Improvement Kata Mindset - leanevent.nl · teaching their people a mindset and way of operating. So it makes sense to ask: “What patterns of behavior and thought do we want our

© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 1

This document and its contents are Copyright © 2013 by Mike Rother, all rights reserved

Improvement Kata MindsetGet better at achieving goals and meeting

challenges by teaching the creative process

by Mike Rother2013

26.0 SChallengeTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel


WHAT IʼD LIKE TO FOCUS ON TODAY

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

• A systematic, scientific routine of thinking & acting

• Managers as the teachersof that routine

Visible

LessVisible

Or: Deliberate practice to develop scientific mindset


THE FOCUS OF THIS PRESENTATION


A FAMILIAR ILLUSION

Part 1 The Power of Habits


WE LIKE TO BE CERTAIN IN OUR VIEWThatʼs the way our brain is wired

“Declarations of high confidence mainly tell you that an individual has constructed a coherent story in his mind, not necessarily that the story is true.”

~ Daniel KahnemanThinking Fast and Slow

Our mind subconsciously fills in blanks, because it hates gaps. Gaps mean we have to think hard about each circumstance, which overwhelms our cognitive resources.But, once we think we know we set a course and go, rather than testing, learning and adapting. Thatʼs where trouble begins.


WHAT IS METACOGNITION?


METACOGNITION =Thinking about how you think

i.e., analyzing your own cognitive processes

Unlike most animals,humans have the abilityto be aware of their thinking and can influence it.

Letʼs try it!


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

Then re-cross them the other way.


QUICK EXPERIMENTPlease clasp your hands.

Then clasp them the other way.


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

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


UnconsciousThinking

DeliberateThinking

Habits are behaviors that have been repeated regularly and occur unconsciously. The repeated behavior develops neural pathways in the brain, making the behavior easier to complete.

Why do this? The brain weighs only 3 pounds but uses 20% of the bodyʼs energy! Unconscious thinking enables you to get through the day by taking care of routine decisions with minimum fuss. Unconscious thinking is fast and instinctive, while deliberate thinking is slow and intentional.

OUR UNCONSCIOUS HABITS ARE FAST & POWERFULOur brain creates habits and heuristics to conserve resources; to free

up capacity for when deliberate decision making is necessary

The subconscious can process billions of bits of information per second, while our deliberate mind can only process a few thousand per second.


Much of what happens in your organization is a consequence of the habits that people in the organization have learned through practice, whether deliberately or by happenstance.

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


However, a pitfall of habits can be that the past experiences that created them do not necessarily represent future situations.

Mindsetand

behavior

TeachesTeam or

OrganizationalCultureRoutines

HabitsRitualsNorms

YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATIONʼS CULTURE PERPETUATES ITSELF EVERY DAY

This is automatic,unconscious

daily practicing


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

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


UnconsciousThinking

DeliberatePractice

develops

We may think that all skill is innate -- that you are either born with it or not -- but thatʼs not 100% correct.You can rewire your thinking and habits by deliberately (consciously) practicing a targeted behavior pattern.Once the pattern youʼre practicing enters your unconscious it gets smoother and faster and becomes the new normal, habitual way you operate.

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

Thatʼs what the Improvement Kata & Coaching Kata are about.

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


Through practicing, the pattern of a kata becomessecond nature; done with little conscious attention.An example is practicing to learn to drive a car. Onceyou can drive you donʼt think much anymore about howto use the carʼs controls and instead focus your attentionon the situational aspects of navigating the road.Why does a kata matter? It models a way of thinking and acting so other people can learn it and use it. Itʼs a way of transferring skills and developing mindset.

THIS IS WHERE “KATA” COMES INA kata is a routine you practice deliberately so its pattern becomes a habit


Mindsetand

behavior

TeachesTeam or


HabitsRitualsNorms

KATA HELP YOU CREATE NEW CULTURE

This is automatic,unconscious

daily practicing

Practicingspecific

newbehaviors

Affects

This is deliberate,conscious

daily practicing

KATAIs Used

Here


A DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT

The systematic pursuit of desired conditionsby utilizing human capabilities

in a concerted way

We want to be here

nextWe are

here

Currentcondition

Desired condition

TargetconditionChallenge


LEADERS & MANAGERS ARE TEACHERS, ANDTHEIR ACTIONS DETERMINE COMPANY CAPABILITY

Whether consciously or not, with their everyday words and actions all leaders and managers are teaching their people a mindset and way of operating.

So it makes sense to ask: “What patterns of behavior and thought do we want our managers to be teaching in our organization?”


Mindsetand

behavior

TeachesTeam or


HabitsRitualsNorms

Here the manager automatically

teaches and reinforces the prevailing culture

Here the manageris a coach who deliberately teachesa new way

DELIBERATE versus AUTOMATIC TEACHING

AffectsPracticingspecific

newbehaviors

KATAIs Used

Here


--> It should be used system-wide in daily work

--> It should be suitable for any goal or problem(a content-neutral Meta Habit)

--> It should be based on a scientific model

--> It should include structured practice routinesfor beginners (proficient users can vary the routines)

WHAT PATTERN SHOULD MANAGERS TEACH?


Practice Pattern 1: THE IMPROVEMENT KATA

Part 2 The Improvement Kata & Coaching Kata

Planning Executing

The Improvement Kata:(a) Models the scientific / creative process,

to make it teachable.(b) Includes specific practice routines.


