Hoshin Kanri Strategic Planning Training Course

Course overview

Many strategic plans fail after approval: priorities remain broad, departmental initiatives compete for resources, measures do not show whether strategy is working, and senior leaders receive progress reports without clear countermeasures. Hoshin Kanri provides a disciplined way to translate a three-to-five-year direction into a small number of annual breakthrough objectives, aligned departmental plans, measurable targets, and an operating review cadence. This course addresses the practical challenge of making strategy deployable rather than merely documented.

Participants learn to build a Hoshin Kanri management system using a strategic intent statement, breakthrough objectives, annual objectives, X-Matrices, A3 thinking, catchball dialogue, PDCA review cycles, and tiered performance measures. They practise distinguishing breakthrough work from routine operational management, setting leading and lagging indicators, assigning ownership, identifying cross-functional dependencies, and converting gaps into structured countermeasures. The course also examines how to run strategy reviews that test assumptions and remove obstacles instead of simply collecting status updates.

The programme is delivered through instructor-led demonstrations, facilitated planning workshops, worked cases, and team critique of draft deployment plans. Participants develop a practical Hoshin Kanri portfolio for a real or realistic organisational priority, including a completed X-Matrix, annual deployment plan, A3 problem-solving charter, KPI cascade, review calendar, and catchball stakeholder map. These artefacts can be refined with sponsors and used as the starting point for deployment after the course.

This intermediate course is suited to leaders and managers responsible for executing strategy across functions, business units, programmes, or improvement portfolios. It is particularly valuable where an organisation has strategic goals but lacks a reliable method for aligning initiatives, accountability, resources, and monthly learning cycles.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Construct a Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix linking strategic intent, breakthrough objectives, annual objectives, owners, and measures
• Differentiate breakthrough objectives from routine operational targets using a strategic prioritisation test
• Facilitate catchball discussions to negotiate cross-functional ownership, dependencies, capacity, and target commitments
• Translate annual objectives into measurable KPIs with leading indicators, lagging indicators, targets, and review thresholds
• Create an A3 charter that defines a strategic performance gap, root causes, countermeasures, owners, and follow-up checks
• Design a PDCA strategy review cadence with monthly, quarterly, and annual management routines
• Assess initiative portfolios for strategic alignment, resource conflicts, duplication, and unowned dependencies
• Produce a 90-day Hoshin Kanri deployment plan for launching or strengthening strategic execution

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Directors and Heads of Function — who must convert enterprise priorities into accountable functional plans
• Strategy Managers — who coordinate planning cycles and need a repeatable deployment method
• Business Unit Leaders — who balance local performance demands with enterprise breakthrough goals
• Operational Excellence Managers — who connect Lean improvement activity to strategic objectives
• Programme and Portfolio Managers — who govern cross-functional initiatives, milestones, dependencies, and benefits
• Senior Project Managers — who need to position major projects within measurable strategic priorities

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience contributing to, leading, or reporting against an annual plan, business plan, improvement programme, or cross-functional project. They should be comfortable discussing organisational objectives, basic KPIs, ownership, and performance reviews, and should be able to bring a current strategic priority or realistic case to use in workshops. Familiarity with Lean, PDCA, A3 problem solving, Balanced Scorecard, or OKRs is useful but not required. No statistical software, prior Hoshin Kanri certification, or specialist Lean qualification is required. Participants will use simple spreadsheet and collaboration templates during the course.

Training methodology

The instructor introduces each Hoshin Kanri component through short explanations, worked X-Matrix examples, and critique of common deployment failures. Participants then apply the method in facilitated workshops using a business case or their own strategic priority. Small groups conduct catchball negotiations, convert vague goals into measurable annual objectives, and use A3 thinking to address a performance gap. Daily reviews connect each artefact to the next stage of deployment. The final session is an application-planning clinic in which participants test their draft system against organisational realities, sponsors, data availability, and review routines.

Course outline

Day 1: Strategic intent and Hoshin Kanri foundations

• Purpose and operating logic of Hoshin Kanri
• Strategic intent, vision, and true north statements
• Breakthrough objectives versus business-as-usual management
• Three-to-five-year strategic planning horizons
• The seven-step Hoshin Kanri planning cycle
• Alignment failures in conventional annual planning
• Hoshin Kanri roles, governance, and decision rights

Workshop: Participants diagnose a failed strategy deployment case and produce a draft strategic intent statement with three candidate breakthrough objectives.

Day 2: X-Matrix design and objective deployment

• X-Matrix structure and directional relationships
• Selecting breakthrough objectives and annual objectives
• Defining measurable targets and success criteria
• Assigning accountable owners and contributing owners
• Linking improvement priorities to strategic outcomes
• Testing vertical and horizontal alignment
• Avoiding overloaded X-Matrices and false linkages

Workshop: Participants build a first-pass X-Matrix that connects strategic priorities, annual objectives, measures, initiatives, and accountable owners.

Day 3: Catchball, KPI cascades, and execution ownership

• Catchball as a two-way alignment process
• Stakeholder mapping for cross-functional objectives
• Negotiating targets, capacity, and dependencies
• Leading and lagging KPI design
• KPI trees and measure cascades
• RACI decisions within Hoshin deployment
• Escalation paths for unresolved trade-offs

Workshop: In a structured catchball simulation, participants negotiate a cross-functional annual objective and produce an agreed ownership, KPI, and dependency map.

Day 4: A3 thinking and PDCA strategy review

• A3 structure for strategic performance gaps
• Current-condition analysis and target-condition definition
• Root-cause analysis using five whys and cause-and-effect logic
• Countermeasure selection and experiment design
• PDCA cycles for annual objective delivery
• Monthly and quarterly strategy review agendas
• Visual management and exception-based reporting

Workshop: Participants create an A3 charter for an off-track strategic objective, including root causes, countermeasures, owners, milestones, and checks.

Day 5: Governance, portfolio choices, and deployment launch

• Strategy deployment governance architecture
• Portfolio alignment and initiative prioritisation
• Resource conflict and dependency management
• Quarterly hoshin review and course-correction routines
• Annual reflection and next-cycle planning
• Integrating Hoshin Kanri with Lean, OKRs, and Balanced Scorecards
• Ninety-day deployment launch planning

Workshop: Participants present a complete Hoshin Kanri deployment pack and produce a 90-day action plan for sponsor engagement, catchball, reviews, and rollout.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Miro, Microsoft PowerPoint, ISO 9001:2015

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions