The

 Challenge  of  
DEVELOPING  
LEAN  
MANAGEMENT  
By  Mike  Rother  
May  2015  
v3.0  

© Mike Rother Toyota Kata

 You  can  use  
these  slides  

You  may  use  any  slides  from  this  presentaHon,  

which  are  copyrighted  under  a  Crea1ve  
Commons  A5ribu1on  license.    The  only  
requirement  is  to  note  the  source  on  each  
slide  you  use,  for  instance  by  including  “By  
Mike  Rother”  somewhere  on  the  slide.  

2  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 ABOUT  TRYING  TO  ADOPT  NEW  WAYS  
Hoping  to  create  different  behavior  by  explaining  or  trying  to  
convince  people  generally  doesn't  work.    We  don't  behave  a  
certain  way  because  we  lack  informaAon.    We  behave  one  
way  or  another  because  it's  a  (neural,  cogniAve)  habit.  
 
What  can  work  is  deliberately  pracAcing  a  different  rouAne,  
which  over  Ame  changes  how  you  think.  
 
At  the  beginning  you  start  with  basic,  small  rouAnes.    You  
don't  try  to  run  20  miles  in  your  first  workout.    You  begin  with  
starter  pracAce  rouAnes  that  help  you  learn  fundamental  
skills  and  build  some  iniAal  confidence  in  the  new  paHern.  

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THATS  WHAT  
KATA  ARE  

4  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 WHAT  WE'RE  DOING  

ScienHfic  Thinking  PaUern  

+  
Deliberate  PracHce  (Kata)  
=  
ScienHfic  Thinking  and  Skill  

5  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 Toyota  
THE  TOYOTA  KATA  RESEARCH   Kata  
Website  
2004  -­‐  2009  

Guided  by  these  two  research  quesHons:  

1.  What  are  the  unseen  managerial  rou1nes  and  
thinking  that  lie  behind  Toyota’s  success  with  
con1nuous  improvement  and  adapta1on?  
2.  How  can  other  companies  develop  similar  
rou1nes  and  thinking  in  their  organiza1ons?  

Let's  start  with  QuesHon  1:  

 
If  you  study  Toyota’s  management  system  
enough,  a  common  paUern  of  thinking  and  
acHng  emerges,  at  all  levels  in  the  company.  

6  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  4-­‐STEP   1 Get the
IMPROVEMENT  KATA   3 Direction or
Challenge
MODEL   Establish
your Next
Target
Condition

2 4
Conduct Experiments
Grasp the to get there
Current
Condition

The  model  we  used  to  explain  our  findings  resembles  other  
creaHve  and  scienHfic  models:  
 

Systems  thinking,  cri1cal  thinking,  learning  organiza1on,  design  

thinking,  crea1ve  thinking,  solu1on-­‐focused  prac1ce,  preferred  
futuring,  skills  of  inquiry,  evidence-­‐based  learning,  etc.  
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 CREATING  CAPABILITY  TO  THINK  
AND  WORK  SCIENTIFICALLY  
Finding  commonality  between  Toyota's  
management  approach  and  models  of  
human  creaHve  endeavor  makes  perfect  
sense.  
What  Toyota  managers  do  in  their  daily  work  is  have  
people  pracHce  a  universal  skill  for  improving,  adapHng  
and  innovaHng  along  uncharted  paths.  
 
Toyota's  management  approach  involves  teaching  
everyone  in  the  organizaHon  a  scienHfic  mindset,  which  
can  be  applied  to  an  infinite  number  of  challenges  and  
objecHves.  
 
