How Lean leaders turn strategy into daily action through alignment, focus, and learning (webinar)
In this foundational webinar, Mark Graban explains why strategy deployment (also known as Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise thinking) is not a planning exercise, but a management system for aligning an organization around what matters most.
Drawing on examples from Toyota, ThedaCare, Virginia Mason Medical Center, and Scott & White Healthcare, Mark shows how Lean organizations connect long-term purpose, annual priorities, frontline improvement, and daily management into one coherent system.
This is not about copying tools or boards. It is about understanding the thinking underneath them.
Lean Is Not Just Tools — It’s a System
Many organizations treat Lean as a toolbox. Strategy deployment reveals why that mindset falls short.
The visible artifacts — boards, metrics, A3s, dashboards — are only the tip of the iceberg. What drives them is the management philosophy beneath the surface: alignment, learning, problem solving, and shared ownership of results.
Without that thinking, organizations can “do” strategy deployment and still miss the point.
The Four Hypotheses Behind Strategy Deployment
Mark reframes strategy deployment as a series of organizational PDCA cycles — not a rigid annual plan, but a set of hypotheses leaders must test.
Hypothesis 1: We have defined the right “True North” categories that matter most.
Hypothesis 2: We are measuring the right key performance indicators that reflect progress.
Hypothesis 3: We are working on the right few initiatives that will actually close performance gaps.
Hypothesis 4: We have the organizational capacity to complete what we say we will do.
Each of these must be tested, reviewed, and adjusted through the year.
True North: More Than Words on a Wall
At ThedaCare, True North evolved over time into categories like:
- Safety
- Quality
- People
- Financial stewardship
- Patient loyalty
These were not copied from Toyota. They were developed through discussion, debate, and “catchball” — a back-and-forth dialogue between leadership levels to build shared understanding and ownership.
True North must resonate, not just sound good.
KPIs: Fewer, More Meaningful Measures
Leaders often track too many metrics. Strategy deployment requires choosing a small set of indicators that truly reflect organizational health.
Just as you don’t need 200 measurements to understand a person’s health, you don’t need hundreds of KPIs to understand organizational performance.
These measures guide focus, not micromanagement.
Choosing the Vital Few Initiatives
One exercise Mark describes reveals the problem: an organization listed 222 “top priority” projects — and completed very few.
Strategy deployment forces leaders to ask the hard question:
What are the 15–20 initiatives we must complete this year?
Everything else becomes “not now.”
This clarity prevents teams from being pulled in conflicting directions.
Alignment from Executive Strategy to Frontline Boards
The power of strategy deployment appears when a frontline team can point to:
- Their daily metrics
- Their improvement work
- Their connection to departmental goals
- Their connection to system strategy
This vertical and horizontal alignment is where Lean becomes a management system, not a collection of projects.
Learning, Not Just Results
A key theme in the webinar: hitting a target is not enough.
Leaders must ask:
- Did we do what we said we would do?
- Did we get the results we expected?
- If not, why?
- If yes, do we understand why?
This turns strategy deployment into a learning system, not a compliance system.
Key Takeaway
Strategy deployment is how Lean organizations ensure that:
- Strategy is not disconnected from daily work
- Improvement is not random or reactive
- Leaders learn as they go, instead of judging at year-end
- Everyone understands how their work contributes to True North
It is not a board.
It is not a spreadsheet.
It is not a yearly planning ritual.
It is a disciplined way of thinking, aligning, and learning together.
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