Toyota Kata

Toyota Kata Mobilizing our ingenuity through good management Mike Rother, February 2010 The practice of kata is the act of practicing a pattern so it becomes second nature. In its day-to-day management Toyota teaches a way of working -- a kata -- that has helped make it so successful over the last six decades. Toyota!s Improvement Kata is something we overlook in benchmarking and should learn more about in order to understand Toyota!s story. Copyright © 2010 Mike Rother, all rights reserved© Mike Rother 1217 Baldwin Avenue / Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA / tel: (734) 665-5411 / mrother@umich.edu TOYOTA KATA 1

THE TOYOTA KATA DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT The systematic pursuit of desired conditions by utilizing human capabilities in a concerted way We are We want here to be here Current Desired condition condition Target condition Challenge© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 2

A MANAGEMENT TASK The task is not to introduce new techniques, principles, ethics or solutions, but to establish a culture of continuous improvement, adaptation and innovation by practicing a method or behavior pattern that develops a learning / improving mindset. This is very much like training in sports.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 3

HOW HAVE WE BEEN MANAGING?Leaders and managers have tended to focus on outcomes and solutions A solution at Toyota... ...copied at a U.S. company But leading people to implementing solutions doesn!t make an organization adaptive and continuously improving. Here!s why: • It caters to and strengthens our aversion to uncertainty • Today!s solutions aren!t the ones that will meet tomorrows challenges Its not solutions themselves that provide sustained competitive advantage. It!s the ability of the organization!s members to develop solutions. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 4

DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS There are only 3 things we can and need to know with certainty (1) Where we are (2) Where we want to be (3) By what means we should navigate the unclear territory between here and there. Obstacles We are We want here to be Unclear here Territory This is a grey zone! We don!t know in advance what all the steps will be© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 5

HOW DO YOU IMPROVE, ADAPT & INNOVATE? • How will you make your kanban system work? • How will you achieve 1x1 flow? • How will you achieve shorter value-stream lead time? • How will you achieve your objective? The way forward is iterative & experimenting, aimed at a desired condition that we don!t yet know how we will achieve. Uncertainty / Learning Zone s tacl e s ? ? Next Ob r Target nclea ry Condition ? U ito Terr Current We want Knowledge to be here Threshold next© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 6

BUT THERE IS A DILEMMA (A) Our brain favors existing neural pathways (comfort area) The way our brain works we seek certainty and try to avoid judgement and criticism. We prefer to operate inside our current knowledge threshold. (B) Meeting challenges - improving and adapting - means developing new neural pathways (learning area) It!s impossible to remove uncertainty from the process of improvement, adaptation and creation. The way forward lies outside our current knowledge threshold. Mystery Learning area Uncertainty Apparent Comfort Certainty area© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 7

A SOLUTION TO THE DILEMMA The trick is to develop well-worn mental circuits not for solutions, but for a means by which we deal with dynamic, uncertain conditions. This is like training in sports: To prepare for contests with unpredictable solutions, the focus of the training is not solutions, but practicing how to play. People can handle uncertainty, work iteratively, adapt and meet challenges... ...if they have practiced and learned a way of doing that. This concept is the basis of the book Toyota Kata© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 8

The Toyota Kata Message: WE CAN MEET THE CHALLENGES FACING US If we practice and learn an effective way of navigating the learning zone© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 9

THE PATTERN THAT TOYOTA PRACTICES: - THE IMPROVEMENT KATA - The Improvement Kata is a four-part routine. It!s a systematic and scientific way for people to successfully navigate through unknown territory together. It!s the backbone practice in a Lean organization. 1 2 3 4 Understand Grasp the Establish the PDCA Toward the the Current Next Target Target Condition Direction Condition Condition ACT PLAN Go and Tar get CHECK See DO TC Condition The 5 CC Questions What challenge What is the What pattern The step-by-step are we striving current pattern do we want to discovery process to meet? of working? have next? between where we are and where we want to be next.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 10

HOW DO YOU CHANGE MINDSET AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE? From one of implementing pre-defined solutions, to one of actively developing new solutions Psychology and brain research are clear: Humans have the ability to alter their mindset. Our brain is equipped for learning new rules, patterns and habits.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 11

MINDSET = NEURAL PATHWAYS OR CIRCUITS It!s physiological The human brain is estimated to contain 100 billion neurons. Neurons form circuits within the brain, which underlie perception and thought. For communication between two neurons to take place, an electrical impulse travels down an axon to a synapse, or gap, where transmission occurs. Both the strength of connection between neurons (ease of information transmission) and the number of connections increase with use. Whatever you focus on and practice - with associated emotions - weaves a habit or pattern into your thinking. (Emotion helps determine what to imprint.) “Every time you do something, Dendrites you are more likely to do it again.” (receiver) Cell ~ Alvaro Pascual-Leone Body Axon (sender)© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 12

