Hoshin Kanri: A better way to True North

Struggling to align your business strategies with organisational goals? It is essential to plan and have a strategy to ensure success. Making the right plan ensures that your business moves in the correct direction. Hoshin Kanri, or Policy Deployment, is a Japanese management methodology that can help businesses achieve their True North by aligning their strategic goals and actions in the right direction. So, What is True North? True North describes an organisation's ultimate purpose or the direction it strives to reach for sustained success. Let's see how Hoshin Kanri helps businesses to achieve True North in business!

Getting closer to True North for organisational success

True North conceptually represents a company's ultimate goal, purpose, or direction. It's an essential guide for an organisation to achieve long-term success. It serves as a benchmark for all decision-making processes and actions its leaders and employees take.

Here are some key points to help your organisation get closer to True North for its success:

• Define your True North: Determine the purposes and values guiding your organisation. It can be done by thoroughly analysing your business's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT).

• Align your stakeholders: Make sure everyone in the organisation knows your True North and is aligned with it, including employees and other stakeholders. This alignment will help create a shared sense of purpose and direction and ensure everyone works towards the same goals.

• Create a clear roadmap: Develop a plan that outlines the steps your organisation will take to achieve your True North. This roadmap should include specific, measurable goals and timelines for achieving them.

• Build a culture of accountability: Encourage everyone in your organisation to take ownership of their responsibilities and be accountable for their actions. This culture will help ensure everyone is working towards and committed to achieving the same goals.

• Monitor progress: Regularly review progress towards your True North to ensure you are on track. It is analysed through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other performance measures.

By following these steps, your organisation can get closer to its True North and achieve long-term success. Getting closer to True North is an ongoing journey and requires continuous improvement efforts and commitment from everyone in the organisation.

What makes Hoshin Kanri a better way to achieve True North in your organisation?

The Hoshin Kanri method provides a structured and systematic approach to strategic planning and execution that will help you achieve True North in your organisation. Here are some reasons why:

• Focus on long-term goals: Hoshin Kanri is designed to help organisations achieve their long-term goals or True North. This approach ensures that the organisation's actions and decisions are aligned with its ultimate purpose and that everyone is working towards the same goal.

• Alignment at all levels: Hoshin Kanri involves setting goals and objectives at all levels of the organisation, from top-level strategic goals to operational-level actions. It ensures that everyone in the organisation is aligned with its goals and objectives and understands how their role contributes to its overall success.

• Continuous improvement: Hoshin Kanri is a continuous process with regular reviews and adjustments to ensure the organisation remains on track towards its True North. This approach encourages ongoing learning and improvement and helps organisations adapt to changing circumstances and market conditions.

• Employee engagement: Hoshin Kanri involves all employees in setting and achieving goals. By involving everyone in the organisation, Hoshin Kanri fosters a sense of ownership and accountability, which can lead to greater engagement and motivation.

• Collaborative culture: Hoshin Kanri fosters a culture of collaboration and communication, which can help to break down silos and improve coordination across departments. It can lead to more efficient and effective decision-making and help organisations respond quickly to changing circumstances.

Visualising True North objectives with Hoshin Kanri X-matrix

Hoshin Kanri is a strategic planning and deployment process that helps organisations align their goals and objectives with their True North. Hoshin Kanri X matrix helps organisations visualise their True North objectives and create an action plan for achieving them. 

The Hoshin Kanri X matrix is divided into four quadrants. The first quadrant lists the organisation's True North objectives, which are the ultimate goals the organisation wants to achieve. These objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART).

The second quadrant specifies the organisation's strategies to achieve True North objectives. These strategies should be based on the organisation's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT analysis).

The third quadrant gives insights into the specific actions to implement these strategies. These actions should be assigned to specific people or teams with completion timelines.

The fourth quadrant is for tracking progress towards achieving the True North objectives. This quadrant should include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure progress towards the goals. The KPIs should be specific, measurable, and aligned with True North objectives.

The Hoshin Kanri X matrix helps organisations track progress towards achieving their objectives and adjust their plans accordingly. To use the Hoshin Kanri X matrix effectively, organisations should involve all stakeholders and communicate the objectives, strategies, and actions clearly and consistently. They should also regularly review progress towards achieving the objectives and adjust their plans to stay on track towards their True North.

Hoshin Kanri Catchball for True North

Hoshin Kanri Catchball is a communication process used in Hoshin Kanri to ensure alignment and buy-in from all organisational stakeholders towards achieving True North. It involves a collaborative and continuous process of exchanging ideas and feedback between different levels of the organisation, from top-level management to frontline employees.

The Catchball process provides feedback on the strategies and actions used to refine and improve the plan. The feedback is not limited to concerns or criticisms but includes suggestions and ideas for improvement.

The Hoshin Kanri Catchball process ensures the plan aligns with the organisation's resources, capabilities, and culture. It also creates a platform for continuous improvement and learning as feedback is incorporated into the plan. All communications must be open and transparent to implement Hoshin Kanri Catchball. Regular follow-up meetings should be held to review progress and adjust the plan.

Hoshin Kanri is a better way to achieve True North in your organisation for several reasons. Hoshin Kanri involves a structured, systematic approach to setting and achieving goals that are based on a clear and compelling vision. By aligning everyone in the organisation with its ultimate purpose and by focusing on long-term goals, Hoshin Kanri can help organisations to achieve sustained success.

Hoshin Kanri provides a framework for continuous improvement, with regular reviews and adjustments to ensure that the organisation remains on track towards its True North. This process of continuous improvement can lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness over time as the organisation learns from its experiences and adapts to changing circumstances.