Aligning Strategies and Metrics to Drive Change
In a March 2025 COE webinar, Jason and Michelle Risser explored effective hoshin planning. Using real-world examples from Michelle’s business, the duo demonstrated the value of hoshin and offered strategies for asking the right questions, defining your true north, and maintaining accountability.
In this blog, Jason continues the conversation with a deep dive into an unanswered question from the audience Q&A: “How do you use hoshin to drive changes in associate metrics? It seems like what they’re measured on doesn’t align with strategic goals.”
Aligning Strategy and Metrics
Let’s dive into all the possible implications this question presents one-by-one.
First, let’s look at misalignment between strategy and metrics. This is common, and there are many potential reasons:
- Metrics could have been created prior to hoshin being rolled out.
- Hoshin plans were changed or revised after metric rollout.
- Metrics could potentially have been picked based on ease of access to data.
- Metrics were selected without clear understanding they need to be tied to strategic direction.
- Metrics were selected due to a misunderstanding of the connection between the metric and the desired end-state.
It’s important to understand why the misalignment is occurring before attempting to fix it, since the solution to address the misalignment may be different based on the cause. The key, though, is removing the misalignment rather than assigning blame for where we find ourselves now.
Second, sometimes strategic goals can be difficult to translate into tactical, operational goals. That’s why it’s critical to follow the hoshin process step-by-step.
Let’s take a minute to walk through the process to best to minimize problems with misalignment or translation. Following this process in order ensures the result ties back to the starting point:
Planning Session Questions
- WHAT – breakthrough thinking
- What do we want to be when we grow up?
- Where do we need to be in 3-5 years?
- HOW FAR – strategic initiatives
- What are we doing this year to make progress on our breakthrough objectives?
- HOW – key processes
- What are our tactical objectives for #2?
- HOW MUCH / WHEN – improvement targets
- What are the metrics we’ll use to hit our targets?
- What are our deadlines for each activity?
- WHO – identify key resources & deploy
- Who is accountable?
- What SMEs and other resources are needed?
Driving Changes in Metrics with Hoshin
Next, a different interpretation of the question leads to a different conversation.
If by “Hoshin can drive changes in metrics” we mean picking different metrics to measure (i.e. ‘We used to measure total expenses, but now, due to hoshin planning, we measure cost per contact’), this is precisely what we want! Much of the value of following the hoshin process is ensuring only progress/status on critical initiatives is measured—not everything under the sun, not what’s simply easy to track, not just what we’ve always tracked. The process covered above is how we get to this desired state.
If by “Hoshin can drive changes in metrics” we mean performance of what’s being measured (i.e. ‘our turnaround time on x used to be 5 days, but now, due to implementing hoshin tracking, it is 3 days’), this is also precisely what we want!
How is this achieved?
1. Gain associate buy-in.
Employees don’t get to pick whatever they want to measure, but those doing the work need to have a say in how the work is measured. And input is better than providing feedback—this is not a “here’s what I propose, is everyone good with it?” situation.
2. Use cadenced reviews.
Don’t create the hoshin and then hide it. Metrics that will show your organization’s progress (or lack thereof) towards its goals are necessary. If progress is sufficient, use the transparency to celebrate success, hard work, and commitment. If the progress is insufficient, use the transparency to talk about what’s getting in the way and how to address.
3. Focus on trends, not single data points.
If there’s a miss, maybe there is a special one-off cause that won’t be seen again, so no fix is necessary, or it’s a one-time situation and the metric is on track the next day, week, or month.
4. Focus on team and overall performance.
If the overall metrics are good, conversation about one person’s lagging numbers can be done in private in a 1:1 meeting or development conversation, or at a manager check-in, not in a team review.
5. Focus on gap.
Where are we versus where we want to be to achieve our intentional, strategic, transparent goals? Conversation should never be “why aren’t your numbers better?” but “what’s getting in the way of hitting the target?” This focus on gap allows conversation to move towards what’s in our way and how do we get to where we need to be, which is a business conversation rather than a personal conversation where someone is singled out.
In closing, take time for hoshin and strategic planning as a key element in delivering significant gains for your business, business unit, or team. Follow the steps, and don’t shy away from challenging questions and answers. Measure impact to goals rather than activity, and review progress to determine progress and gaps. As demonstrated in the hoshin planning webinar, it is well worth the time and effort involved.
For more on the impact of misaligned metrics, check out this article; and for more about the value of aligned metrics, check out this take from Harvard Business Review.
For some amazing insights on measuring the right metrics and rewarding the right behaviors, check out Sarah Tilkens and Leah Roe’ fantastic keynote from the COE Summit 2025.
Missed the webinar with Jason and Michelle Risser? A recording of their presentation is available in COE’s members-only Digital Content Archive. Don’t have an account? Create an account.
