ABSTRACT
The Hoshin process seems to extract the best from some leaders. Shepherding a Hoshin workgroup through successfully requires facilitating a set of people who may never have worked together before in accomplishing objectives that may never have been attempted before by the organization. Hoshin work is of the most strategic importance to an organization, and when a piece of the Hoshin is assigned to someone, the assignment is accompanied by an executive mandate. Hoshin means breakthrough and newness, and people can be unsure and uneasy. Leaders who show confidence, humility, self-reflection, and a comfort level with tough feedback help generate confidence in others. Hoshin objectives take a sustained and hardworking effort over the course of a year or more. Today the longevity of service of an executive at any given organization seems to have shortened, and the almost constant improvement and increased use of information and other technologies make lots of change even more likely.