Toyota  managers  teach  a  deliberate,  effecHve,  shared  
way  of  working  throughout  the  organizaHon.  
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 ScienHfic  Thinking  

9  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 IMPROVEMENT  BASED  ON  
“ELIMINATE  WASTE”  IS  TOO  UNSCIENTIFIC  

The  eliminaHon  of  waste  at  Toyota  is  more  of  an  outcome  
of  pursuing  a  parHcular  goal...  like  a  research  ques1on  
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 ASK  5  PEOPLE  WHAT  TO  IMPROVE  
GET  5  DIFFERENT  ANSWERS    

Each  according  to  their  natural  perspecHve,  beliefs  &  bias  

=  Observed  Wastes,  
     Problems,  OpportuniHes    
This  seems  
This  seems   important!  
interesHng  

There's  always  too  

much  to  do,  and  
by  random  choices  
we  get  nowhere  

We  have  limited  Hme  and  

IllustraAon  by  Teemu  Toivonen  
resources  for  improvement!  
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 YOU  NEED  A  TARGET  CONDITION  
What  do  you  
want  to  achieve?  

Things  
we  HAVE  
to  do  

Things  
we  
CAN  do  

12  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
WHICH  TAKES  SOME  ANALYSIS  &  PLANNING  
✓   ✓  

13  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 SO  NOW  WE  CAN  GET  GOING,  RIGHT?  
We  know  the  overall  direcHon  or  challenge,  
where  we  are  now  and  our  next  Target  CondiHon.  
It’s  Hme  to  make  an  acHon  plan!  

Team's  AcHon  Plan  

14  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 SO  NOW  WE  CAN  GET  GOING,  RIGHT?  
We  know  the  overall  direcHon  or  challenge,  
where  we  are  now  and  our  next  Target  CondiHon.  
It’s  Hme  to  make  an  acHon  plan!  

Well,  not  quite...   Team's  AcHon  Plan  

15  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  DICE  EXPERIMENT  
•  I’ll  roll  a  die  three  (3)  Hmes  and  sum  the  numbers.  
•  The  sum  will  be  a  number  between  3  and  18.  

Before  I  roll,  please  write  down:  

What  will  be  the  sum  of  the  3  rolls?  

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 Those  of  you  who  wrote  down  the  
incorrect  sum...  
 
How  do  you  feel?  

17  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 Not  so  bad,  
it’s  just  chance  

18  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 QUESTION  #2  

2,  4,  6,  8,  10,  12,      ?  

What  will  be  the  next  number  in  this  series?  

Please  write  down  your  answer  

19  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 ANSWER  

2,  4,  6,  8,  10,  12,    2  

Those  of  you  who  wrote  down  

the  incorrect  sum...  
 
How  do  you  feel  this  Hme?  

20  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 Hey!  

21  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 What  was  different  
about  these  two  scenarios?  

22  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  SCENARIOS  
How  easy  or  hard  it  is  to  spot  the  Current  Knowledge  Threshold  
•    In  Round  1  with  the  dice,  it  was  easy  to  see  
       the  we  didn’t  know  what  the  outcome  would  be.  
 
•    In  Round  2  the  knowledge  threshold  was  more  
       difficult  to  see.    We  thought  we  knew  the  answer,  
       so  we  went  over  the  threshold  &  answered.  
Yet  in  both  rounds  the  knowledge  threshold  was  
the  same:    There  were  no  facts  beyond  the  iniHal  
setup.  
Predictable   Zone  

2,  4,  6,  8,  10,  12  

Current  
Knowledge  
Threshold  

! What  would  be  a  good  answer  in  both  rounds?  

! Why  don’t  we  say  that?  
23  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 READ  WHAT  YOU  SEE  

IUMRING TQ GQNGIUSIQNS

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 IUMRING TQ GQNGIUSIQNS

We  don't  noHce  Knowledge  

Thresholds  because  our  brain  is  
automaHcally  filling  in  blanks  

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 WE  NEED  THIS  COGNITIVE  MECHANISM  
 

But  it  also  causes  some  problems  

Ca y u rea t is?

