TEACHING THE

IMPROVEMENT KATA

Deliberate  Prac3ce  to  Develop  

Scien3fic  Mindset  
By  Mike  Rother  
© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS!
 THIS  PRESENTATION  
a)  A  bit  about  scien&fic  thinking  
b)  How  can  we  change  our  thinking?  

Modern   The  Process  of  

Management   Making  it  Real  
Concepts  
-­‐  Systems  Thinking  
Transforming  our  
-­‐  Learning  Organiza5on   thinking  and  ac3ng  
-­‐  Lean  Thinking  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 2  

 READ  WHAT  YOU  SEE  

Kön n Si as les n?

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 3  

 READ  WHAT  YOU  SEE  

Kön n Si as les n?

Our  amazing  brain  

filled  in  the  blanks!  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 4  

 READ  WHAT  YOU  SEE  

VQREJLIGE SGHI ÜSSE

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 5  

 READ  WHAT  YOU  SEE  

VQREJLIGE SGHI ÜSSE

But  our  brain  

filled  in  the  blanks  here  too  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 6  

 OUR  NATURAL  BIASES  
What  each  of  us  sees  and  thinks  is  
affected  by  subconscious  biases  
that  all  of  us  naturally  have.  

•  Our  brain  tries  to  make  sense  

of  unfamilar  informa5on  by  
automa5cally  filling  in  the  blanks.  

•  Our  neural  mechanisms  are  tuned  to  focus  on  the  

immediate  surface  aspects  of  situa5ons.  

•  We  tend  to  state  untested  assump5ons  as  facts.  

These  things  happen  without  us  realizing  it  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 7  

THIS  HELPS  GET  US  THROUGH  THE  DAY  

Our  mind  subconsciously  fills  in  blanks,  

because  gaps  mean  we  would  have  to  think  
hard  about  each  circumstance,  which  
overwhelms  our  brain's  processing  resources.  
Being  able  to  judge  quickly  gets  us  through  the  
day.    Imagine  if  you  had  to  think  consciously  
about  everything!  

But  that’s  also  where  trouble  can  begin.  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 8  

 THE  'DELIBERATING'  APPROACH  
IS  QUESTIONABLE  
Whether  in  business,  poli3cs  or  daily  life,  we  oWen  think  
the  best  way  forward  is  to  deliberate  over  answers  and  
arrive  at  a  consensus.    (E.g.,  “Let’s  have  a  mee3ng.”)  
Unfortunately  this  unsystema3c  and  unscien3fic  approach  
is  useful  only  in  simple  cases,  where  the  same  path  has    
been  traveled  before.    And  even  then  it's  ques3onable.  

Delibera3ng  over   A  more  effec3ve  way  

correct  answers  oWen   of  thinking  and  ac3ng  
won't  get  us  to  a  good   can  be  taught!  
answer.  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 9  

 THE  THRESHOLD  OF  KNOWLEDGE  
There  is  always  a  Threshold  of  Knowledge,  which  is  the  point  
at  which  we  have  no  facts  and  data  and  start  guessing.  

(It's  oNen  difficult  to  spot  because  our  brain  is  filling  in  
knowledge  gaps.)  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 10  

 WHAT  TO  DO  AT  A  
THRESHOLD  OF  KNOWLEDGE  
1)  Acknowledge  the  TOK.  
       (difficult,  un3l  you  get  into  the  habit)  
2)  Stop...  see  further  by  experimen3ng.  

A  scien3fic  process  only  confirms  or  

refutes;    it  doesn't  define  or  limit  
what  is  possible  ahead  of  3me.  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 11  

 EXPERIMENTING  YOUR  WAY  FORWARD  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 12  

 SO  WHAT  SHOULD  
A  MANAGER  DO?!  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 13  

FOCUS  ON  HOW  PEOPLE  ARE  WORKING!  
Perhaps  the  most  important  thing  for  a  manager  to  
focus  on  is  not  the  content  of  what  their  people  are  
working  on,  but  the  paAern  of  thinking  &  ac&ng  
they  u3lize  as  they  work.  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 14  

 A  SCIENTIFIC  PATTERN  FOR  MANAGERS  
TO  TEACH:    THE  IMPROVEMENT  KATA  

Illustra5on  from  the  Improvement  Kata  Handbook  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 15  

 WHAT'S  A  KATA?  
A  kata  is  a  structured  rou3ne  you  prac3ce  deliberately  so  its  
pafern  becomes  a  habit  and  leaves  you  with  new  abili3es  

Why  does  having  a  kata  mafer?  

