consulting: strategic planning: hoshin kanri

Hoshin Kanri is the most effective strategic planning methodology available to organizations today. By using Hoshin Kanri organizations are able to convert a company vision to individual responsibility through flexible strategic management. Hoshin Kanri, the Japanese term for policy deployment, is an approach to strategic planning and quality improvement that has become a pillar of Total Quality Management for a growing number of companies.

Hoshin Kanri comes from Japan. It was created by Dr. Yogi Akao after Deming, Juran and others talked to the Japanese about leadership and control. You'll also hear it called Policy Deployment, especially when Hoshin Kanri is used for individual departments. Hoshins, in Hoshin Kanri, are typically the breakthrough ideas that create needed change toward continuous improvement. They can be stretch goals or what the organization must do to survive. Sometimes they are breakthroughs and sometimes they are not.