12/17/2018 Kata lean coaching cycle - Improvement kata, coaching kata

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Kata Lean Coaching Cycle

aka Toyota Kata, Improvement Kata, Coaching Kata

What's a kata?
A kata is any structured way of thinking and acting that you practice until the pattern becomes a habit.
Through practicing, the pattern of behavior becomes second nature; so that you just "do what you do" with little or no conscious
attention.

In your own life, you have experienced many real-world examples where you started
out with very concentrated attention to learning a new skill, which soon became so
ingrained and familiar that you now just do the basic patterns without thinking much
about them...
leaving your conscious attention free to focus on the ever-changing challenges that
happen as you "do what you do".
Driving a car, or riding a bike
Dancing, martial arts, or playing a sport
Playing a musical instrument

Why are kata habits important?

They provide field-proven, teachable, repeatable model ways of thinking and acting — when faced with different types of
situations commonly encountered in your real-world work environment.

How do kata habits apply to process improvement?

Every process improvement tool is paired with a "method".
If practiced regularly, every lean method could evolve into a kata habit.
There are two kata patterns, however, that provide an over arching methodology
that can serve as background pattern within which all other lean tools and methods
are used. These are the two kata patterns taught by Mike Rother in his book,
Toyota Kata.
1. The Improvement Kata
2. The Coaching Kata
Toyota Kata:
We highly recommend that you purchase the book and download the (free) Managing...
accompanying Toyota Kata Handbook , because the training is far deeper than $25.82
you will find in our web site.
Shop now
And the more that you learn and practice these two foundational kata, the more that
you will grow to appreciate your Systems2win templates.

ik

The Improvement Kata

What is the Process Improvement Kata?
When navigating unclear territory in your pursuit to improve a process, your
Improvement Kata is a systematic, teachable way to think and act to consistently
develop creative solutions to meet strategic goals

When to use the Improvement Kata?

When navigating unknown territory

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What unknown territory?

The unknown territory that is always just over the horizon of the already-familiar
threshold of understanding, and always contains the most promising break-through
ideas.

My Improvement Kata?
Notice that we say your Improvement Kata, because there is not just one "best way" for everyone, and one of the best things
you can do for your career is to develop and master your own Process Improvement Kata.

The 4 Phases of the Improvement Kata

The Improvement Kata has 4 phases:

1. Strategic Alignment
2. Process Analysis
3. Next Goal Setting
4. PDCA
each of which has a distinct kata habit pattern of its own, and
each of which need to be learned, practiced, and mastered
both individually and in concert with each other.

The first 3 phases are for Planning.

align

Phase 1) Strategic Alignment

Improvement Kata Planning Phase 1

What is Strategic Alignment?

You (the person responsible for the process also known as the "Learner") need to develop teachable, repeatable habits for
how to work with your Coach to understand what is needed from the process that you are responsible for improving, so that
your efforts (and perhaps your team's efforts) are sharply focused to overcome obstacles in the way of reaching the next
Target Condition required of your process to meet the higher-level Strategic Challenge (that requires coordinated effort of multiple people
and teams) to propel your collective organization closer to the (perhaps impossible) Lean Ideals that provide "true North"
direction toward which everyone in your organization is always striving.

Learn more about coaching to a Strategic Challenge on our training page for Lean Principles.

How to do it?
Your organization's strategic objectives, measures, targets, and action programs are formed and communicated through:
1. your Future State Value Stream Map
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2. your process for Strategic Planning, and/or Hoshin Kanri Policy Deployment
Coaching for how to actually realize that strategic vision is done through coaching questions, and your Lean Management
System.

Coaching Question
What Strategic Challenge are we striving for?

Frequency
Once Strategic Alignment as been done once, you don't need to do it again until upper management changes the Strategic
Challenge.
analysis

Phase 2) Process Analysis

Improvement Kata Planning Phase 2

What is Process Analysis?

Before prematurely spouting out your pre-conceived ideas for "what we should do next", the next step is to take the time to
do a thorough and scientific kata for process analysis.
This is one of the moments when your Coach will often prove most helpful — to prevent you from running off to quickly
implement your impulsive "solutions" before taking the time to perform a thorough root cause analysis.