It’s  a  way  of  transferring  skills  and  

developing  mindset  in  a  team  or  
organiza3on!  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 16  

 LET'S  TRY  IT  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 17  

 THE  IK  IS  A  SCIENTIFIC  PATTERN  
WITH  STRUCTURED  PRACTICE  ROUTINES  
Prac3cal   The  Improvement  Kata  doesn't  just  
Applica3on  
model  a  way  of  working,  it  includes  
structured  prac&ce  rou&nes  to  make  
the  pafern  teachable  and  
transferrable,  especially  for  
beginners.  

This  makes  the  Improvement  Kata  &  Coaching  Kata  

different  from  other  new  management  concepts.  
Those  concepts  may  be  correct,  but  they  lack  a  way  
of  opera3onalizing  them  through  deliberate,  
structured,  learn-­‐by-­‐doing  prac3ce.  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 18  

 THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  
STRUCTURED  PRACTICE  ROUTINES  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 19  

 WITH  THIS  THE  MANAGER  BECOMES  
A  TEACHER  /  COACH  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 20  

 LET'S  TAKE  A  LOOK  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 21  

THE  VIDEO  SHOWS  A  "COACHING  CYCLE"  
In  Step  4  of  the  Improvement  Kata  

The  Learner  has  

already  done  this  part  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 22  

 TWO  FORMS  YOU'LL  SEE  

Learner's  Storyboard  

Forms  available  on  the  

Toyota  Kata  Website  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 23  

 THE  FIVE-­‐QUESTION  CARD  
USED  BY  THE  COACH  

Back  of  card  -­‐  Reflec&on  Sec&on  

Card  is  turned  over  

to  reflect  on  the  last  
step  /  experiment  

The  Five  Ques3ons  provide  a  structured,  scien3fic  rou3ne  

for  both  the  Learner  and  the  Coach  
© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 24  
 Science!  
SMALL,  RAPID  EXPERIMENTS  
ADVANCE  YOUR  KNOWLEDGE  QUICKLY  

Current Target
Condition Condition

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 25  

DEVELOPING  A  META  HABIT  THROUGH  PRACTICE  
WHAT  you’re  working  on:  The  focus  process  provides  the  content  
HOW  you’re  working:    The  Improvement  Kata  provides  the  form  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 26  

THE  MANAGER  NEEDS  TO  HAVE  EXPERIENCE  
WITH  THE  IMPROVEMENT  KATA!  

The  prac3ce  of  

management  
is  here  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 27  

 SUMMARY  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 28  

 MANAGERS  ARE  AN  
ORGANIZATION'S  TEACHERS  
Whether  consciously  or  not,  with  their  
everyday  words  and  ac3ons  all  managers  teach  
their  people  a  mindset  and  way  of  opera3ng  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 29  

 THE  ROLE  OF  MANAGERS  IS  CHANGING  
And  they  can  use  our  help  

There  was  a  3me  when  a  manager’s  

job  was  to  organize  the  work,  assign  
the  right  people  to  the  necessary  
tasks,  monitor  the  results  and  ensure  
the  job  got  done  as  ordered.    A  main  
focus  was  task  efficiency.  

Today’s  more  complex  and  dynamic  

environment  means  managers  have  
to  work  with  their  people  not  just  to  
maximize  task  efficiency,  but  to  
develop  and  apply  skills  for  achieving  
new  goals  and  mee3ng  challenges  
along  unpredictable  paths.    

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 30  

 THE  SHIFT  IN  MANAGEMENT  
From  commanding  &  controlling  people,  to  developing  their  
problem-­‐solving  capability  while  working  on  real  goals  

Managers  Develop   Employees  enable  

and  Guide  People   company's  success  

Afract  and  retain   Winning  business  

people   results  

Company  provides  
workplace  of  choice  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 31  

 How  to  prepare  an  organiza3on  for  the  future  
when  we  don't  know  what  the  future  will  bring  

THE  TOYOTA  KATA  BOOK  

THE  TOYOTA  KATA  WEBSITE  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 32  

 BEST  WISHES!  
For  developing  your  scien3fic  mind  

© Mike Rother! KATA WALKS! 33