toyota kata overview

8/17/2019 Toyota Kata Overview

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© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA

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Entire document Copyright © 2013 Mike Rother, all rights reserved1217 Baldwin Avenue / Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA / tel: (734) 665-5411 / [email protected]

Toyota Kata MindsetAlign your teams. Get better atachieving goals and meeting challenges

by Mike Rother2013

22.3NextTargetConditionTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel


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I want to propose that this issomething middle managersshould spend more time on

WHAT I ! D LIKE TO FOCUS ON TODAY

Lean solutions (tools, techniquesand principles) to improve quality,cost, delivery

• A systematic, scientificroutine of thinking & acting

• Managers as teachersof that routine

Visible

Less Visible


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A FAMILIAR ILLUSION


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ANOTHER FAMILIAR ILLUSION

We may know how a kanbansystem works

But we don ! t know what willmake your kanban system work

Visible

Less

Visible

Which of these is the Lean community teaching? What mindset is the Lean community creating?

Important andnecessary,but...


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WE LIKE TO BE CERTAIN IN OUR VIEWThat ! s the way our brain is wired

“Declarations of high confidencemainly tell you that an individualhas constructed a coherent storyin his mind, not necessarily thatthe story is true.”

~ Daniel KahnemanThinking Fast and Slow

But once we think we know, we set a course and go, rather thantesting, learning and adapting. That ! s where trouble begins.


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WHAT IS METACOGNITION ?


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WHAT IS METACOGNITION ?It! s a big word for thinking about how you think


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A QUICK EXPERIMENTTake a moment... please cross your arms.

Then re-cross them the other way.


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QUICK EXPERIMENTPlease clasp your hands.

Then clasp them the other way.


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In each case, how did it feel thesecond time compared to the first?

For most of us the other way feels odd.You have to consciously think about itand be more deliberate.


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Unconscious Thinking

Deliberate Thinking

Our brain creates habits for efficiency; to free up capacityfor when deliberate decision making is necessary.Unconscious thinking enables you to get through the dayby taking care of routine decisions with minimum fuss.

Unconscious thinking is fast and instinctive, whiledeliberate thinking is slow and intentional.

OUR UNCONSCIOUS HABITS ARE FAST & POWERFUL

The subconscious is powerful because it can processbillions of bits of information per second, while ourdeliberate mind can only process a few thousand per second.


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Habits are behaviors that have been repeated regularly andoccur unconsciously. The repeated behavior develops neuralpathways in the brain, making the behavior easier to complete.

Much of what happens in an organization is a consequence ofthe habits that people in the organization have learned throughpractice, whether deliberately or by happenstance.

MUCH OF WHAT WE DO IS HABITUALLike crossing our arms, performed almost without thinking

However, a pitfall of many habits is that the past experiencesthat created them do not necessarily represent future situations


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What would happen if you practiced folding your arms the other way every day?

It would become normal; somethingyou can do without thinking about it.

You just did a bit of metacognition!


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Unconscious Thinking

Deliberate Practice

develops

We may think that all skill is innate -- that you are eitherborn with it or not -- but that ! s not 100% correct.

You can rewire your thinking and habits by deliberately(consciously) practicing a targeted behavior pattern.

Once the pattern you ! re practicing enters yourunconscious it gets smoother and faster and becomes

the normal, habitual way you operate.

WE CAN CHANGE OUR AUTOPILOTHumans have the ability to deliberately develop new habits!

You can change the culture of an organization,and even an entire society, this way.


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Through practicing, the pattern of a katabecomes second nature - done with littleconscious attention - and readily available.

Examples include riding a bicycle, driving acar, typing. Once you ! ve learned to drive you don ! t thinkmuch about using the car ! s controls and can focus yourattention on the situational aspects of navigating the road.

