© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
We want an
adaptive, creative
organization.
How do we
get there?
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata 2
Managers,that’s how!
We want an
adaptive, creative
organization.
How do we
get there?
Mike RotherFebruary 2020
v1.2
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata 3
But maybe not “managers” as we traditionally think of the role
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
TOYOTA KATA BASICS ARE OUT THERE
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It keeps growing andwe all keep learning!
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLSIS A HOT TOPIC
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• In education
• In business
• In everyday life
WHY?
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
CONDITIONS SEEM MORE COMPLEX,LESS STABLE, AND LESS PREDICTABLE
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
AS A RESULT, WE’RE HEARING ABOUT:
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CentralizationDecentralization
Fixed structuresFlowing structures
DecidingLearning & adapting
Empowerment of brainpower close to the action, where situational awareness is the greatest.
Teams get reshuffledas needed for tasks.
Having mindset and abilityto navigate uncertainty.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
AS A RESULT, WE’RE HEARING ABOUT:
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CentralizationDecentralization
Fixed structuresFlowing structures
DecidingLearning & adapting
Empowerment of brainpower close to the action, where situational awareness is the greatest.
Having mindset and abilityto navigate uncertainty.
TOYOTA KATA addresses this
Teams get reshuffledas needed for tasks.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
IT’S ABOUT A PRACTICAL FORM OF SCIENTIFIC THINKING
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1. Acknowledging that our comprehension is always incomplete and possibly wrong.
2. Assuming that answers will be found by test rather than just deliberation. (You make predictions and test them with experiments.)
3. Appreciating that differences between a prediction and what actually happens can be a useful source of learning and adjustment.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
SCIENTIFIC THINKINGAS A PREREQUISITE
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CentralizationDecentralization
Fixed structuresFlowing structures
DecidingLearning & adapting
Empowerment of brainpower close to the action, where situational awareness is the greatest.
Has mindset and abilityto navigate uncertainty.
Scientific Thinking
Teams get reshuffledas needed for tasks.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
How do you get everyoneto think and work scientifically,
so you can decentralize andgive greater autonomy?
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
UNFORTUNATELY, SCIENTIFIC THINKINGDOESN’T COME NATURALLY TO US
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Scientific thinking is not our default mode:• We have cognitive biases, which are useful
when fast reaction is most important, but cause decision-making mistakes.• We make assumptions & jump to conclusions.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
WE CAN’T HELP IT. IT’S AUTOMATIC, SUBCONSCIOUS AND FAST.
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
Seewhere you are now
Set your next
target condition
Get the direction or challenge
Move toward your next targetcondition by experimenting andadjusting based on what you learn
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2
3
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Jumping to conclusions
Assumptions
WE FOUND A SCIENTIFIC THINKING PATTERNGETTING PRACTICED AT TOYOTA
As a countermeasure toour jump-to-conclusions nature
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
VisibleStuff
LessVisibleStuff
• Toyota’s results• ”Lean” tools & practices
1) A systematic, scientificway of thinking & acting
2) Managers teaching theirpeople this way of thinking
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IT’S A FOUNDATION FORTOYOTA’S SUCCESS, AND
MANAGERS TEACH IT
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
Managers develop scientific-thinkinghabits in their people, through
practice on real processes,goals and problems.
They’re teaching their peoplehow to think, not what to think,
in order to build greater adaptiveand entrepreneurial capacity in the
organization.
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
WHY THE MANAGERS?
SupervisorsTeamLeaders Managers
Managers are there every day and teach a way of thinking and acting, whether they realize it or not. They are the primary actors who spread and perpetuate an organization’s culture.They are also the link between the strategic policy level of senior leaders and execution in the rest of the organization
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
LIKE ANY SKILL AND HABIT,SCIENTIFIC THINKING
TAKES PRACTICE
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Most of acquiring scientific thinking comes from the process of applying it. It won’t make much sense until there’s been some experiential learning.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
DAILY PRACTICEIf you practice only occasionally and the rest
of the time itʼs business as usual, then what youare actually practicing is business as usual.
So the practicing should become part of normal daily work. 20 minutes a day is better than two hours once a week
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
COACHED PRACTICEThe coach provides corrective feedback.
Otherwise learners will naturally (& unconsciously)practice a version of their existing habits.
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Daily coaching for everyone? The manager may bethe only person in an organization available to do this!
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
THE BAD NEWS:A limiting factor for creating scientific thinking
skill, mindset and culture in an organizationis how many proficient coaches it has.
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
You don’t needto train everyone! Train the managers.
The managers train their teamsas part of their normal daily work
THE GOOD NEWS:Managers are a leverage point
in the organization
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
• Is the manager aware of their responsibility?• How does the manager learn?• Who coaches the manager?
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OBSTACLES
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
One place to start might be to tell managersthat the responsibility of imparting scientific
thinking to team members is theirs.
MANAGERS AS“TEACHERS OF ADAPABILITY”
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata 25
AN INTERESTING POINT ABOUT THE GM FREMONT à NUMMI TRANSFORMATION
NUMMI hired new managers, and:§ Sent them to Japan for a few weeks of immersion
and training.§ Gave them intense on-the-job coaching (often
with a 1:1 coach/learner ratio) for a long time.
When the closed GM Fremont plant was re-opened as NUMMI, the former GM workers were re-hired, but the managers were not.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
Competence/Capability
Confidence
Based on the“Dunning-Kruger Effect”
Any beginner tends not to recognize howunskilled they are, and to be overconfident.
I get it.I understand.I’ve got this.
WE OVERESTIMATE OUR ABILITIES
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• Does the manager know how to apply scientific thinking?• Does the manager know how to coach?
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT, STARTWITH SMALL PRACTICE ROUTINES
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
Building-block practice routinesto help you learn fundamentals
STARTER KATA = A STARTING POINT
In our case for Scientific Thinkingand Coaching Scientific Thinking
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
6 STARTER KATAFOR THE LEARNER
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
2 STARTER KATAFOR THE COACH
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
And they are a useful assist for team leaders, supervisors and managers.
STARTER KATA HELP SCALE THETRANSFER OF SKILL & MINDSET
Starter Kata are especially useful when you want to create a shared culture. Everyone starts with the same basics.
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata 32
ß Daily Coaching Cycle à
What you see here is not a “huddle.” It is a 20-minute practice session to develop patterns of thinking … in both the learner and the coach.
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
STARTER KATA PLAY WELL WITHMETHODS YOU ALREADY USE
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The experimentingrecord
Steps ofprocess analysis
Steps to establishing
a target condition
Obstacleparking lot
Coaching cycles withthe 5 Coaching Kata
questions
Understand the direction or challenge
They’re practice routines for building specific skills.Example: Integrating SK with A3
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
How do I add this tomy already full day??!
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OVER TIME, COACHING GETS EASIER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE FOR THE MANAGER
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
Then they can build on thefundamental patterns they learned
and develop their own style
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!
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How?
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
NOTICE THAT WE ACQUIRE MANYHABITS OF MIND AT WORK
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Organizations may be the world’s biggest classroomand the managers are the teachers!
Today:Prac t i c i ng
s c i e n t i f i c t h i nk i ng
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
THE TK CODE
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• Conditions are unpredictable.• Enjoy the learning zone.• Understand the direction, grasp the
current condition, establish a target condition, experiment toward the target condition.
• Beginners practice Starter Kata exactly.• Have a coach, be a coach.