How to do it?
Every process that is currently going through a PCDA cycles should have a visual storyboard published on a large bulletin
board as close as possible to the process work area.
Your organization and/or departmental leaders will evolve to use Team Accountability Board formats that work best for your
needs, but any lean storyboard should include some common elements.
Using a common Storyboard format has several advantages:
1. Makes it easier for your Coaches to work consistently with multiple Learners
2. Provides a fill-in-the-blanks road map to remind each Learner to follow ALL of the steps of the Improvement Kata and
Coaching Kata systems. (without cutting corners, or forgetting something important)
3. Anyone passing by can see how progress is coming — with just a quick glance

Lean Learner's Storyboard

Focus Process Strategic Challenge

<Title> <Brief, compelling vision statement that almost never changes>
See guidelines for how to phrase your Strategic Challenge

Target Condition Current Condition PDCA Cycles Record

Achieve by: <date> See online training See online training
for Process Analysis for PDCA template
<Brief description
that usually only changes
when one Target is achieved,
and the Next Target is chosen>
See online training
for Next Goal Setting

Obstacles Parking Lot

Unprioritized list of things that you
might need to address
in future PDCA Cycles.
(You focus on only
one obstacle at a time)

Sample Lean Storyboard example — in the format suggested for Toyota Kata Coaching
(publish on a large bulletin board)

Your Coach should have some suggestions for what to include in process analysis for your unique type of process in your
unique industry.

Common tools for process analysis might include:

Value Steam Map
Process Analysis template personalized for Key Metrics for your type of
process/industry and definitely including measurement of Takt Time, Cycle
Time and Process Time
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Time, and Process Time
Cycle Time Observations
Process Observation
Block Diagram, Flow Chart, Layout Diagram...
Machine Balancing
Run charts, and/or other types of Excel charts
Learner's Storyboard, PDCA Coaching template, and/or other Visual
Management Systems for you and your Coach to chart your course and
track your progress

How not to do it
When using the Improvement Kata approach to process improvement, you are specifically discouraged from combining the
concepts of Process Analysis and the identification of the 7 types of waste. These should be two separate and distinct
activities.
Why? See the explanation in our training page for Process Analysis.
Also... the Learner updates the storyboard — not the Coach.

Coaching Question
How are things being done now? (really)

Frequency
Every time that you reach your next Target Condition for your process, you (with the guidance of your Coach) will again re-
analyze the (now improved) process, and will again establish a new next Target Condition and then you will complete a new
series of PDCA Coaching Cycles to overcome obstacles to reach that next Target Condition until your process is able to
consistently meet all of the criteria needed to support the current Strategic Challenge for your parent Department or Value
Stream.
And then you can either:
1. Encourage upper management to come up with a new Strategic Challenge, or
2. Take a break from continuous improvement for a while, and give your Coach more time to focus on the other teams that
still need to overcome obstacles to reach the current (shared) Strategic Challenge.
See Ideas for what to do with free time and spare cash created by systems improvement
goals

Phase 3) Next Goal Setting

Improvement Kata Planning Phase 3

Coaching Questions
What is the Target Condition for THIS process? (needed to meet the Strategic Challenge)
What do we want this process to be like next?
How will we measure that? What specific targets?

Criteria for a well-considered Next Target Condition

Criteria for a well-considered Next Target Condition

What if we try to do PDCA without a clear Target Condition?

Go ahead & try it. Do your own scientific experiment. Here is our hypothesis:
Your scattered PDCA efforts will be an exercise in random wasted effort — optimizing things that aren't important, while
critical success factors languish.
Quality, Cost, and/or Delivery Time success measures for your process will soon backslide.
Your team will spiral into periods of dysfunction — with in-fighting, disengagement, and low morale.

Frequency
Next Goal Setting is done immediately after Process Analysis.
coach

Phase 4) PDCA Coaching Cycles

PDCA is how your Mentor helps you to actually reach your agreed-upon goals

Once you and your Coach agree upon a plan...

then you use the Systems2win PDCA template and PDCA Coaching Observations
template to start a rapid series of Coaching Cycles to conduct a rapid series of PDCA
experiments to overcome obstacles to reaching your agreed-upon goals for improving your
process.

Coaching Questions

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Between every PDCA experiment, you and your Coach will do a coaching session
together.
Prior to that Coaching Session, you will use your PDCA template to prepare your answers,
because you know that your Coach will ask the same questions every time.
Immediately after each Coaching Session, your Coach's Coach will use the PDCA
Coaching Observations template to mentor both you and your Coach to more fully and
deeply instill the nuances of the deceptively-simple teachings and habits of both the
Improvement Kata and the Coaching Kata.

Frequency
Rapid. You will often complete one or more PDCA Coaching Cycles in a single day.
Your Coach should be asking you, "What is the earliest that we can go see the result of this next experiment?"
And your answer should often be "Today" or "Tomorrow".

ck

The Coaching Kata

Definition
A coaching pattern to help you teach the Improvement Kata thinking pattern.

How to do it?
The instructions for how to do the Improvement Kata (above) give you a pretty good start for what to
do as the Coach, and Mike Rother's web site provides extensive training for how to serve as a
Coach to guide your Learner's through the Improvement Kata.
The Learner works on the what of the(above) steps of the Improvement Kata The Coach works on
how the Learner approaches it.
The Coach teaches a way of thinking and acting within "the Kata corridor", guiding the Learner back
on course if s/he strays too far from keeping the focus on the agreed-upon Next Target Condition.