26  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
THERE'S  ALWAYS  A  KNOWLEDGE  THRESHOLD  

The  path  is  unpredictable  

Key  points  about  Knowledge  Thresholds:  

 

 1)    They're  hard  to  spot  (unHl  you  pracHce)  

 2)    We  see  farther  by  experimenHng  
 3)    We  don’t  know  in  advance  what  the  result  
   of  a  step/experiment  will  be  
The  Knowledge  Threshold  is  your  Learning  Edge.  
It's  where  your  next  experiment  should  take  place.  
27  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  CORE  DYNAMIC  OF  
"Let's  try  it  and  see"   SCIENTIFIC  THINKING  

ScienHfic  thinking  is  a  rouHne  of  intenHonal  coordinaHon  

between  what  we  think  will  happen  (theory),  what  actually  
happens  (evidence),  and  learning  from  the  difference.  

What  we   What  

expect   Learning   actually  
to  happen   happened  

This  is  the  dynamic  that  allows  us  to  reach  

challenging  new  goals  through  unclear  territory  

28  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  SCIENTIFIC  LEARNING  CYCLE  
A  process  for  acquiring  new  knowledge.  
SomeHmes  called  "Plan-­‐Do-­‐Check-­‐Act"  

EVALUATE PREDICTION
Interpret the Testable
evidence ACT   PLAN  
4   1  
3   2  
CHECK   DO  
(Study)  
EVIDENCE ACTION
Collect facts and data Conduct the
experiment

This  cycle  gives  you  a  pracHcal  way  to  reach  a  Target  

CondiHon,  by  providing  a  systemaHc  way  of  working  
through  the  grey  zone  between  here  and  there.  

29  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 STRIVE  TOWARD  THE  TARGET  CONDITION  
THROUGH  ITERATIVE  LEARNING  
Small,  rapid  experiments  advance  your  knowledge  quickly,  
moving  you  away  from  what  doesn't  work  to  what  does  

Zone of Next
Current Target
Condition
Uncertainty Condition
(date)

YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW

TO GET FROM HERE TO THERE!

30  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  IK  IS  A  GREAT  MODEL,  SO  LET’S  GO!  
✓   ✓   ✓   ✓  

     

The  ScienHfic  IK  PaUern:  

 

 ...suits  complex,  dynamic  

 
         condiHons!  
 ...makes  empowerment  
     
         possible!  

31  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  IK  IS  A  GREAT  MODEL,  SO  LET’S  GO!  
✓   ✓   ✓   ✓  

     

The  ScienHfic  IK  PaUern:  

 

 ...suits  complex,  dynamic  

 
         condiHons!  
 ...makes  empowerment  
     
         possible!  

But  wait,  there’s  another  problem…  

32  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 A  model  alone  is  not  enough  to  change  our  
behavior  &  thinking.    Knowledge  ≠  Understanding  

Deliberate  PracHce  
for  Developing  
ScienHfic  Thinking  

33  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 ScienHfic  
Thinking  

Born?   Learned?  
We  are  notoriously  bad  at  
scienHfic  thinking,  due  to  
those  natural,  unconscious  
OK...  HOW?  
mental  mechanisms.  It  is  
not  our  default  mode.  
34  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 REMEMBER  QUESTION  2?  

How  can  other  companies  

develop  similar  rou1nes  and  
thinking  in  their  organiza1ons?  

InteresHngly,  we  face  a  different  challenge  

than  does  Toyota:  
 
•  Toyota  is  trying  to  maintain  an  exisHng  
culture  as  it  grows  worldwide.  
•  We  are  trying  to  change  our  culture.  

35  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 WHAT  DOES  IT  TAKE  
TO  CHANGE  OUR  THINKING?  
•  Get  a  piece  of  paper  and  a  pen  
•  Start  when  I  say  “go”  
•  Sign  your  name  5  Hmes  normally  
•  When  you  are  finished  raise  your  hand  

36  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 LET’S  TRY  JUST  
A  SMALL  CHANGE  

•  Change  hands,  to  non-­‐dominant  

•  Start  when  I  say  “go”  
•  Sign  your  name  5  Hmes  again  
•  Raise  your  hand  when  you  are  finished  

37  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 HOW  DID  IT  FEEL  THE  SECOND  TIME  
COMPARED  TO  THE  FIRST?  