WHAT IS A KATA?A kata is a routine you practice deliberately so its pattern becomes a habit

Part 2


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KATA CREATES CULTURE

Team or

OrganizationalCultureRoutines

Habits Rituals Norms

Mindset and

behavior

Teaches

This is automatic,unconscious

daily practicing

Practicing specificnew

behaviors

Affects

This is deliberate,conscious

daily practicing

KA TA

I s U s e d H e r e


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HERE ! S THE COOL THINGWe now have kata -- a structured way -- for teaching

and coaching this part

Lean solutions (tools, techniquesand principles) to improve quality,cost, delivery

• A systematic, scientificroutine of thinking & acting

• Managers as teachersof that routine

Visible

Less Visible


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A DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT

The systematic pursuit of desired conditions by utilizing human capabilities

in a concerted way

We wantto be here

next

We arehere

Current condition

Desiredcondition

Target condition Challenge


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LEADERS & MANAGERS ARE TEACHERS, ANDTHEIR ACTIONS DETERMINE COMPANY CAPABILITY

Whether consciously or not, with their everyday wordsand actions all leaders and managers are teaching theirpeople a mindset and approach.

So it makes sense to ask: “What patterns of behaviorand thought do we want our managers to be teachingin our organization?”


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Here the managerautomaticallyteaches theprevailing culture

Here the manageris a coach whodeliberately teachesa new way

DELIBERATE versus AUTOMATIC TEACHING

Mindset and

behavior

Teaches Affects Practicing specific

new behaviors

Team orOrganizational

CultureRoutines

Habits Rituals Norms

KA TA I s U s e

d H e r e


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Practice Pattern 1: THE IMPROVEMENT KATAThis is the pattern that Toyota teaches

The Improvement Kata is a systematic and scientificway for people to successfully navigate throughunknown territory together

Establish theNext Target

ConditionTarget

Condition

PDCA Toward theTarget Condition

The 5Questions

GoandSee

PLAN

CHECK DO

ACT

C C

T C

Grasp theCurrent

Condition

Understandthe

Direction

321 4


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Practice Pattern 2: THE COACHING KATAThis is a pattern for teaching the Improvement Kata

The Coaching Kata is a set of coaching routines topractice in order to develop effective coaching habits.

It's a coaching pattern to help you teach theImprovement Kata thinking pattern.

The Coaching Kata gives managers and supervisors astandardized approach to facilitate Improvement Kataskill development in daily work.

The manager / coach needs to know both the Improvement Kata and the Coaching Kata!


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ProcessTarget Condition

Process

Learner(Mentee)

Team

Manager(Coach, Mentor)

CoachingKata

ImprovementKata

THREE ROLES IN PRACTICING & TEACHING

Focus here is givingprocedural guidance todevelop learner ! sImprovement Kata skill

Focus here isapplying theImprovement Katato an objective

2nd Coach(coaches

the coach)

!"

#


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DEVELOPING A META HABIT THROUGH PRACTICEWhat the coach is doing

.

.

..

.

.

.

..

.

.

..

CurrentCondition TargetCondition

UnclearTerritory

Obstacles

Coaching cycleswith the5 questions

5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q

The contentand obstaclesthat the learnerworks on aresituational andwill vary.

The pattern ofthinking andacting (the kata)stays the sameand repeats.This is the habityou ! re trying toteach.The Improvement Kata provides the form,

the focus process provides the content


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THE COACH ! S TASKThe task is to determine whether or not the learner is practicingwithin the corridor of thinking and acting specified by theImprovement Kata, and to introduce procedural coursecorrections as necessary.

When the learner gets outside the Improvement Kata corridorthe potential for learning (for increasing the learner ! s IK skill) isgreat. In this case you can either provide a procedural inputnow, or allow a small failure to occur and then provide the input.

Or here?

Is thelearner

practicinghere?

Corridor ofImprovement Kata

way of thinking & acting


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CORRECTING THE LEARNERThe learner will naturally default back to his or her

existing ways of thinking and acting. The coach isensuring that the learner practices the right patternthe right way.

Or here?