Every Coach needs their own Coach

The same Coaching Kata method can be applied at every level.
If an internal Coach is not available, hire an external Coach to get your snowball started.

Three Levels of Skill Progression

Whenever learning any new skill, you will progress through 3 levels of competence:
1) Aware of it
2) Able to do it
3) Able to teach it
Before you start Coaching, you need to be able to competently do the Improvement Kata yourself.
Like any other skill...
Just reading about it is far different from practicing it.
To really leverage your skill development, you will practice under the mentoring of a Coach
And you will develop true mastery by overcoming obstacles in real-world situations.

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Two Stages of Practice

1) Do it exactly the way your Coach teaches you to do it
2) Personalize your practice (and your tools)
For some skills, the third stage is to "do it intuitively - without thinking", but when
it comes to something like the Improvement / Coaching Kata... why?
Why would you abandon your (perhaps personalized) fill-in-the-blanks
templates that:
a. Guide you reliably through the process
b. Remind you of subtleties that you might not otherwise remember
c. Allow you to mentor the Coaches that you coach - to coach exactly the
same way that you do? Training to get you started.
Tools you won't outgrow.
Any competent jet pilot could take off without using a flight preparation checklist
template...
but would you want to be on that plane?

Mantras
Coach's Coach Mantra
Every leader that I coach is habitually coaching every team and
person to habitually improve strategically aligned processes and
results.

Coach Mantra
Every team and person that I coach is habitually improving
strategically aligned processes and results.

Learner Mantra
I am habitually improving strategically aligned processes and
results.

When?
Improvement Kata Coaching sessions should usually take only 10-20 minutes.
The next session should be scheduled as soon as the results from the next experiment can be known.
Most commonly — the next day, often as part of a regularly-scheduled daily coaching session.
Where? Usually as close as possible to the place where the work is being performed.

Pop quiz question to see if you've been paying attention to the training on this page

When should you use the Improvement Kata?

Rephrased question: Under what circumstance should your mind be automatically triggered to start using the
Improvement Kata?
If you can't remember, then go see that section of this page again, then come back here.

So if you're not <in the situation where the Improvement Kata is the right
approach to use>, then you should be using your Tool Selection Matrix to find a
more appropriate approach for the challenge you are facing at the moment.
And every one of those other lean tools and methods needs it's own
corresponding lean coaching system, the most common being your Daily Lean
Management System, and today's daily coaching session might or might not be
devoted to practicing the Improvement Kata, depending on your current
challenges and priorities.
Navigating unknown territory?
Use PDCA Coaching

More Lean Management Systems

The Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata are useful ways to practice and teach continuous improvement habits to navigate
unknown territory throughout every level of your organization.
And by themselves, they are not enough.
You will also want to establish and use a wide variety of lean management tools and methods as you (use your own scientific
experiments to) establish your own Lean Management System, which will soon evolve into your organization's own unique lean
culture.

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Contents
Kata Coaching What and Why
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Kata Coaching - What and Why

The Improvement Kata

Phase 1) Strategic Alignment

Phase 2) Process Analysis

Phase 3) Next Goal Setting

Phase 4) PDCA Coaching Cycles

The Coaching Kata

Related Topics
Problem Solving Tools

A3 Problem Solving

5S tools to reveal problems

Kaizen tools

DMAIC tools

PDCA template

Lean Kata

8D Report

Corrective Action template

Is Is Not Analysis

Root Cause Analysis

Brainstorming template

Hansei Lean Thinking

Lean Management Tools

Visual Management

Leader Standard Work

Lean Assessment

A3 Report

Event Planning

Lean Leadership

Systems2win Leadership

Change Management Plan

Force Field Analysis

Lean Project Management

Strategic Planning templates

Value Stream Management

Lean Training

Lean Principles

M d 8W t fL
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Muda 8 Wastes of Lean

Lean Flow

Lean Office Flow

Lean Transformation Roadmap

Hansei Lean Thinking

Lean Dictionary

Private Training and Tutoring

Continuous Improvement

Process Improvement Tools

Browse Site Map

Search Keywords

How to start?
Mike Rother's book,
Toyota Kata,
Chapter 9: Developing Improvement Kata Behavior in Your Organization,
has guidance to establish your Advance Group(s) consisting of your highest-level executives and managers.
And the instruction is expanded further in the discussions about Scouts, Slices, and the Rotation Model
in the chapter titled Roles and Structure for Daily Practice
in the Toyota Kata Handbook

Caution: This requires enthusiastic commitment of top-level executives.

If you don't have that, then you will need to use one of the other
Ways to Start Your Lean Journey.

Training and Coaching

Consider Training and Coaching to support your teams to succeed

Training to get you started.

Tools you won't outgrow.

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