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. Toyotaʼs Improvement Kata is something we overlook in benchmarking and should learn more about in order to understand Toyotaʼs 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

An organizationʼs processes, practices and results are an outcome of peopleʼs thinking and behavior. If processes are an outcome, then itʼs important to ask, How do you influence peopleʼs behavior? How do we accomplish continuous improvement, adaptiveness, and innovation? Toyotaʼs answer is through kata. Kata are practice routines, like dance steps, to develop a way of thinking & conducting oneself.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 2

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 3

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 improvement skills and habits. This is very much like training in sports.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 4

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 doesnʼt make an organization adaptive and continuously improving. Hereʼs why: • It caters to and strengthens our aversion to uncertainty, rather then developing exploratory mindset and skills • Todayʼs solutions arenʼt the ones that will meet tomorrows challenges Its not solutions themselves that provide sustained competitive advantage. Itʼs the ability of the organizationʼs members to develop solutions. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 5

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 donʼt know in advance what all the steps will be© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 6

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 donʼt yet know how we will achieve. Uncertainty / Learning Zone sta cles ? Ob ? Next Target Condition r nclea ry Current ? U Terri to We want Knowledge to be here Threshold next© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 7

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) Itʼs 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 8

A SOLUTION TO THIS 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. Like training in sports: To prepare for contests with unpredictable paths, 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 9

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 10

THE PATTERN THAT TOYOTA PRACTICES: - THE IMPROVEMENT KATA - The Improvement Kata is a four-part routine. Itʼs a systematic and scientific way for people to successfully navigate through unknown territory together. Itʼs 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 Target 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 11

THE IMPROVEMENT KATA IS FRACTAL Because the Improvement Kata is content neutral it can be practiced throughout an organization Itʼs a decentralized yet aligned process of improvement, adaptation and innovation Fractal depiction by Mr. Emiel van Est© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 12

AND THEREʼS A COACHING KATA FOR TEACHING THE IMPROVEMENT KATA The Coaching Kata is a set of coaching routines to practice in order to develop effective coaching habits. Its a coaching pattern to help you teach the Improvement Kata thinking pattern. The Coaching Kata gives managers and supervisors a standardized approach to facilitate Improvement Kata skill development in daily work. The coach needs to know both the Improvement Kata and the Coaching Kata!© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 13

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 14

MINDSET = NEURAL PATHWAYS OR CIRCUITS Itʼs 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 15

TO CHANGE MINDSET AND DEVELOP NEW SKILLS FOCUS ON THESE 3 THINGS Coaching Kata Knowledge  PRACTICE COACHING Learner repeatedly Learner receivescarries out the routine, periodic guidance in following guidelines practicing the routine for effective practicing Improvement Kata Knowledge  METHOD The kata or (kata) routine to be practiced "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 16

THIS LEADS TO 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, the organizationʼs leaders should specify the pattern that is to be practiced and coached. The organizationʼs managers should learn the pattern and how to coach it. Thatʼs exactly what Toyota does... Toyotaʼs managers teach a common means for developing solutions: The Improvement Kata. How to Solution develop solution Toyotaʼs Specified Management Left open System Guided & directed Our Management Given / Directed Left open System© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 17

MAKE THE PRACTICING PART OF NORMAL DAILY WORK, NOT A SPECIAL EVENT If we only periodically conduct training events or only episodically work on improvement -- and the rest of the time itʼs business as usual -- then according to neuroscience what weʼre actually teaching is business as usual. If we want a Lean revolution, then we Daily Supervisor need to shift emphasis from staff-led, episodic improvement efforts, to daily Area efforts led by middle managers. Manager A slice of each day should be focused on iterating toward the next target condition by applying & coaching the Improvement Kata.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 18

ONE CONCLUSION IS BECOMING CLEARWeʼre not going to be successful by copying Toyotaʼs solutions We should be copying how Toyota develops solutions. (Which is a universal, not Toyota-specific, science- based approach.) The Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata are practice routines for teaching and transferring that approach. Once you develop proficiency with the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata you can evolve them into kata that suit your organization.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 19

INCREASING YOUR ORGANIZATIONʼS CAPABILITYPracticing the Improvement Kata = expanding peopleʼs comfort zone The more people in an organization Mystery who get to higher skill levels with the Uncertainty Improvement Kata pattern: Apparent Comfort • The more challenges the organization Certainty area can take on • The bigger the challenges it can take on • The more knowledge it can build • The faster it can move ahead Next Target Target Condition Condition Current Condition Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 20

WE MISUNDERSTOOD THE SOURCE OF TOYOTAʼS 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, Toyotaʼs extraordinary successes came from Lean practices combined with Toyotaʼs way of working toward any challenging objective. Toyotaʼs 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 21

WHAT IS MANAGEMENTʼS 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 22

MANAGERS ARE TEACHERS, ANDTHEIR ACTIONS DETERMINE COMPANY CAPABILITY Whether consciously or not, with their everyday words and actions all 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 23

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 and Coaching Kata we have routines that can be applied and practiced in any setting, in order to develop capability and behavior consistent with systems thinking.© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 24

FURTHER RESOURCES Click each item or scan the code for a link to that resource The Toyota Kata Website Essential Books© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 25

Improvement Kata Handbook (Download free on the Toyota Kata website) Toyota Kata on TK Course at UM© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 26

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Toyota Kata

by Mike Rother on Feb 07, 2010

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