Photos from “The Karate Kid,” 1984


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THE INTENTION IS NOTAUDIT AND COMPLIANCE

It! s this... ...not this

Teaching the learner how to playthe continuous improvement game


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Try to understand how the learner is thinking.(Coach is in an observing / questioning mode)

Compare this to the desired pattern -- “thecorridor” -- specified by the improvement kata.(Coach is in a judging mode)

Introduce a course adjustment if necessary.(Coach is in an instructing or guiding mode)

1

2

3

IT! S A “1-2-3” PATTERN OF TEACHING


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...copied at a U.S. companyA solution at Toyota...

HOW HAVE WE BEEN MANAGING?Leaders and managers have tended to focus on outcomes and solutions

Focusing on outcomes is a kind of implementation orientation ,which assumes the path to the desired condition is relativelyclear. With that thinking, management ! s task is:

• Establish targets• Maybe describe some solutions or tools• Provide incentives to get it done• Get out of the way and periodically check results

“Managementby Results”

Part 3


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Incentive: Group B is told they will receive a cash bonusif they solve the problem faster than the average ofpersons in Group A.

BUT HOW WELLDOES FOCUSING ON OUTCOMES WORK?

The Candle ProblemFind a way to attach the candle to the wall so wax will not drip on the floor

Solution

Experiments by psychologists Kark Dunker and Sam Glucksberg

Box oftacks


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Result? The members of Group B (the group withthe incentive) take three and a half minutes longer on average to solve the problem.

THE SOLUTION AND THE RESULT

Find a way to attach the candle to the wall so wax will not drip on the floor

SolutionProblem as presented


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ROUND TWO

Result? When the candle problem is presentedthis simpler way, the members of Group B (thegroup with the incentive) do complete the taskfaster than the average in Group A.

Now fourseparateitems

Find a way to attach the candle to the wall so wax will not drip on the floor

Problem as presentedSolution


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Solution difficult to seeSolution easy to see

Behavioral scientists have shown repeatedly that extrinsicmotivators work for tasks where the path is clear, but not forchallenging problems that require creativity and adaptiveness(ingenuity) to solve.

FOCUSING ON OUTCOMES WORKSWHEN THE PATH IS CLEAR

Challenges where the path is unclearare increasingly common


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Many companies practicemanagement by results and ROI decision making ,as if the path were clear.

KEY POINTThe implementation-oriented management approach

is not well suited to meeting challenges

TargetCondition

Predictable Zone

Operating based on whatwe see and think now

(Plan & ROI calculations are made here)

Learning Zone

But we don ! t actually know in advancewhat all the steps will be that will getus to the next desired condition.

When you take steps forward you discover things that werenot apparent back when we were calculating and planning

CurrentKnowledgeThreshold

O b s t a c l

e s

U n c l e a r

T e r r i t o r y

? ?

?We want tobe here

next


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EXAMPLE OF IMPLEMENTATION ORIENTATIONAction-Item Lists

Such lists and plans= deciding in advancehow we will get there.

Yet the situation changesas we move forward!

So we are notexperimenting and learning.

This is not an effective wayof tapping our ingenuity!


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“Managementby Means”

DEVELOPING SOLUTIONSThere may be only 3 things we can and need to know with certainty!

(1) Where we are(2) Where we want to be next

(3) By what means we should navigate theunclear territory between here and there.

We wantto behere

We arehere

UnclearTerritory

This is a grey zone!

planis

Obstacles

madehere


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TK IS ABOUT MOBILIZING INGENUITYIN AN ORGANIZATION

Ingenuity = Creating a way of doing somethingthat we want but cannot yet do.

The challenge can be anything, big or small:! An assembly operator and team leader want to

find a way to drive screws without cross-threading

! We want to operate an assembly cell with fourinstead of six operators (at the same output)! We want to injection mold parts in lot sizes that

are 50% smaller! We want to develop an electric car that goes

250 miles on a single charge

The approach is the same in each case.The feeling is the same in each case.

• How do we tap our ingenuity in organizations? • How do we mobilize and channel it?


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ProcessesProductsServices

People ! sMINDSET

BUSINESSOUTCOMES

People!

sBEHAVIORPATTERNS

WHERE DO AN ORGANIZATION!

