Climbing the North Face (of the Hoshin X Matrix) The north face (top) of the x matrix is the area reserved for capturing and detailing the top level improvement priorities. These are the key things that need to be done within the year to support the achievement of the annual breakthrough objectives. If good practice for annual breakthrough objectives is typically the selection of no more than 6 or 7, it’s fairly common to have 2 improvement priorities for each annual breakthrough. As with the other facets of the Hoshin x matrix, here are some best practice tips: 1) Try to avoid going into too much detail and therefore getting into the detail of the projects that

will support the improvement priorities. In most hoshin processes, projects are the next step after top level improvement priorities. When the team first reviews the improvement priorities, it’s likely that some projects will have sneaked onto the list. These need to be removed.

2) Avoid improvement priorities that are not clearly tied to breakthrough objectives. These are typically called unaffiliated objectives and often enter as they are linked to the sacred cows we’ve discussed previously.

The 3 faces populated thus far (south, west, and north) enable the executive team to review and debate the linkages between all key aspects of the strategy. One of the most compelling aspects of the x matrix is that all of the key elements of the proposed strategy are visible in one sheet of paper (or in i-nexus)! One of the skills involved here is the objective assessment of the impact of top level improvement priorities on the achievement of the annual breakthrough objectives. The relative impacts of the improvement priorities is also a good way of screening out and focusing on those that will do the most to deliver the annual breakthroughs. The remainder of the work to complete the X matrix is fairly straightforward. I was going to use the word easy but thought that might give the wrong impression! KPI’s now need to be selected to support the measurement and achievement of the improvement priorities. In some cases, these KPI’s will already exist and be part of the management reporting fabric. In others, new KPI’s will need to be “invented”. Given that Hoshin Planning is partly about transformation, some new KPI’s are likely.

Developing lagging indicators and the possible leading indicators that will ensure the implementation teams are informed as to whether they are on track to achieve their breakthrough objectives, can be identified and finalized here. Relevant leading indicators ensure earliest identification of any possible issues. This then ensures that informed decisions regarding any corrective action can be taken in time, possibly even including changes to the strategic plan. This is where the collaborative catchball process provides a bottom up opportunity for implementation managers to re-validate and give input into the goals and metrics that form

part of the plan and how they can be best aligned to ensure the breakthrough objectives are achieved.

Finally, responsibility for each of the top level improvement priorities needs to be allocated among the members of the top team. Normally, both primary and secondary responsibilities are allocated using different icons and one can quickly determine which of the executive team are going to be really busy as opposed to those that will be working on their golf! In ensuring that the relevant accountable members of the executive team and others involved are kept fully informed with necessary information, technology such as the i-nexus strategy execution suite can again assist, allowing authorized resources to drill into action plans and have meaningful personalized performance reports emailed directly to their personal laptop, i-pad, tablet or PC. This ensures easy access to real time information and transparency, cutting down on the multiple excel spreadsheets that would normally proliferate with multilevel x-matrices and associated reporting data.

This would include access to bowling charts which track monthly planned vs actual performance to achieve the required metrics, highlighting where performance doesn’t meet or beats the metric, as well as the action plans including countermeasures developed to ensure the metrics are achieved. With this in place the other members of the executive team may also have some opportunity to work on their golf, comfortable in the knowledge that they have the necessary tools in place, ensuring their areas of accountability achieve the metrics and strategic objectives required for the annual bonus payout. The i-nexus strategy execution suite includes market leading Hoshin features and implementation tools and we take pride in implementing our software quickly and professionally to support our client’s strategy execution success. See i-nexus.com/watch-hoshin-demo and request a callback if our solution could support your success.

I welcome your feedback and comments

Paul Docherty, i-nexus Founder & Executive Director

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e-mail: paul.docherty@i-nexus.com i-nexus