Strategy Execution Assessment

It's a structured, evidence-based Strategy Deployment Maturity Assessment and Gap Analysis, and it's the recommended starting point for any Hoshin Kanri journey. Rather than assuming where your organization stands, we evaluate your current capability across eight maturity dimensions that determine whether a Hoshin Kanri implementation will succeed and be sustained, then give your leadership team a clear, shared picture of where you actually are before committing to a full rollout.It runs as two modules: a Strategy Deployment Maturity Assessment and Gap Analysis, followed by an Executive Overview session where we walk your senior leadership team through the findings together.

It depends on where you're starting from. Every engagement is unique, so we scope this to your organization rather than assuming everyone needs the same starting point.If you're beginning from scratch, the assessment helps because strategy is rarely the constraint. Execution is. Most organizations beginning a Hoshin Kanri journey score predominantly in the 1 to 2 maturity range across most dimensions, often with isolated pockets of strength where prior improvement work has already happened, and jumping straight to training or a full implementation without knowing that pattern means you risk building on gaps you didn't know were there.If you already have some version of Hoshin Kanri, or a strategy deployment process that resembles it, in place, the assessment is highly valuable, in a different way. It gives us an honest, evidence-based read on what's actually working versus what looks aligned on paper but isn't, and where your existing approach differs from the full model. That means we don't waste time retraining what's already solid, and we don't rebuild what doesn't need to be rebuilt.Either way, the assessment gives you four things: a clear, evidence-based starting point before committing resources, a shared understanding across leadership of where you actually stand (which surfaces differing perspectives while they're still easy to address), direct input into how subsequent coaching, training, and deployment work should be sequenced, and a measurable baseline you can compare against when we re-administer the assessment later.

Eight maturity dimensions, each scored on a 1-5 scale from Absent to Optimized. Strategic Clarity & True North assesses whether your organization has a clear, shared, emotionally resonant sense of direction, since that's the foundation on which the entire X-Matrix cascade is built. Catchball & Nemawashi evaluates whether strategy moves through the organization as genuine two-way dialogue or gets dictated top-down. X-Matrix Deployment & Alignment examines whether you use a structured tool to connect objectives, KPIs, targets, and resources with real line of sight from the enterprise level down to individuals. Management Review & Bowler Charts assess your operating rhythm and whether deviations get surfaced and escalated rather than explained away.Leadership Behavior & Hansei looks at whether senior leaders genuinely model the disciplines Hoshin requires, including honest reflection on what worked and what didn't; this is frequently the single highest-leverage dimension, since Hoshin implementations tend to fail from a lack of leadership modeling more often than a lack of tools. Continuous Improvement Foundation assesses your baseline PDCA, root-cause problem-solving, and Kaizen capability. Daily Management & Sustainment evaluates whether gains from strategic initiatives actually stick, or erode as the organization drifts back to old habits. Organizational Readiness & Change Capacity steps back to assess broader factors, like change capacity and transformation history, that shape how quickly and successfully Hoshin Kanri can be introduced.These dimensions aren't independent of each other. Strategic clarity underpins the X-Matrix cascade, catchball shapes whether that cascade is genuinely owned or just complied with, and leadership behavior influences the credibility of everything else. Part of what the assessment identifies is which gaps are prerequisites for closing others, which is what actually drives the sequencing recommendation you get at the end.

Three ways, together, so the results are grounded in evidence rather than impressions. A facilitated self-assessment session (optional) works through all eight dimensions with your senior leadership team, and often surfaces meaningful variation in perspective across the room on its own. If a facilitated workshop does not make sense, the assessment can be done independently by individuals in your team and consolidated for review.Structured interviews, roughly 30 to 60 minutes each, run with a small set of individuals or small groups across executive, middle management, and front-line levels, to test whether understanding of the strategy is consistent and find where the line of sight breaks down. A document and artifact review looks at your existing strategic plans, KPI and Bowler reports, meeting cadences, and review materials, so scores are grounded in what's actually happening rather than what people believe is happening.

A completed Strategy Deployment Maturity Assessment with all eight dimensions scored and supporting evidence, plus a Consolidated Maturity Scorecard that summarizes current state against target maturity on a single page. Alongside that, a narrative Gap Analysis covering the two or three dimensions with the largest current-to-target gap and why each matters, which gaps are foundational dependencies for progress elsewhere, the strengths you already have to build on (even where they aren't labeled in Hoshin terms), and the change-readiness risk factors that should shape how you pace and sequence what comes next.You'll also get recommended sequencing input for your implementation roadmap, including pilot business unit considerations, a live Executive Overview session where we present the findings and facilitate a leadership discussion to validate them, and a final summary report suitable for circulating to the broader leadership team.

We are happy to customize the engagement based on your needs. However, here is our standard approach:Total time is about four weeks from kickoff. Week 1 is a kickoff call to confirm scope, participants, and document access. Weeks 1 through 2 cover the self-assessment (done individually or in a workshop, virtual or in-person), leadership, and a review of existing materials. Weeks 2 through 3 cover structured interviews across leadership, management, and front-line representatives (if necessary). Weeks 3 through 4 are scoring and gap analysis. Week 4 closes with the Executive Overview session where findings and the feedback plan are presented live.On your side, we need your senior leadership team for the self-assessment and the Executive Overview session; a small set of middle management, key subject matter experts, and/or front-line representatives for the structured interviews; and access to your existing strategic planning documents, KPIs and performance reports, and meeting cadence materials.

No. It's delivered as a standalone module, so you can proceed with it independently of, or in parallel with, any decisions about later phases like training, coaching, a strategy deployment workshop, or broader Hoshin Kanri implementation support. The whole point is to give you and your leadership team an honest, evidence-based picture before you commit to anything broader, not to lock you into a path before you've seen where you actually stand.