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.

Mike Rother

Copyright 2010 Mike Rother, all rights reserved 1217 Baldwin Avenue / Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA / tel: (734) 665-5411 / mrother@umich.edu

TOYOTA KATA

THE TOYOTA KATA DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT

The systematic pursuit of desired conditions by utilizing human capabilities in a concerted way

We are here

We want to be here

Current condition

Desired condition Target condition Challenge

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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

HOW HAVE WE BEEN APPROACHING IT?

We!ve 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: Today!s solutions aren!t the ones that will meet tomorrow's challenges, so it's not solutions themselves that provide sustained competitive advantage. It!s the ability of the organization!s members to understand conditions and develop fitting solutions again and again.

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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 maneuver the unclear territory between here and there

Obstacles We are here We want to be here

Unclear Territory

We don!t know in advance what all the steps will be

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

HOW DO YOU CHANGE OR DEVELOP MINDSET AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE?

From one of implementing solutions, to one of developing 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

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, you are more likely to do it again.
- Alvaro Pascual-Leone

Cell Body

Dendrites (receiver) Axon (sender)

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

TO CHANGE MINDSET FOCUS ON THESE 3 THINGS

Process

PRACTICE
Learner repeatedly applies a pattern, following guidelines for effective practicing

METHOD
The pattern or routine to be practiced

Learner

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

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... Teaches a common means for developing solutions.

Solution
Toyota!s Management System Our Management System

How to develop solution Specified Guided & directed Left open

Left open

Given / Directed

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

KATA
In Japan such patterns to practice are called "kata!, which originally were movement sequences in martial art. Some common translations or definitions of the word kata are: A way of doing something A pattern, form, routine or method A training drill A kata is a routine or method that is practiced to develop particular skills and mindset. A kata is a routine that is practiced and used time and again, whereby it becomes second nature. 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 that is taught to all organization members and repeated over and over in daily work. I call that method the improvement kata The improvement kata is a backbone practice in a lean organization

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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THE IMPROVEMENT KATA

The improvement kata is a universal pattern for improving, based on a four-part model:
1 2 3 4 In consideration of a vision or direction... Grasp the current condition. Define the next target condition. Move toward that target condition with PDCA, which uncovers obstacles that need to be worked on.

2
Current Condition

4
Obstacles

3
Next Target Condition

1
Vision

Toyota Kata, page 75

The improvement kata is a systematic, scientific means for working through obstacles step-by-step on the way to new conditions and levels of performance Compare this approach with current practice in many organizations:
Debate about what we should do
Mike Rother

Looking around for random improvement potential

Trying to implement predefined solutions

TOYOTA KATA

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THE IMPROVEMENT KATA IS FRACTAL

Because the improvement kata is content neutral it can be practiced throughout an organization

Fractal depiction by Mr. Emiel van Est

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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Daily

Supervisor Area Manager

PRACTICING THE IMPROVEMENT KATA EVERY DAY

The changed system and the process for change are one and the same!

Daily

Area Manager

Plant Manager

Weekly

The normal, day-to-day behavior in the system is also the process that changes how people think and act

VP Manuf.

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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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.

Tar get Condition

Next Target Condition

Current Condition

Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel

Add to the adaptive toolkit of the people in your organization by practicing the improvement kata
Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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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 its 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 Develop a product Market a product / service etc.

This is content and situation specific

What we work on

This is content free and universal

How we go about it

The 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

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WHAT IS MANAGEMENT!S TASK?

Traditional Management
Focus on solutions

Toyota Kata Management

Focus on how solutions are developed Establish targets Develop, via practice with coaching, the capability in people to develop new solutions... ...by having people practice a common way of working, like the improvement kata

Establish targets Describe solutions Provide incentives Get out of the way and periodically check results

To weave new neural circuits through practice it!s best to practice in certain ways (see the book The Talent Code). And the learner needs positive emotion about what s/he is learning. However, that positive emotion can arise via successes along the way.

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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ALL MANAGERS ARE TEACHERS, AND THEIR 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

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rsum
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

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THERE ARE NOW A NUMBER OF RESOURCES

Improvement Kata Handbook

The Books

TK Course

Click on each item for a link to that resource

Mike Rother

TOYOTA KATA

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RESOURCES
Slideshare

Toyota Kata

Toyota Kata Homepage

Facebook Page

Click on each item for a link to that resource

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TOYOTA KATA

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