Policy deployment, known in Lean circles as Hoshin Kanri or Strategy Deployment, is a technique for ensuring that an organization's strategic goals and objectives drive activities at every level. The goal is to provide consistent direction and clear communications so that every employee pulls in the same direction (toward "True North") simultaneously. The strategic planning process aims to ensure that the corporate objectives (Strategy), management plans (Tactics), and the tasks accomplished by all employees (Operations) are in sync with each other.

There are four phases of strategy deployment.

Most leaders will agree that a culture of accountability and ownership is essential if the goal is to achieve operational excellence. Unfortunately, many organizations don’t take the steps necessary to build accountability into the day-to-day practices of individuals at every level. Like everything else that has to do with organizational culture, accountability will not happen by accident. The good news is that leaders can take some simple yet powerful steps to bake in a sense of responsibility and positive engagement. 

When you're thinking about rolling out Strategy Deployment in your organization, it can be intimidating to know exactly where to start, what pitfalls to avoid, and how to set yourself up for success right from the beginning. I've recently written an eBook that covers these questions, as well as information about the software you need to enable Strategy Deployment, that you can download here:

But I thought that today on the blog, I'd give you a sneak peek into one of the chapters of the book covering the formula for successful Strategy Deployment.

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What is Operational Excellence?

Executing a business strategy more effectively and consistently than the competition is called Operational Excellence. Ideally, every employee can see the flow of value to the customer and fix it when the flow is interrupted.

We are often asked if continuous improvement and operational excellence are the same. They are not, but they are closely related. Continuous improvement involves constantly improving your business operations to reduce waste, cut costs, improve quality, and maximize human potential. It focuses on making each existing process perfect. Operational excellence goes further. It involves setting the organization up for growth by understanding what the market wants and creating an uninterrupted value stream that continuously feeds the need.

One of the most critical responsibilities of leadership teams in organizations of all types and sizes is to set the strategic direction and develop an executable plan to achieve the most important key performance indicators. Unfortunately, until recently, the data used to drive strategy execution was limited to lagging indicators like financial performance and customer satisfaction ratings. 

Today, a new option that allows management with leading indicators of success is available. Rather than a rearview mirror, strategy execution software provides management teams with a dashboard to help them drive toward the results they need to achieve.

Hoshin Kanri, sometimes called "strategy deployment", is an approach that helps companies achieve breakthrough goals over a three to five-year time horizon.

The methodology is effective because it allows leaders to keep their eye on the long-term objectives that will change the game, without losing sight of the day-to-day improvements that can add up to significant benefits.

However, we won’t lie. Effective strategy deployment isn’t easy.

Too often, the strategic plan gets lip service but little else. If you are looking for help making sure that your organization arrives at “True North,” an X-Matrix might help.

I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that I believe we are all glad to have 2020 in the rearview mirror. While life isn't going back to normal any time soon, there is hope on the horizon. The COIVD-19 vaccine rollout is on the way, and our healthcare professionals have made great strides in treatment for the disease. 

Last year at about this time, we laid out some suggested continuous improvement resolutions for 2020. If the pandemic thwarted your plans and best intentions, give yourself a pass. No one knew what unprecedented challenges would arise.

But this is an excellent time to begin again. Even knowing that COVID-related disruptions will continue, it is still a healthy exercise to think about what your team can accomplish for continuous improvement in 2021. You'll have to consider your unique priorities, but we do have some suggestions for goals that will help your organization achieve excellence in the coming year.

It may seem early to start thinking about the strategic plan for 2020, but the kids are back in school, and pumpkin spice is on the shelves, so it is time to start at least planning for the plan. Our clients who have achieved their most lofty goals have done so by laying a strong foundation upon which the strategy and related tactics can be built. Here are some of the things they've found that work.

I recently read that it takes the average person about eight minutes to read 1000 words.

You’re smarter than average, and this post isn’t quite that long, so you can read it and get the essential information you need about strategy deployment software in probably less than seven minutes. That’s terrific because there are so many technologies available to help you achieve better business results that no one has the time to read lengthy explanations about all of them.

If you’ve got just a few minutes to spare today, learning more about strategy deployment software will be worth your time.

Hoshin Kanri is a strategic planning approach that is often used to improve organizations. Although it is not as commonly used as some other Lean techniques, it is an extremely useful way to ensure that the entire organization is working towards the same ends and moving in the same direction. An organization does not need to be practicing Lean to benefit from Hoshin Kanri, any organization that has embraced the ideas that continuous improvement is essential and that employees should be empowered to create positive change can benefit from the approach.