This step in the Hoshin Kanri process drives core objectives down to the departmental level. It is a simple plan for achieving our goals as they relate to the core objectives. It should be completed by the department manager wth their staff.
This is a critical step in the process. No one likes to have goals imposed upon them. People are not reluctant to change. People are reluctant to being changed. When they understand try why of change and the potential consequences of not changing, the reluctance of being changed decreases. People want to part of the process.people want to have a say in what happens. When they become part of the planning process, when they are engaged in the process and feel that they have an impact on what’s happening, the goals are no longer departmental goals but become their goals. The resistance to being changed is eliminated. They start doing what needs to be done to achieve the goals. The more we engage our people, the easier it becomes to reach our goals.
- The action plan has several fields that need to be completed.
- Hoshin objective. This is taken from the X matrix strategic goals section.
- Department
- Management owner. Who is accountable for this plan?
- Situation Summary. What is the present state state? What key performance indicator (KPI) are we using to track this objective?
- Core Objectives. What are our short and long term goals? Achieving these goals will be the measure of success of the implementation strategies e develop.
- Implementation strategy. What specific strategy or strategies will we implement to reach our goals?
- Targets and Milestones. A key in achieving goals over time is to break them down into smaller more manageable interim goals tied to specific dates. This simplifies the process. Departments have the opportunity to review goals on a regular basis, celebrate success when goals are achieved and an opportunity to make any necessary changes to their implementation strategies if they are falling short of their goals. The process starts by breaking down the target into monthly goals and recording each monthly goal in the appropriate month. In the row immediately below the target is the actual goal. This allows us to compare target to actual and display it visually.
We recommend displaying the Hoshin Action Plan on the departmental gemba board. The KPI should be tracked separately on the gemba board nod be part of the daily gemba walk.