Page 177 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

Planning and Goals 155

Hoshin–Kanri Planning
Few things are as powerful for the manager as Hoshin-Kanri (H-K) planning. Any man-
ager who has his pulse on the business can learn H-K planning and execute the basics
of it rather quickly. It is not very time consuming to develop the plant goals, nor is it
very difficult to review the goals monthly. Even if the manager is locked in his office
and does not have any—or any real—contact with the floor (which is the real-time con-
suming step). H-K’s goal formation and review can be powerful techniques.
I can think of no management technique that will leverage a manager more than
goal creation and review, yet it is so seldom done well. It is one of the most power-
ful management tools, and one of the most humane, yet it is not difficult to do. It
baffles me.

Why Are Goals and Goal Deployment So Important?

What Is the Purpose of Goals?
To answer this question, first let’s explore what the purpose of goals is. Let me be simple
and straightforward. The primary purpose of goals
is to guide behavior.
Often the most critical and important thing a Point of Clarity The purpose
leader or a manager must do is act with courage of goals is to guide behavior.
and conviction on the plan he has created. When he
does this, he not only acts in the best interest of the facility but also shows, by example,
the appropriate way to lead. If he does not act in this fashion, everything else he will do
will be compromised. If he has developed a good plan for the facility, he then wants all
those in the organization to act in consort with that plan, trying to reach those goals.
This is his leverage. This then is his ability to get the work done through others and
have confidence that the right work is being done, by the right people, in the right way,
to reach the right objectives.

• If his goals are not meaningful, then the organization will not get to the right
place.
• If his goals are unclear, then the organization cannot proceed with confidence,
undermining their ability to reach the goals.
• If the goals are not directed to—and understood by—the right people, then they
fall on deaf ears and will not be reached.

The goals become the primary tool, used by the manager, so he can convey both the
needs of, and the desired destination for, the facility. Good goals, well deployed, will
not only leverage the manager’s ability to get the
right work done and improve the performance of the
facility, they will actually be a primary motivating “If we don’t know where we
tool for the workforce. People will always act better are going, we might end up
and more decisively when they know where they are somewhere else. ”
going. Weak, unclear, or poorly deployed goals will Yogi Berra
doom the facility to perform at an inferior level.