From strategy to execution, board by board
Obeya is a way of setting direction together. Goals, work and problems are brought together in one place, helping teams review progress and agree on next steps regularly. With Midflyt, you turn your strategy into goals for departments and teams. Teams provide feedback on what they can realistically achieve. Problems are routed to the team best placed to resolve them. Each board shows how work is progressing.
Connected boards across your organisation
Each team and department, including the management team, has its own Obeya board. These boards connect to form a single network. The diagram shows how boards connect across organisational levels. Each Kanban board links to the Obeya board whose goals its tasks support. Work can be passed between teams and across organisational levels.
The example below shows a local government organisation. The same approach can be used in hospitals, schools and businesses. New to Obeya? Start by exploring What is Obeya?
How boards connect across organisational levels
This is one possible setup. Each organisation decides which boards it needs and how they connect across organisational levels.
| Level | Board | Purpose and responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Management team | Management team's Obeya board | Sets direction and annual goals. Makes decisions on issues that departments cannot resolve themselves. |
| Department | Department's Obeya board, linked to the management team's board | Turns organisational goals into departmental actions. Resolves issues raised by teams or refers them to the management team. |
| Team | Team's Obeya board, linked to the department's board | Agrees on monthly actions to achieve the goal. Provides feedback on what is realistic and what support or resources are needed. |
| Daily work | Kanban board linked to the team's Obeya board | Tracks day-to-day tasks, with each card linked to the goal it supports. |
Translating strategy into objectives for every team
A strategy says where the organisation wants to go. A team only benefits from it once it knows what it contributes. Translating strategy into objectives takes four steps, which apply at every level, from management team to team.
- Start with the why. First write down what you're doing it for, in line with the direction set at the next organisational level. Knowing the why makes it easier to choose which goals matter.
- Choose a few goals. The more goals you have, the less each one means.
- Make the goal your own. Don't ask "how do we carry this out?", but "what does our team contribute to this?". A good team goal describes what will be different once it has been achieved, with an owner and a deadline.
- Agree how you'll track it. Choose what will show you along the way whether it's working, and discuss it on a regular meeting schedule. Without regular meetings, it stays a plan.
The most important part happens between the levels. An objective that only cascades down becomes an order. An objective the team can respond to becomes an agreement. That is why the team responds with what's feasible.
Goals are passed to teams. Teams help shape what's achievable (catchball)
Turning strategy into team action starts with a shared vision. Each board begins with Why we do it, aligned with the board at the next organisational level—or with the organisation's overall direction if no higher-level board exists. Goals follow from that purpose, so everyone can see why their work matters.
The management team adds a goal to its board and uses Send to board to pass it to a department. The card arrives in the department board's inbox, ready for the department to place in the appropriate row. Its time period, dates, checklist and metric remain linked to the card.
The teams then discuss how to achieve the goal. The department identifies its contribution and passes relevant parts to individual teams. Each team assesses what it can realistically achieve and what it needs, then provides feedback. Goals are therefore refined through two-way discussion, with feedback from the teams responsible for delivering them. Passing goals through organisational levels is often called cascading goals. In Hoshin Kanri, the back-and-forth discussion is known as 'catchball'.
Problems reach the right level for resolution
Sometimes a team cannot resolve a problem on its own. It may lack capacity, need a decision, or face a budget constraint or policy issue. The team can then send the card to the board at the next organisational level. This board is already listed in the Send to board window and labelled 'Parent board — escalate issues here'.
The receiving team places the card under What's holding us back?, and the Navigator adds it to the next meeting's agenda. If the issue cannot be resolved at that level, it is escalated further. Once a decision is made, it is communicated back to the team that raised the issue.
Working between departments: teams and departments can see what they need from each other
Every department can do its own work well and still get held up by the department next door. This is often called silo thinking: everyone looks only at their own part, and nobody sees what falls in between. Working across departments improves when you can see where you're waiting for each other.
Work often depends on input from another team or department. Link the relevant cards across their boards so both teams can see the connection and understand what they are waiting for.
When a decision made in a meeting affects another team, the Navigator sends it to that team's board. It arrives in the board's inbox, ready for the receiving team to place in the appropriate section.
Progress updates automatically
When all tasks linked to a goal are complete, the goal is automatically marked as complete on the board at the next organisational level. These updates continue through each level to the management team's board. Progress is visible throughout—for example, 3 of 5 tasks completed—without anyone having to prepare a separate progress report.
Metrics are not automatically combined across boards. Each board has its own metrics, which the team reviews and discusses during meetings.
