Catchball: The Feedback Engine of Hoshin Kanri

Key Takeaways

• Catchball is the structured back-and-forth dialogue that turns cascading objectives into shared commitments.
• It ensures feasibility, alignment, and buy-in before plans are locked in.
• The process can be used during planning, cascading, and review cycles.
• A good catchball balances clear direction with openness to feedback.
• Worked examples make the process easy to replicate in real organizations.

What is Catchball in Hoshin Kanri?

In Hoshin Kanri, catchball is the ongoing exchange of ideas, objectives, and plans between different levels and functions of the organization.

The metaphor is simple:

• A leader “throws” an idea, proposal, or objective.
• The receiving team “catches” it, reviews it, adds input, and “throws” it back.
• This continues until both sides agree on a shared commitment that’s realistic, aligned, and clearly understood.

Catchball and cascading work hand-in-hand: cascading provides the structural flow of objectives from company to department level, while catchball ensures each handoff is collaborative rather than dictatorial. Without catchball, cascading becomes a one-way announcement that often fails in execution. While cascading is about what flows down, catchball is about how it’s refined through collaborative dialogue.

Why Catchball Matters in Hoshin Kanri

Without catchball, strategy deployment can turn into a top-down directive, fast to announce but slow to execute because teams lack clarity or commitment. For example, a manufacturing company that cascaded a “reduce waste by 15%” objective without dialogue. Six months later, they discovered, the production team had focused on material waste while the target was actually about time waste, marketing had launched efficiency campaigns that conflicted with production priorities, and finance was measuring different waste metrics than operations. The result? Lots of activity, little progress, and frustrated teams. A single round of catchball upfront would have prevented months of misaligned effort.

When to Use Catchball?

Catchball isn’t limited to one stage of Hoshin Kanri. It can be used:

• During Strategic Planning
  Executives can engage directors and managers to refine high-level objectives before publishing them. This brings clarity and focus.
• During Cascading
  As objectives flow to departments and teams, catchball ensures each group has input into how they’ll deliver.
• During Reviews
  Mid-year or quarterly reviews can use catchball to adapt objectives based on new data or changing priorities.

How Does the Catchball Process Work in 5 Easy Steps

• Step 1: Throw
  A leader presents an initial objective, initiative, or KPI target. This should include:
  • The strategic driver it supports.
  • The expected outcomes.
  • The rationale behind it.
• Step 2: Catch
  The receiving team or individual evaluates:
  • Is this feasible within our resources and constraints?
  • Are there better ways to achieve the same goal?
  • What potential risks or dependencies exist?
• Step 3: Respond
  Feedback is sent back with:
  • Suggested refinements.
  • Additional context or data.
  • Agreement or counterproposals.
• Step 4: Iterate
  The throw–catch cycle continues until both sides agree on a final, executable version. Treat feedback as problem-solving, not pushback. The goal is a better solution, not defending the original idea.
• Step 5: Commit
  Once agreed, the objective is locked into the X-Matrix with clear ownership, relationships, and measures. Show how input shaped the final commitment. This builds trust for future catchball sessions. Ensure both sides agree on not just the objective, but the reasoning behind it.

Worked Example: An Objective’s Journey Through Catchball

Company-Level Objective (Initial Throw):
“Increase customer retention rate by 10% this year.”

Round 1: Marketing Department Catches It:
Feedback: “Retention is more directly influenced by Customer Success. Marketing can contribute by improving onboarding communications.”
Proposal: “Marketing will aim to improve onboarding email engagement rate by 20%.”

Round 2: Customer Success Catches the New Proposal:
Feedback: “Onboarding communications are important, but we also need a 30- and 60-day follow-up call process.”
Proposal: “Customer Success will implement the follow-up calls, while Marketing focuses on engagement.”

Round 3: Leadership Throws Back a Consolidated Plan:
Final Agreed Plan:

• Marketing → Increase onboarding email engagement by 20%.
• Customer Success → Launch follow-up calls for all new customers at 30 and 60 days.
• Both contribute to the retention KPI.

Outcome:

• All parties understand their role.
• The objective is realistic and owned.
• Both initiatives appear in the X-Matrix with clear relationship mapping.

TOP 5 Facilitation Tips for Productive Catchball

• Be clear about the non-negotiables: Some elements are fixed by strategy and shouldn’t be debated endlessly.
• Timebox discussions: Avoid getting stuck in perpetual refinement.
• Use data to anchor feedback: Opinions are useful, but evidence makes decisions stronger.
• Document changes: Keep a record of how the objective evolved for transparency.
• Balance influence: Ensure all voices are heard, not just the loudest ones.

Common Catchball Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Best Practices for Maximum Impact

• Integrate with Cascading: Use catchball as the dialogue tool during each cascade step.
• Train Facilitators: Not everyone is naturally skilled at running constructive feedback sessions.
• Use the X-Matrix as a Reference: Keep the visual context of where the objective fits.
• Encourage Constructive Challenge: Healthy disagreement can lead to stronger plans.
• Close the Loop: Always end with documented commitments, owners, and measures.

Making Strategy a Shared Responsibility

Catchball transforms strategy deployment from a top-down broadcast into a shared conversation. By combining cascading’s structural clarity with catchball’s collaborative refinement, organizations create objectives that are both strategically aligned and operationally feasible.

It’s not just about passing the ball; it’s about making sure everyone who touches it understands the game plan and is ready to play their part.

FAQs

1. What is catchball in Hoshin Kanri?

Catchball is the structured dialogue process in Hoshin Kanri where objectives and plans are exchanged back and forth between organizational levels until both sides reach agreement. Like throwing and catching a ball, leaders “throw” an initial objective, teams “catch” it and provide feedback, then “throw” back their input. This continues until there’s a shared commitment that’s realistic, aligned, and clearly understood by all parties.

2. How is catchball different from regular feedback sessions?

Unlike typical feedback meetings, catchball is an iterative dialogue specifically focused on refining strategic objectives until they’re mutually agreed upon. Regular feedback often flows one way or ends after initial input. Catchball continues the back-and-forth exchange until both the strategic intent and operational feasibility are confirmed. It’s designed to build ownership and commitment, not just gather opinions.

3. When should you use catchball vs. when should you skip it?

Use catchball for strategic objectives that require cross-functional cooperation, significant resource commitment, or where implementation feasibility is uncertain. Skip it for routine operational decisions, well-established processes, or when timelines are too tight for dialogue. The key is reserving catchball for objectives where collaborative refinement will improve both buy in and execution success.