38  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 WHY  THE  SECOND  TIME  
FEELS  ODD  
You  have  to  consciously  think  
about  it  and  be  more  deliberate  

The  brain  creates  and  prefers  habits  for  safety  &  efficiency.  
Unconscious  thinking  enables  us  to  get  through  the  day  by  
taking  care  of  rouHne  decisions  &  conserving  brain  energy.  
 
Unconscious  thinking  is  fast  and  insHncHve,  while  deliberate  
thinking  is  slow  and  intenHonal.  It  costs  a  lot  of  our  energy  
and  aUenHon.  

Trained Untrained
Synapses Synapses

Deliberate
Low signal resistance Thinking High signal resistance

39  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 SO  WE  HAVE  A  LEAN  DILEMMA  
How  did  it  feel   •  We  have  well-­‐established  neural  
the  second  1me?   pathways  for  signing  with  our  dominant  
•  “Different”   hand.    It’s  automaHc,  fast  &  comfortable.      
•  “Difficult”   •  We  default  to  already-­‐established  
•  “Weird”   thought  and  behavior  paUerns  because  
•  “Uncomfortable”   they  conserve  mental  resources.  

m m a  
1.  We  want  to  change  to  working  scienHfically,  
Dile
according  to  something  like  the  Improvement  
Kata  paUern.  
-­‐-­‐  however  -­‐-­‐  
2.  We  naturally  tend  to  sHck  with  our  current  
ways  of  doing  things  because  they  use  exisHng  
neural  circuits  that  require  less  energy.  

40  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 INFORMATION  &  INCENTIVES  ARE  NOT  
ENOUGH  TO  CHANGE  BEHAVIOR  &  THINKING  
Theories,  models,  informaHon,  examples,  lists  of  steps,  etc.  may  
all  be  correct,  but  just  knowing  is  not  likely  to  change  much  

41  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 VIDEO  -­‐  A  Way  the  Brain  Learns  
(2  minutes)  

hUps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g  
Also  available  on  the  IK/CK  YouTube  Channel  
42  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
4  INGREDIENTS  FOR  ACQUIRING  NEW  SKILLS  
With  these  ingredients  you  can  start  to  rewire  
your  brain  &  acquire  new  skills  and  habits  

2 KATA  
Structured  pracHce  
rouHnes  (beginner)   COACHING  
CorrecHve  
3
Structured  rou1nes  so  a   feedback  
beginner  can  prac1ce   Feedback  to  ensure  the  
fundamentals   Learner  prac1ces  the  
correct  pa5erns  

1 PRACTICE  
MASTERY  
Overcoming  
4
Daily   obstacles  
Repe11on   A  feeling  that  
"I'm  geYng  be5er"  

43  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 DAILY  PRACTICE  
If  we  only  periodically  conduct  training  events  or  only  
episodically  work  on  improvement  -­‐-­‐  and  the  rest  of  the  
Hme  itʼs  business  as  usual  -­‐-­‐  then  according  to  neuroscience  
what  weʼre  actually  teaching  is  business  as  usual.  

So  the  coaches  should  be  line  managers!  

44  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 COACHING  
Cau1on...  Prac1ce  makes  permanent  
Ley  alone,  a  Learner  may  unknowingly  pracHce  exisHng  habits.    
The  Coach  (manager)  provides  correcHve  inputs  to  ensure  that  
the  Learner  pracHces  the  new  rouHne  the  right  way.  

The  manager  focuses  not  on  the  content  

of  what  their  people  are  working  on,  but  
on  their  paUern  of  thinking  &  acHng  as  
they  strive  for  real  goals.  
 

The  manager’s  task  is  not  to  develop  

soluHons,  but  to  develop  the  abiliHes  of  
their  Learners.  

