Hoshin Kanri Explained: How to Align Daily Work With Company Vision

Hoshin Kanri Explained: How to Align Daily Work with Your Company Vision

In this blog, we’re diving into Hoshin Kanri, the Japanese method for direction management, and how it can transform your business. If you’re a business leader or department head, this concept is a game changer. How can you get everyone in your organization moving in the same direction, aligned towards the same vision? Hoshin Kanri may be the answer, and today, I’ll break it down for you.

What is Hoshin Kanri?

Hoshin Kanri, which translates to direction management, is about making sure that your entire team is pulling in the same direction. If you get everyone rowing in unison, you can outpace your competition, no matter the market. The key lies in focusing on quality, people, and participation everyone working towards the same goals. I’m excited to share how you can apply this concept within your own organization.

Aligning Leadership and Vision

The journey toward alignment starts with leadership. I first encountered the power of alignment through the works of Patrick Lencioni and Jim Collins, particularly in their books The Advantage and Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0. These authors stress the importance of creating clarity within your leadership team, and scaling that clarity across your entire organization. Once the leadership team is aligned, you can work together to implement a clear vision and plan of action.

One essential tool for creating clarity is the Vision Traction Organizer (VTO), introduced by Gino Wickman in his book Traction. This tool helps to identify your company’s vision and goals, so everyone in the organization knows the direction they’re heading.

The Catchball Technique: Gathering Input and Creating Alignment

A critical part of this process is what’s known as Catchball. This technique comes from Japanese management practices and is all about creating a back-and-forth dialogue between leaders and departments. Rather than imposing top-down decisions, Catchball allows leaders to present their vision and goals, receive feedback from departments, and then adjust accordingly. This collaborative approach ensures that everyone is on the same page and committed to the same vision.

Defining Goals and Strategic Planning

Once the vision is set, the next step is to break it down into defining goals. These are the key goals that will guide the company in the upcoming quarter, six months, or year. Once those goals are identified, each department needs to create goals that align with the overall company strategy. This helps prevent silos and ensures that all departments are working toward the same objectives.

At Elevate and LeanTakt, we’ve applied this process several times. The first time we implemented this strategic planning cycle, just knowing where we were headed helped us achieve our goals. The next cycle, we encouraged departments to set individual goals aligned with the overall plan, and we tracked our progress. With each iteration, we’ve refined our approach and hit our goals more consistently.

Tracking and Measuring Success

The key to success in Hoshin Kanri is measuring progress and holding everyone accountable. At our company, we track individual goals (referred to as “rocks”) and departmental goals regularly to ensure we’re on track to meet our overarching vision. We even use visual huddle boards to make these goals visible to everyone in the organization, which helps to maintain alignment and accountability.

Benefits of Hoshin Kanri

The benefits of adopting Hoshin Kanri are clear:

• Alignment: Everyone knows the company’s vision and how their work contributes to it.
• Focus: With clear goals, you eliminate distractions and ensure that all efforts are directed toward achieving strategic outcomes.
• Engagement: When employees understand the company’s direction and how they contribute, engagement and motivation rise.
• Continuous Improvement: By regularly revisiting goals and adjusting as necessary, your organization becomes more agile and better equipped to overcome obstacles.

Bringing It All Together

Hoshin Kanri is a powerful method for ensuring alignment across your organization. By focusing on clarity, collaborative goal setting, and regular tracking, you can make sure that everyone in your company is working toward the same objectives. The result? A highly motivated, aligned team that’s more likely to outcompete others by focusing on people, process, and quality.

What’s your next step? Take a moment to review your organization’s vision and goals. Are they clearly communicated across all departments? Do your teams know exactly how their work contributes to the bigger picture? If not, it’s time to implement a Hoshin Kanri-based approach. Stay tuned for more tips and tools on how to bring this system into your workplace.