TO CHANGE MINDSET AND DEVELOP NEW SKILLS FOCUS ON THESE 3 THINGS Process PRACTICE METHOD Learner repeatedly The pattern applies a pattern, or routine to following guidelines Learner be practicedfor effective practicing COACHING Learner receives periodic guidance in practicing the pattern "With practice, training, and above all method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment, and literally to become more intelligent than we were before." - Alfred Binet (1909)© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 13

A NEW CONSIDERATION FOR LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT In order to practice, you need to know what to practice To change mindset and culture through deliberate practice, an organization!s leaders should specify the pattern that is to be practiced. That!s exactly what Toyota does... Toyota!s managers teach a common means for developing solutions: The Improvement Kata. How to Solution develop solution Toyota!s Specified Management Left open System Guided & directed Our Management Given / Directed Left open System© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 14

WHAT IS A KATA? A kata is a routine you practice so it becomes a habit In Japanese, the suffix kata means way of doing. A kata is a form, routine or pattern of behavior, which is practiced to make it second nature. The practicing is done to develop a certain mindset and skill. This is exactly what we are talking about in saying that management!s task is to have the organization members practice a specified method or behavior routine. Upon close inspection Toyota!s management approach is characterized by a pattern - the Improvement Kata - that is taught to all organization members by applying it over and over in daily work.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 15

THE IMPROVEMENT KATA IS FRACTAL Because the improvement kata is content neutral it can be practiced throughout an organizationFractal depiction by Mr. Emiel van Est© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 16

MAKE THE PRACTICING PART OF NORMAL DAILY WORK, NOT A SPECIAL EVENT The changed system and the process for change are one and the same! Daily Supervisor Area Manager The normal, day-to-day behavior in the system is also the process that changes how people think and act.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 17

BUILDING COMPANY CAPABILITY By practicing and learning a routine like the Improvement kata, many more people in an organization can become Involved in continual improvement, adaptation and innovation. This is a clever and elegant competitive advantage, and defines a leadership approach that may be well-suited for the challenges we face today. Next Target Tar get Condition Condition Current Condition Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel Add to the adaptive toolkit of the people in your organization by practicing the Improvement Kata, and work on creating your future!© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 18

WE MISUNDERSTOOD THE SOURCE OF TOYOTA!S SUCCESSES We confused the visible content of what we benchmarked at Toyota with the less visible method Toyota uses to pursue objectives. We called what we observed Lean, which suggests always minimizing or maximizing. This idea easily fits into our existing thinking in business, making it harder for us to see the different management approach Toyota is taking. As I see it now, Toyota!s extraordinary successes came from Lean practices combined with Toyota!s way of working toward any challenging objective." Toyota!s improvement kata is about solving problems and adapting as you strive to move from where you are to where you want to be next." That can involve minimizing, optimizing, or whatever you wish to achieve. • Solve a problem This is content and • Lean practices situation specific What we work on • Develop a product • Market a product / service • etc. This is content The free and universal How we go about it Improvement Kata The pivotal change proposed by study of Toyota is not in what an organization does, but in how the organization does it© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 19

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT!S TASK? Traditional Toyota Kata Management Management Focus on solutions Focus on how solutions are developed • Establish targets • Establish targets • Describe solutions • Develop, via practice with coaching, the • Provide incentives capability in people to develop new solutions... • Get out of the way and periodically check ...by having people results practice a common way of working, like the improvement kata© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 20

LEADERS & MANAGERS ARE TEACHERS, ANDTHEIR ACTIONS DETERMINE COMPANY CAPABILITY Whether consciously or not, with their everyday words and actions all leaders and managers are teaching their people a mindset and approach. So it makes sense to ask: “What patterns of behavior and thought do we want to be teaching in our organization?”© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 21

résumé How do we make a transition from our prevailing management approach, to systems thinking? We change by practicing a different behavior. That, over time, leads us to think about things differently. What pattern of acting and thinking -- what teachable, transferrable routine -- can we practice? With the improvement kata we have a routine that can be applied and practiced in any setting, in order to develop capability and behavior consistent with systems thinking.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 22

FURTHER RESOURCES The Toyota Kata Website Toyota Kata on Free Improvement Kata Essential Books TK Course at UM Handbook Click on each item for a link to that resource© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 23

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Toyota Kata

by Mike Rother on Feb 07, 2010

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