The document provides an overview of slides and materials for teaching the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata. It includes:
1) Slides that explain the Improvement Kata as a 4-step model for establishing target conditions and iteratively working through obstacles. It also explains the Coaching Kata as the pattern for managers to teach the Improvement Kata.
2) Information on using the slides freely and sharing related presentations online to spread knowledge of the Kata concepts.
3) A collection of slides covering topics like the research behind the Kata, how they are practiced at different levels of an organization, and how practicing the Kata routines can develop skills in scientific thinking.
3. Mike Rother
Kata Slides & Graphics
for Your Presentations
v1.1, August 2014
This collection of basic Improvement Kata / Coaching Kata
slides is for use by anyone. You can incorporate any of
these PowerPoint-format slides into your own
presentations, and adjust them however you like.
We’d like to encourage you to post your best Kata-related
presentations on SlideShare (www.slideshare.net) so we
can learn from you. If you do, please include the
following keywords so other Kata practitioners can find
and learn from your efforts!
Suggested key words: Improvement Kata, Coaching Kata, Toyota Kata
4. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
The slides in this file are licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution
license. You are free to copy, remix,
transform, build upon and redistribute
the slides in any medium or format.
The only requirement is to note the original source
on each slide you use, for instance by adding “By
Mike Rother” in small print somewhere on the slide.
Mike Rother
5. Here are the slides
Remember... it’s about you
and your story! Use these
slides as some building blocks.
The Improvement Kata & Coaching Kata
combine a pattern of scientific thinking
with principles of deliberate practice, to
make scientific thinking something
anyone can learn.
Mike Rother
6. Visible
Less
Visible
Lean tools and techniques
to improve quality,cost
and delivery
• A systematic, scientific
way of thinkingand acting
• Managersas the teachers
of that way
THE FOCUS HERE
Mike Rother
7. THE
IMPROVEMENT KATA
The Improvement Kata is a model of the human creative
process. It’s a 4-step pattern of establishing target
conditions and then working iteratively (scientifically)
through obstacles, by learning from them and adapting
based on what's being learned.
THE COACHING KATA
The Coaching Kata is a pattern for
managers to follow in teaching the
Improvement Kata pattern in daily
work, so that it becomes part of an
organization's culture.
Mike Rother
8. CC
1
Understand
the
Direction
2
Grasp the
Current
Condition
3
Establish the
Next Target
Condition
THE FOUR STEPS OF THE
IMPROVEMENT KATA MODEL
4
Iterate
Toward the
Target Condition
TC
Planning Executing
The Improvement Kata model comes from research
into how Toyota manages people, which is
summarized in the book “Toyota Kata”
Mike Rother
A systematic, scientific pattern of working
9. (1) A Model A representationof something
that occurs in reality. Models help
researchersdescribe, predict, test
and understand systems.
”Essentially, all models are wrong, but
some are useful.” - George E. P. Box
(2) Structured Practice Routines
Starting routines. Specific training
exercisesto develop fundamental
skills and mindset, especially at the
beginning. These help turn
concepts into reality.
(3) Organization-Specific
Practice Routines As proficiency increases, each
organization can evolve the
starting practice routines into its
own practice routines, to better
fit its circumstances and culture.
Mike Rother
THE TOYOTA KATA RESEARCH & APPROACH
11. Understand
the
Direction
(from level above)
Grasp the
Current
Condition
Establish the
Next Target
Condition
Toward the
Target
Condition
Organization
Level
Value Stream
Level
Value Stream
Loop Level
Process
Level
THE IK PATTERN IS USED AT ALL LEVELS
PLANNING EXECUTING
Mike Rother
The content is different, but the pattern of thinking is the same
Iterate
12. Understand
the
Direction
(from level above)
Grasp the
Current
Condition
Establish the
Next Target
Condition
Toward the
Target
Condition
Current State
Value Stream
Mapping
Future State
Value Stream
Mapping
Value Stream
Level
Value Stream
Loop Level
Process
Level
Organization
Level
THE IK PATTERN CONNECTS THE LEVELS
A Target Condition at one level is the Direction for the next level
Iterate
Longer-
Cycle
PLANNING EXECUTING
Mike Rother
Experiments
Short-
Cycle
Experiments
14. WHAT ARE KATA?
Kata are structured routines you practice deliberately,
especially at the beginning, so their pattern becomes
a habit and leaves you with new abilities
KATA:
• Are typically for learning
fundamentals, to build on.
• Are a way of transferring skills and
developing shared abilities and
mindset in a team or organization.
“Let’s begin by
practicing it
this way for a
while.”
Mike Rother
16. VIDEO - A Way the Brain Learns
(2 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g
Also available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel
17. • Any complex performance requires
skill.
• We develop new skill through practice.
• Long time-gaps between practice
sessions diminishes the effectiveness
of practice. Daily often seems to be a
good frequency.
• We are not good at self-feedbackto
understandwhere we are deviating
from good practice and need corrective
action.
A FEW SKILL-DEVELOPMENT BASICS
Mike Rother
19. ‘Continuous’ means many minds
engaged in improving their processes,
and daily cycles of experimentation.
Yet our existing work routines rarely
include improvement.
Systematically and scientifically
improving processes is a complex
skill set we are not naturally good at!
