10 golden rules for failing with toyota kata

Karsten Seydel & Mark Rosenthal!

10 Golden Rules for Failing with Toyota Kata

By Karsten Seydel and Mark Rosenthal

Source: Personal experiences

November 2014

Success Guaranteed !!


Start Kata as a new program - or betteras an alternative Program to Lean.

2!

No1


"Lean" doesn't change.

Toyota Kata is a way to practice foundational skillsfor scientific thinking.

Those skills are the basis for the rest of the Lean practices.

3!

No1


Call Kata a new toolsetfor problem solving.

4!

No2


Call it what it is: A framework for developing a scientific thought process, so everyone can work together effectively using a common approach.

5!

No2


Authorize your in-house consulting group or your Lean experts to launch a Kata program.

6!

No3


The Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata are for leaders and managers to practice, and then to coach others in practicing, to develop different skills, mindset and culture. You can't delegate your own practice to others.

7!

No3


Do a benchmarking trip to copy aKata program from others.

8!

No4


You don't know exactly what will work for you and your organization. What is your skill-development Challenge and next Target Condition? Now experiment and learn your way there... to develop your own style to suit your organization.

9!

No4


Foster discussions about possible solutions instead of testing them.

Don’t start before there's a consensus with everybody.

10!

No5


You won't learn what works for you in front of a whiteboard in a conference room.

There is no experience gained from PowerPoint presentations.

Go and try it with a qualified, experienced coach in order to learn what it is about.

11!

No5


Go to a Kata training course and start training your organization directly

after the course.

12!

No6


TK course training is mostly for awareness and for giving you enough information to decide to try it yourself. You learn by doing. You train by doing.

13!

No6


Let your Improvers find theirTarget Conditions by themselves.

They're empowered after all!

14!

No7


You owe your Improvers a clear, strategically-important Challenge and some coaching, as they develop and propose Target Conditions that align with that Challenge.

15!

No7


Give a Kata Team ambitious financial targets and let your

controllers check results.

16!

No8


Financial results are lagging outcome indicators. People can (and do) find ways to reach them without improving the underlying systems.Challenges and Target Conditions have metrics, of course, but should be expressed in descriptive operational terms. How must the underlying system change? Why will the financial result be different?

17!

No8


Have your Kata team commit on hard project milestones, and check their

results using traffic lights.

18!

No9


The further out a Target Condition, the more you need to plan. But a plan is only a prediction. Check what is being learned via daily Coaching Cycles and adjust accordingly. Managers are responsible for ensuring their teams develop the scientific skills and iterative approach to achieve their goals.

19!

No9


Communicate intensively about the new Kata program but don’t change

your management style.

20!

No10


People answer the questions the boss asks. If you want people to use the Improvement Kata pattern, then use the "5 Coaching Kata Questions" as the baseline for your own style. It won't be easy at first. You too have to practice, learn and change your mindset. But it can be highly satisfying, and it works!

21!

No10


Best wishes for your practice!

You can’t really implement Toyota Kata because we can’t predict exactly how it will go. The trick is to deploy and spread Toyota Kata by using Toyota Kata.

That is, leaders and managers should apply scientific skills and iterate as they strive to achieve their organization's skill-development goals.

22!


Karsten Seydel !!Lean Program Manager and Kata Leadership Coach at Siemens AG Berlin !

Mark RosenthalNovayama Consulting, Snohomish WA!Blogs at theleanthinker.com!

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10 golden rules for failing with toyota kata

Leadership & Management