OGSM, OKR, balanced scorecard or Hoshin Kanri: how they get onto the boards
Many organisations develop their strategy using a fixed model. That model can stay: the plan goes onto the boards, and the network of boards makes sure it cascades down and that a response comes back. With an OGSM, this is also called the OGSM cascade.
| Model | What it is | How it fits on the boards |
|---|---|---|
| OGSM | Objective, goals, strategies and measures: the ambition, the measurable goals, the strategic choices, and the metrics and actions, on a single A4 sheet. | The O is Why we do it. The G are the goals. The S is Where we are heading, the direction of each lane. The M are the metrics and the steps in the months. With Send to board, the goals go to departments and teams. |
| OKR | An objective with a few measurable key results, usually per quarter, with a regular check-in. | The objective is the direction of a lane. The key results are the goals, each with a metric and a target value. The check-in is the meeting at the board. The board works with months, not quarters. |
| Balanced scorecard | Goals and measures from four perspectives: financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth. | If you like, you can turn the four perspectives into four lanes, each with goals, metrics with a target value and steps per month. The board has no fixed perspectives: the team chooses. |
| Hoshin Kanri | Cascading the strategy level by level, with feedback from each level and monthly progress per goal. | With Send to board, a goal goes to the inbox of a department or team. The receiving team places it on its board and reports back on what's feasible. Problems are escalated, and decisions are communicated back. The months show the progress per goal. |
The model stays yours. The boards make sure it cascades down every level and that a response comes back.
Strategic objectives: examples from management team to team
A strategic objective describes what the organisation wants to achieve within a few years. One level down, it becomes more concrete: what does this department or school do this year? And on the team's board: what do we do this month? Here are two fictional examples.
| Level | A care organisation | A school group |
|---|---|---|
| Management team or executive board | Good care with the people we have. | Every pupil reads at their own level. |
| Department or school | Less time spent on double registration, so there is more time for clients. | Stronger reading education in all classes. |
| Team, this month | The paper handover list is dropped; the team works only in the client record. | Teachers sit in on each other's reading lessons. |
| How you track it | Time spent on registration per shift, as a metric on the department's board. | Reading results per class, as a metric on the school's board. |
At the top is what needs to change. At the bottom is what the team does now. In between is the conversation: the team says what's feasible and what it needs.
What helps: active management involvement
The network of boards becomes more effective when management takes part in regular board meetings. This involvement can develop over time; it doesn't all need to be in place from day one. These practices help:
- Red signals a need for help. Welcome red cards as an opportunity to identify where support is needed, without assigning blame.
- Start with the difficult problems. Begin the meeting with issues that are holding up progress.
- Respond with support or a decision. When an issue is escalated, management provides practical help or makes the decision needed to move it forward, rather than simply requesting a report.
- Close the loop. Communicate the decision back to the team and board that raised the issue.
- Make decisions together at the board. Use the information on the board to guide discussion and agree on next steps.
- See the work first-hand. Managers occasionally join team or departmental board meetings to understand what's happening and ask how they can help. The aim is to support the team, rather than check up on it.
Find out how to get started on our Implementing Obeya page.
Training and software work together
Frequently asked questions about strategy and execution
How do you translate strategy into objectives?
Start with the why, and ask at every level what that level contributes to the direction set above it. Choose a few goals per board, each with an owner and a deadline, and agree what will show you whether it's working. Have every level report back on what's feasible and what it needs. Then discuss progress on a regular meeting schedule; otherwise, it stays a plan.
What are strategic objectives?
Strategic objectives describe what an organisation wants to achieve within a few years. They are broader than the goals of a department or team, for example "Every pupil reads at their own level." Only when a department and a team choose their own contribution does such an objective turn into work.
Does this work with OGSM or OKRs?
Yes. The ambition from an OGSM goes under Why we do it, the goals go in the lanes and the steps in the months. With OKRs, the objective is the direction of a lane, and the key results are the goals, each with a metric and a target value. With Send to board, the goals go to the boards at the levels below.
What is catchball?
Catchball is a term from Hoshin Kanri for the back-and-forth of a goal between two levels. The higher level throws a goal, the level below catches it, looks at what's feasible and throws a response back. That way, a goal becomes an agreement instead of an order. In Midflyt, Send to board sends the goal to the inbox of the board at the level below, and the response comes back in the conversation.
What does this have to do with Hoshin Kanri?
Hoshin Kanri is a method for translating a strategy into goals at every level. The goal cascades down, and every level responds with what's feasible. Midflyt works with the same idea, on connected boards. You don't need to know the method to work with it.
What happens if a team doesn't think a goal is feasible?
The team reports this back, together with what it can do and what it needs. The next organisational level discusses it in its own meeting, and either adjusts the goal or arranges what's needed.
Does the whole organisation have to take part at once?
No. You start where it fits: with management, with a single department or service area and its teams, or with a team keen to get started. The network grows from there. Read more on Implementing Obeya.
Can we also link boards of partner organisations?
No, boards can only be connected within your own organisation. Work that involves a partner organisation goes on your own board as a card, with an owner who stays in contact with the partner.
Who can see what is on the boards?
You set permissions per board. A private board stays closed to anyone who is not a member, including a connected AI.
Curious how your strategy gets onto the boards?
In a short meeting, we'll explore your goals together and how your boards could fit together.