45  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THE  COACHING  KATA  
The  Coaching  Kata  is  a  set  of  pracHce  rouHnes  
for  managers  to  use  in  teaching  the  Improvement  
Kata  paUern...  in  daily  Coaching  Cycles  

Establish   Experiment  
Understand   Grasp  the  
the   Current  
the  Next   Toward  the   Improvement
Target   Target   Kata
Challenge   CondiHon  
CondiHon   CondiHon  
Learner

‘ExecuHng’   Coaching
‘Planning’  Coaching  Cycles   Coaching  
Kata
Cycles  

Coach
(Manager)

IllustraAon  
© Mike by  JRother
eff  Liker   Toyota Kata
 MASTERY  /  SENSE  OF  PROGRESS  
The  Learner’s  emoHons  are  important  
For  new  skills  and  mindset  to  be  learned,  the  Learner  
should  pracHce  in  the  Learning  Zone  beyond  their  current  
capability  but  also  get  a  sense  they  are  making  progress.  

Apparent  
Certainty  
PracHce  at  the  Learner's  
current  threshold  of  
understanding  and  skill  

47  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 KATA  ARE  PRACTICE  ROUTINES  
You  pracHce  Kata  at  the  beginning,  so  their  paUern  
becomes  a  habit  and  leaves  you  with  new  abiliHes.  
 
They're  "Starter  Kata,"  you  don't  pracHce  them  forever.  

48  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 THERE  ARE  PRACTICE  ROUTINES  
FOR  EACH  STEP  OF  THE  IK  MODEL  
They're  in  the  online  'Improvement  Kata  Handbook'  

The
Improvement
Kata model

The practice
routines are a
way to begin to
operationalize
the IK pattern

49  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 KATA  HELP  YOU  GET  STARTED  

Beginners  should  follow  Kata  exactly;  

KATA   not  deviaHng  from  them  so  the  
Learner  can  internalize  the  paUerns.    
But  with  increasing  proficiency  each  
Learner  can  start  to  (within  limits)  
develop  their  own  style.  
 
Likewise,  over  Hme  each  organizaHon  
can  evolve  the  Kata  it  began  with  to  
beUer  suit  and  mesh  with  its  culture.    
The  original  Kata  evolve  into  
organizaHon-­‐specific  pracHce  rouHnes.  

50  
© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 VIDEO  -­‐  A  Coaching  Cycle  
(5  minutes)  

hUps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySdYX4cNPsQ  
Also  available  on  the  IK/CK  YouTube  Channel  
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
  
The  Challenge  
of  CreaHng  
Lean  Management  
The  goal  of  this  presentaHon  is  to  
help  make  us  aware  of  what  is  the  task  

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 A  SHIFT  TO  “21ST  CENTURY  LEAN”  

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 GETTING  THERE  IS  THE  CHALLENGE  
Catch-­‐22:    Managers  have  to  be  Learners  first  

Management  
Able to TEACH it Here you understand the
thinking behind the Kata
Developing  Others   and can teach others

Skill development
Able to DO it begins here
Self  Development   Learning begins when
you start applying the
Improvement Kata yourself

Concepts alone generally

AWARE of it don’t change anything

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 YOU  CAN  APPLY  THE  SAME  
IMPROVEMENT  KATA  PATTERN  TO  
THIS  ORGANIZATION-­‐LEVEL  CHALLENGE  

Challenge

Next
Target
Threshold of Condition
Knowledge (date)

Experiments
Current Toward the TC
Condition

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
Kata  in  the  Classroom  -­‐  for  Schoolteachers  
www.katatogrow.com  

Introducing  the  scienHfic  paUern  of  

the  Improvement  Kata  in  K-­‐12  classrooms  
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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata
 Best  wishes  
for  your  prac1ce  

Visit  the  Toyota  Kata  Website  

 
Review  Philippe  Deslandes'  Kata  SlideShare!  
 

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© Mike Rother Toyota Kata