, so both see what the other is doing. |
What helps: the management team steers along
The network of boards gets stronger when the management teams take part in the rhythm of the boards. That can grow; it does not have to happen on day one. This helps:
- Red is a request for help. A red card is welcome. It shows where help is needed, not who is to blame.
- Difficult problems first. The meeting starts with what is stuck, not with what is going well.
- Help or a decision. The management team responds to an escalation with help or a decision, such as on extra lawyers, not with a request for a report.
- Reporting back. The decision goes back to the board the question came from.
- Steering in the meeting at the board. Not through reports, but together, on what the board shows.
- Going to see. Managers now and then join the meeting of a board below. They look at what is going on and ask how they can help, not to check up.
Where a municipality can start is explained on Implementing Obeya.
Training per level
Every level learns what it needs. Which training comes first depends on where the municipality starts. That is how Obeya works in government: in municipalities and in other government organisations.
In a vision session the management team creates the vision and direction. With its own board it practises the meeting and steering at the board.
In Basic Obeya a domain or department builds its own board, in line with the municipality's course.
A team builds its own Obeya or Kanban board and learns the meeting at the board.
In the training The Navigator Navigators learn to prepare, lead and follow up the meeting.
Frequently asked questions about Obeya in a municipality
How do you translate the council programme into execution?
The council adopts the council programme. The management team of the civil service puts the goals from it on its board and sends them on to the domains. Every level translates the goal into its own work and reports back what is feasible. Progress follows along upwards by itself.
Does the whole municipality have to take part at once?
No. You start where it fits: with management, with a single department or domain and its teams, or with a team that wants to. The network grows along. In a municipality that could be the management team, the Physical domain with its departments and teams, or the Permits team. Read more on Implementing Obeya.
Does Obeya suit work with statutory deadlines?
Yes. A deadline can be a metric on the board. The team then sees every week which applications are getting close to the deadline, and can adjust before a deadline passes.
How does Obeya relate to lean?
Obeya comes from lean. You do not need a lean programme to start. If your municipality already works with lean, an Obeya fits in well with it.
Can we work together with partner organisations outside the municipality?
The boards work together within your own organisation. Work that sits with a partner organisation goes on your own board as a card, with an owner who keeps in touch.
Is the software suitable for municipalities and other government organisations?
The software has the GDPR as its basis and the Dutch government security standards (BIO2) as its starting point. Permissions apply per board, and a private board stays closed, including to a connected AI. More on Privacy and security.
Curious how the boards in your municipality could work together?
In a meeting we look together at your council programme, the levels and the meetings.