We can learn systematic, scientific improvement
through deliberate practice of the
Improvement Kata routines
WHY KATA FOR
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT?
Mike Rother
20. THE IK & CK INCLUDE
PRACTICE ROUTINES
The Improvement Kata & Coaching Kata
don't just model a way of working, they also
include structured practice routines to make
their pattern teachable and transferrable.
This is a way to build improvement capability
into an organization and make effective
empowerment possible.
Practical
Application
Mike Rother
A team or organization that’s pursuing continuous
improvement will do well to use some structured practice
routines -- Kata -- for developing new behavior, habits and
culture, especially at the beginning.
21. THERE ARE PRACTICE ROUTINES FOR
EACH STEP OF THE IMPROVEMENT KATA
See the online Improvement Kata Handbook*
The scientific
pattern of the
Improvement
Kata model is
universal
Structured
practice routines
are a way to
begin to
operationalize
the IK pattern
* http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Materials_to_Download.html
Mike Rother
22. KATA ARE LIKE ROCKET ENGINES
They help you get started
Mike Rother
Beginners should follow Kata exactly;
not deviating from them so the
Learner can internalize the patterns.
But with increasing proficiency each
Learner can start to (within limits)
develop their own style.
Likewise, over time each organization
can evolve the Kata it began with to
better suit and mesh with its culture.
The original Kata evolve into
organization-specific practice routines.
KATA
23. Since the path to a challenginggoal cannot be predictedwith
exactness, we have to find that path by experimentinglike a
scientist. With each insight a scientist adjusts his/her course
to take advantage of what has just been learned.
The scientific process helps
you find the path not by
telling you what's ahead.
It only confirms or refutes
the results of experiments.
One trick to making effectiveprogresstoward a goal is not to
try to decide the way forward, but to have your team iterate
its way forward by experimenting as cheaply and rapidly as
possible.This is the action of innovation and it can be taught.
Mike Rother
THE IMPROVEMENT KATA PATTERN
IS A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
24. THERE'S A THRESHOLD OF KNOWLEDGE
BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOAL
It's the point at which you have no facts or data & start guessing
Next
Target
Condition
(date)
Path isn't knowable in advance
Where you
want to be
next
Current
Knowledge
Threshold
?
? ?
Limit of what
you currently
know
Where
you
are
The
Goal
Mike Rother
25. Next
Target
Condition
(date)
Uncertainty / Learning Zone
Where you
want to be
next
Current
Knowledge
Threshold
Condition
Now
?
Mike Rother
?
?
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AT THE
THRESHOLD OF KNOWLEDGE?
1) Acknowledge it. (Difficult to do, until you get into the habit.)
Key realization: There's always a threshold of knowledge.
2) Stop and see further by conducting an experiment. Don't
deliberate over answers. Deliberate over the next experiment.
27. Next
Target
Condition
(date)
Where you
want to be
next
Current
Knowledge
Threshold
Where you
are now
Mike Rother
The Scientific Approach
SMALL, RAPID EXPERIMENTS
ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE QUICKLY
28. VIDEO - Working Iteratively
(3 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COKqiFaHm1s
Also available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel
29. PRACTICING THE IMPROVEMENT KATA
TEACHES SCIENTIFIC THINKING
Use deliberate practice of the
Improvement Kata routines in order
to make basic skills of scientific
thinking more automatic.
That’s the Kata part.
Those automatic fundamentalsare then a
foundation upon which all sorts of
creativity and initiative can proliferate in
your team and organization, to achieve
what seems impossible.
That’s improvisation & creativity!
Mike Rother
30. Skill development
begins here
Learning begins when
you start applying the
Improvement Kata yourself
LEVELS OF IK/CK SKILL DEVELOPMENT
To coach the Improvement Kata, managers first
need experience with applying the Improvement Kata
Able to TEACH it
Able to DO it
AWARE of it
Here you understand the
thinking behind the Kata
and can teach others
Concepts alone generally
don’t change anything
Able to EVOLVE it
Now an organization
can evolve its own
Kata (practice routines)
Mike Rother
33. Card is downloadable at:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/5Q_Card.pdf
Mike Rother
34. PDCA CYCLES RECORD (Each row = one experiment)
Obstacle: Process:
Learner: Coach:
Date, step & metric What do we expect?
Do
a
Coaching
Cycle
Conduct
the
Experiment
What happened What we learned
35. The Five Coaching Kata Questions and
the PDCA Cycles Record are used together
Used by the Coach Used by the Learner
5-Question Coaching Dialog Rapid PDCA Cycles
Mike Rother
39. CC
1
Understand
the
Direction
2
Grasp the
Current
Condition
3
Establish the
Next Target
Condition
THE FOUR STEPS OF THE
IMPROVEMENT KATA MODEL
4
Iterate
Toward the
Target Condition
TC
Planning Executing
The Improvement Kata model comes from research
into how Toyota manages people, which is
summarized in the book “Toyota Kata”
Mike Rother
A systematic, scientific pattern of working
40. The Five Coaching Kata Questions and
the PDCA Cycles Record are used together
Used by the Coach Used by the Learner
5-Question Coaching Dialog Rapid PDCA Cycles
Mike Rother