Framework library · Strategic planning

Hoshin Kanri

Hoshin Kanri links a small number of breakthrough objectives, usually three to five years out, to this year's objectives, the priorities that serve them, the measures that show progress and the people who own them. Each level proposes how it will contribute and the level above questions and adjusts, a back-and-forth called catchball. The plan is therefore agreed rather than imposed, and it is reviewed every month against its measures.

LevelAdvanced
TimeTwo to three days of workshops to set the plan, then an hour a month for each review
Who to involveThe executive team for the breakthrough objectives, then each function head with their own team for the priorities and measures below them.
Also calledpolicy deployment, hoshin planning, strategy deployment, X-matrix

Use it when

  • The strategy has a few large goals but day-to-day work across functions does not visibly connect to them.
  • Too many initiatives are running and you need to choose the few the year will be judged on.
  • Several functions must change together, such as sales, software delivery and field operations in a move from hardware sales to subscriptions.
  • You want a monthly review that checks the plan against its measures and corrects course during the year.

Avoid it when

  • The breakthrough objectives are not agreed. Hoshin deploys a strategy. Settle the strategy first with tools such as SWOT or scenario planning.
  • The organisation is small enough to plan in one room. Quarterly OKRs give the same alignment with less paperwork.
  • Leaders will not accept proposals from below. Without catchball it becomes top-down target setting under another name.
  • You only need a set of performance measures. A balanced scorecard is lighter.

How to run it

  1. Set three to five breakthrough objectives

    Each should be a change the business could not reach by doing this year's work better, three to five years out: "half of revenue from software subscriptions by 2029". Number them.

  2. Write this year's objectives for each

    Write what must be true at the end of this year for each breakthrough to stay on course. One or two per breakthrough is usually enough. Start each with the breakthrough's number.

  3. Deploy priorities through catchball

    For each annual objective, the functions propose the priorities they will run. The level above questions and adjusts until both sides accept them.

  4. Give each priority a measure, a target and an owner

    A measure that shows progress during the year, not only at the end, and a named person rather than a function.

  5. Check coverage before you start

    Every breakthrough needs at least one priority under it, and no priority should exist without one above it. The counts by breakthrough show both.

  6. Review monthly and record countermeasures

    Check each priority against its target. When one falls behind, record the cause and the countermeasure, not only the status.

Work through it

Answer the questions below, or load the worked example to see a finished one. The drawing updates as you type. Export the result as a PowerPoint deck, a Word document, an Excel workbook, a PDF or plain text.

What you type stays in this browser, so you can close the page and come back to it. It is not sent to Blue Prysm or anyone else, and the exports are made here, on your device. Privacy policy.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Deploying too many priorities. A function with ten hoshin priorities has none. Most should stay in daily management.
  • Skipping catchball because it takes time. Targets handed down without negotiation are met on paper and missed in practice.
  • Reviewing status colours without causes. A monthly review that does not ask why a measure is behind cannot correct anything.
  • Letting priorities outlive their objective. When an annual objective is met or dropped, close the priorities under it.

Where it comes from

Developed in Japanese companies in the early 1960s as part of company-wide quality control. The name hoshin kanri is generally traced to a 1965 Bridgestone Tire study of planning practice at Deming Prize winners. The standard English source is Yoji Akao (ed.), Hoshin Kanri: Policy Deployment for Successful TQM (Productivity Press, 1991), first published by the Japanese Standards Association. Source.

Use it with

Further reading

Work through it with us

The frameworks here are free to use as they stand. If you would rather work through the question behind this one with us, these are the ways an engagement starts.