Toyota Kata

Kata - The heart of the coaching process at Toyota

1. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
1
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
1217 Baldwin Avenue / Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA / tel: [phone] / [email protected]

2. © 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 want
to be
here
We are
here
Current
condition
Desired
condition
Target
condition
Challenge

3. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.

4. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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 tomorrow's
challenges
It's not solutions themselves that provide sustained competitive
advantage. Itʼs the ability of the organizationʼs members to
develop solutions.
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

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

6. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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
Next
Target
Condition
Current
Knowledge
Threshold
Obstacles
Unclear
Territory
?
?
?
We want
to be here
next

7. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.
Comfort
area
Apparent
Certainty
Mystery
Uncertainty
Learning
area

8. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.
A SOLUTION TO THIS DILEMMA
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

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

10. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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Establish the
Next Target
Condition
Target
Condition
PDCA Toward the
Target Condition
The 5
Questions
Go
and
See
PLAN
CHECKDO
ACT
CC
TC
Grasp the
Current
Condition
Understand
the
Direction
What challenge
are we striving
to meet?
The step-by-step
discovery process
between where we
are and where we
want to be next.
What pattern
do we want to
have next?
What is the
current pattern
of working?
321 4
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.

11. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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PLUS 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. 
It's 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!

12. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.

13. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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Dendrites
(receiver)
Cell
Body
Axon (sender)
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.)
MINDSET = NEURAL PATHWAYS OR CIRCUITS
Itʼs physiological
“Every time you do something,
you are more likely to do it again.”
~ Alvaro Pascual-Leone

14. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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PRACTICE COACHING
METHOD
(kata)


The kata or
routine to be
practiced
Learner receives
periodic guidance in
practicing the routine
TO CHANGE MINDSET AND DEVELOP NEW SKILLS
FOCUS ON THESE 3 THINGS
"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)
Learner repeatedly
carries out the routine,
following guidelines
for effective practicing
Improvement Kata
Knowledge
Coaching Kata
Knowledge

15. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.
Solution
How to
develop solution
Our
Management
System
Given / Directed
Toyotaʼs
Management
System
Specified
Guided & directed
Left open
Left open

16. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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This is exactly what we are talking about in saying that
managementʼs task is to have the organization members
practice a specified method or behavior routine.
Upon close inspection Toyotaʼs 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.
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.

17. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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Fractal depiction by Mr. Emiel van Est
THE IMPROVEMENT KATA IS FRACTAL
Because the Improvement Kata is content neutral
it can be practiced throughout an organization

18. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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!
The normal, day-to-day behavior in
the system is also the process that
changes how people think and act.
Supervisor
Area
Manager
Daily

19. © 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.
Next
Target
Condition
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, and work on creating your future!

20. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.
WE MISUNDERSTOOD THE SOURCE
OF TOYOTAʼS SUCCESSES
•Solve a problem
•Lean practices
•Develop a product
•Market a product / service
•etc.
This is content and
situation specific
How we go about it
The
Improvement Kata
This is content
free and universal
What we work on
The pivotal change proposed by study of Toyota is not in what
an organization does, but in how the organization does it

21. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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WHAT IS MANAGEMENTʼS TASK?
Traditional
Management
Toyota Kata
Management
•Establish targets
•Describe solutions
•Provide incentives
•Get out of the way and
periodically check
results
•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
Focus on solutions
Focus on how
solutions are developed

22. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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LEADERS & MANAGERS ARE TEACHERS, AND
THEIR 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?”

23. © Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA
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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.
résumé

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

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