SSOLUTIONS COME FROM?

Part 4


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WHAT IS MINDSET?

Mindset

A subconscious, habitualway of thinking and feeling,learned via successes andfailures

A lens through whichwe view the world

Determines how weinterpret and respondto situations

Two Points:

• Mindset is the basis of organizational culture

• If you want to change your organization ! sculture you ! ll have to change mindsets

BehaviorPatterns


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LET ! S LOOK AT TWO MINDSETS


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Mindset 1: A FIXED MINDSET *We derive a lot of our sense of security and confidence fromcertainty, and tend to seek it.

The way the adult brain functions, we naturally strive to operatein what I call a Zone of Apparent Certainty , where things are asexpected, rational, calculable, logical, familiar, risk free & certain.

With this mindset: • We expect that things will go as planned• We feel we have control and can predict

Comfort area

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

UncertaintyInside your currentknowledge threshold

*Terminology by Carol Dweck, Mindset (Random House, 2006)

And many things should be as certain as possible!Like the beam holding up the roof, or serving the customer.

Implementation Like the candle problemwith the tacks outsidethe box


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BUT TRYING TO MAKE EVERYTHINGCERTAIN IS DANGEROUS

Here are three reasons...


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Can ! t see all the way there

#1: WHAT IS AHEAD OF USISN ! T CERTAIN

We can see only part way down the path to a challenging goal


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fMRI Scans of brain activity by Dr. Gerald HütherPresented at Production Systems 2009 Conference, Munich, May 2009

#2: THE SPECIAL CAPABILITIES OF OUR BRAINGET ENGAGED WHEN WE DON ! T KNOW

You have to not know in order to learn

This brain isactively engaged

in wiring circuits

fMRI brain scanof a person in a

ChallengingSituation

fMRI brain scanof a person in a

PredictableSituation

This brain iscoasting onmemory it alreadyhas (which usesless energy)


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A refuted hypotheses reveals a knowledge threshold

#3: WE ADVANCE TO NEW SOLUTIONS ANDLEVELS OF PERFORMANCE THROUGH DISPROOF

The scientific approach: learning and discovery comefrom surprise; when reality differs from prediction

Hypothesis

Confirmed

Refuted

Surprise. Potentialfor new knowledge,learning, discovery

Strengthensexisting thinking

Weaves a highwayin your brain


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A THRESHOLD OF KNOWLEDGEIS A LEARNING EDGE

To reach new levelsof performance aknowledge thresholdhas to be there

Two points about knowledge thresholds:

1) You have to acknowledge them to see them.

2) You see further by experimenting, not conjecture.


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Mindset 2: AN ADAPTIVE MINDSETWith this mindset you learn to operate in two zones simultaneously:

The Zone of Apparent Certainty + the Zone of UncertaintyIn the Zone of Uncertainty:

• There is a dilemma: We want to make the best possible plan,but the optimum path will only be known in hindsight

• There are unanticipated obstacles• You acquire/increase your knowledge as you go

Expandedcomfort area

1

2Learning Zone “Ingenuity” “Discovery” Like the candle problemwith the tacks in the box

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty

Inside your currentknowledge threshold

Outside your currentknowledge threshold


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WHICH ORGANIZATION IS MORE LIKELY TO: Execute successfully?

Adapt, innovate and survive long term? Meet challenges?

Comfort area

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty


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HOW DO YOU CHANGE OR DEVELOP MINDSET?(and the organizational culture)

Psychology and brain research: Mindset can be changed.

Our thinking and skills are more transformable than wethought. The brain has plasticity.

Part 5


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The human brain is estimated to contain 100 billion neurons.Clusters of neurons form circuits within the brain, which

underlie perception and thought.For communication between neurons to take place, anelectrical impulse travels down an axon to a synapse, or gap,where transmission occurs.

