We Borrowed a Toyota Strategy To Set Family Goals for the New Year

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Thu, 01 Jan 2026 21:00:00 -0800
Opinion

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do set goals. I take time to reflect on the previous year to look at what I'd like to build upon, what I'd like to scrap and what could use a tweaking in the new year. My husband does something similar.

This year, instead of just setting individual goals I thought we could make family goals, too. It felt like another way to bring us together instead of operating in individual silos, each of us firing off in different directions. I wanted to see where our goals overlapped and prioritize those as family goals we all worked on together. The thought was that if we're all rowing the same boat, so to speak, we can support one another.

I mentioned this to my husband who exclaimed, "A family Hoshin!" I had apparently spoken to his soul.
Updated: Fri Jan 02, 2026

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do set goals. I take time to reflect on the previous year to look at what I'd like to build upon, what I'd like to scrap and what could use a tweaking in the new year. My husband does something similar.

This year, instead of just setting individual goals I thought we could make family goals, too. It felt like another way to bring us together instead of operating in individual silos, each of us firing off in different directions. I wanted to see where our goals overlapped and prioritize those as family goals we all worked on together. The thought was that if we're all rowing the same boat, so to speak, we can support one another.

I mentioned this to my husband who exclaimed, "A family Hoshin!" I had apparently spoken to his soul.

My husband is a manufacturing manager with expertise gained from his time with Toyota. Hoshin Kanri is a strategic planning tool used in lean manufacturing. Hoshin translates into English as "direction needle," like a compass, and Kanri means "management." It was developed in Japan in the 1960s and Toyota recognized its value. Today it's considered a foundational process meant to align everyone in an organization with a shared vision, focusing on common goals and continuous improvement.

My husband sat down at our living room table with his spreadsheet ready. We started with a brainstorming session of things we'd like to do and what we hoped to accomplish in 2026. Our 10-year-old son was included in this session as well. My husband stressed that nothing would be squashed at this stage; we would simply shout out our goals for the new year and write them all down.

Afterwards, we categorized items and quickly noticed a few common themes. We all wanted to travel and explore more, both in our own region and by taking a few trips. We all also wanted to volunteer more often in our community and make improvements on our house.

Our older children, siblings and parents live in different cities, so we prioritized our travel around the people we'd like to visit. Also, the 10-year-old wants to visit at least one National Park, so we looked at ones that were closest to our home for possible weekend excursions.

For our volunteer goals, we listed the organizations we're most passionate about and tend to donate to in our community and researched how to get more involved as volunteers.

From there, we developed a strategy to execute. What does a budget look like? How much do we need to save each week to facilitate travel? What work do we want to do on the house and what do we need to budget for that? We looked at our son's school calendar as well as how many vacation days work allowed. Then, we identified the best times to plan our travel and volunteer hours. We signed up for volunteer orientation in January for an organization that required it and recognized the volunteer hours we've already put in other places to see where we could build on those.

Going through this process already makes me feel like we've accomplished so much. The family Hoshin took abstract wishes and made concrete plans that we can actually execute. It also helped us see where we've already been successful in the previous year. It helped really identify what we value as a family. The things we work on together will only strengthen us.

Will there be deviations? Of course — life happens and things change. This is where weekly check-ins come into play. We'll touch base each week with our plans and see what is working, what needs to be adjusted and how we can stay on track.

It's nice to dream together. There's no reason we have to silo all of our hopes and dreams for the new year and toil away on them individually. We are a family and we love each other. How awesome to sit down and dream together, know what's in one another's heart and then support one another in making it happen. I'm so grateful that I live in a family that can be trusted with my hopes and dreams.

I think we just started a new tradition. The annual family holiday Hoshin.