MINDSET = NEURAL PATHWAYS OR CIRCUITS

Dendrites (receiver)

CellBody

Axon (sender)


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Dendrites (receiver)Cell

Body Axon (sender)

The synaptic gap is what allows plasticity. The way neuronsfunction equips us for learning new patterns and habits.

Both the strength of connection between neurons (ease of informationtransmission) and the number of connections increase with use. Whateveryou focus on and practice - with associated emotions - weaves a habit orpattern into your thinking. (Emotion helps determine what to imprint.)

MINDSET IS PHYSIOLOGICAL!

“Every time you do something,you are more likely to do it again.”

- Alvaro Pascual-Leone

UntrainedSynapse

(high resistance)

TrainedSynapse

(low resistance)

“Neurons that fire together wire together.” - Carla Shatz

Habit

Innovating Implementing

Yellow Zone

Green Zone


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SO ORGANIZATIONS ARE FACEDWITH A DILEMMA

(A) Our brain favors existing neural pathways (comfort area)We naturally and reflexively prefer routine, familiar activity in theapparent certainty zone. It uses existing neural circuits, whichrequire less energy. Our brain likes to focus on familiar patterns.

(B) Meeting challenges - improving and adapting - meansbuilding new neural pathways (learning area)It is impossible to remove uncertainty from the process of

improvement, adaptation and creation. The way forward liesoutside our current knowledge threshold, and pursuing it activatesnew neural circuits, which initially consume more energy.

We wantto behere

We are

here UnclearTerritory

Obstacles

So how do we get more comfortable & skillful with the uncertainty zone?!


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The trick is to develop well-worn mental circuits not for solutions,but for a means of developing solutions along uncertain paths.

This is like training in sports: To prepare for contests withunpredictable solutions, the focus of the training is not solutions,but practicing how to play .

A SOLUTION TO THIS DILEMMAHow can we be creative and effective in dynamic conditions

if we tend to automatically apply old solutions to new situations?

That ! s exactly what the Improvement Kata is

People canhandleuncertainty,work iteratively,adjust andadapt...

...if they havepracticed andlearned a way ofdoing that.


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THE IMPROVEMENT KATA GIVES US SOMETHINGTO HANG ON TO IN THE UNCERTAINTY ZONEIt! s a kind of security blanket for the unpredictable zone

The Improvement Kata gives us a way of having moreconfidence while navigating unclear territory. “I ! ve never donethat before, but I know how to figure it out and find the way.” Ithelps us experience uncertainty more as an opportunity.

Part 6 CONCLUSION


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NextTargetConditionTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel

The more people in an organization who getto higher skill levels with the improvement kata:

• The more challenges the organization can take on• The bigger the challenges it can take on• The more knowledge it can build• The faster it can move ahead

DEVELOPING ORGANIZATION CAPABILITYAND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Practicing the Improvement Kata = expanding people ! s comfort zone

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty


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ONE CONCLUSION IS BECOMING CLEARWe ! re not going to be successful by copying Toyota ! s solutions

We should be copying howToyota develops solutions.(Which is a universal, notToyota-specific, science-based approach.)

The Improvement Kata andCoaching Kata are practiceroutines for teaching andtransferring that approach.

Once you develop proficiency with the Improvement Kataand Coaching Kata you can evolve them into kata that suityour organization.


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ANOTHER CONCLUSIONIf we only periodically conduct training events or onlyepisodically work on improvement -- and the rest of the time

it!

s business as usual -- then according to neurosciencewhat we ! re actually teaching is business as usual .

If we want a Lean revolution, then we ! ll need to shift emphasisfrom staff-led, episodic improvement efforts, to daily effortscoached by line managers. A slice of each day should befocused on applying (practicing) your Improvement Kata.

Toyota ! s Change-Management Secret:

Make no distinction between day-to-daymanagement and change management. Daily


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WHERE DO YOU & YOUR TEAM WANT TO BE NEXT?What challenges are you trying to meet,and what ! s your kata for getting there?

We wantto behere

We arehere

UnclearTerritory

Obstacles


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FOR MORE INFORMATIONVisit the Toyota Kata Website

toyota kata overview

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