Practice Pattern 2: THE COACHING KATAA routine for teaching the Improvement Kata

The Coaching Kata is a coaching pattern to help you teach the Improvement Kata thinking pattern.

The Coaching Kata gives managers a standardized approach to facilitate Improvement Kata skill development in daily work.

Together, the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata comprise a system of management


LearnerʼsStoryboard

Learner

Team

Coach(Manager)

CoachingKata

ImprovementKata

THE TWO PRIMARY ROLESIN PRACTICING & TEACHING

The Coachʼs focus is giving procedural guidance to develop learnerʼs Improvement Kata skill

The Learnerʼs focus is applying the Improvement Kata pattern to an objective

This practicing is aimed at real challenges and goals.These are not theoretical exercises. Practicing and

doing are combined in this case.


DEVELOPING A META HABIT THROUGH PRACTICEWHAT youʼre working on: The focus process provides the contentHOW youʼre working: The Improvement Kata provides the form

. . ... .. . . .

. ..CurrentCondition

ProcessTarget

ConditionUnclear Territory

Obstacles

Coaching Cycles

with the 5 Questions

5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q5Q5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q5Q 5Q 5Q

The pattern of thinking and acting stays the same and repeats.The Improvement Kata is the habit, the HOW, that the Coach is teaching.

Coach

Learner

The content and obstacles the Learner works on, the WHAT, are situational & vary

IK SkillTarget

Condition


THE COACHʼS TASK:GUIDE THE LEARNER ON PROCEDURE

The task is to determine whether or not the learner is practicing within the corridor of thinking and acting specified by the Improvement Kata, and to introduce procedural course corrections as necessary.

When the learner gets outside the Improvement Kata corridor the potential for learning (for increasing the learnerʼs IK skill) is great. In this case you can either provide a procedural input now, or allow a small failure to occur and then provide the input.

Or here?

Is the learner

practicinghere?

Corridor ofImprovement Kata

way of thinking & acting


CORRECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTThe learner will naturally default back to his or her existing ways of thinking and acting.The coach introduces corrections to ensure that the learner practices the right pattern the right way.

Or here?

Photos from “The Karate Kid,” 1984


THE INTENTION IS NOTAUDIT AND COMPLIANCE

Itʼs this... ...not this

Teaching the learner how to playthe sytematic and scientific

continuous improvement game

Once you develop proficiency with the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata you can evolve them into kata that suit your organization.


FIVE KEY POINTS SO FAR

1. We operate on habits.

2. We can change our habits through deliberate practice.

3. There is a pattern we can practice to get better at meeting challenging goals. We call it the Improvement Kata, which has four steps.

4. The Improvement Kata is a way of managing ourselves.

5. Managers are the coaches / teachersfor that pattern.


HOW HAVE WE BEEN MANAGING?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 relatively clear. With that thinking, managementʼs task is:

• Establish targets• Make an implementaton plan• Describe some solutions or tools• Provide incentives to get it done• Periodically check for results

“Management by Results”

Part 3 A Different Way of Managing


Incentive: Group B is told they will receive a cash bonus if they solve the problem faster than the average of persons 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 of tacks


Result? The members of Group B (the group with the 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


ROUND TWO

Result? When the candle problem is presented this simpler way, the members of Group B (the group with the incentive) do complete the task faster than the average in Group A.

Now four separate items

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

Problem as presentedSolution


Solution difficult to seeSolution easy to see

Behavioral scientists have shown repeatedly that extrinsic motivators work for tasks where the path is clear, but not for challenging 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


We need tomake plans...

KEY POINTThe implementation-oriented management approach

is not well suited to meeting challenges

TargetCondition

Predictable Zone

Plan & ROI calculationsare made hereOperating based on what we see and think today

Learning Zone

...but we canʼt know in advance what all the steps will be that will get us to a challenging target condition.

When you take steps forward you discover things that were not apparent back when we were calculating and planning

CurrentKnowledgeThreshold

Obstacles

Unclear

Territory

? ?

?We want to

be here next


“Management by Means”

A DIFFERENT WAY OF MANAGINGThere may be only 3 things we canand need to know with certainty!

(1) Where we are(2) Where we want to be next(3) By what means we should navigate the unclear

territory between here and there. The manager focuses on development of skill / behavior patterns.

We want to behere

We are here

Unclear Territory

This is a grey zone!

planis

Obstacles

madehere


MORE KEY POINTS

1. The path forward canʼt be 100% predicted.

2. We tend to manage by pre-defining the path to a goal.

3. Navigating the grey zone takes a different way of working.

4. With the IK and CK the manager focuses on teaching their team to work through the grey zone scientifically.


MINDSET IS THE BASISOF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

MindsetA subconscious, habitual way of thinking and feeling, learned via successes and failures

A lens through whichwe view the world

Determines how we interpret and respond to situations

If you want to change your organizationʼs culture youʼll have to change mindset

BehaviorPatterns

Part 4 The Role of Mindset


LETʼS LOOK AT TWO MINDSETS


Mindset 1: A FIXED MINDSET *We derive a lot of our sense of security and confidence from certainty, and tend to seek it.The way the adult brain functions, we naturally strive to operate in what I call a Zone of Apparent Certainty, where things are as expected, 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

Comfortarea

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty

Inside your current knowledge 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.

ImplementationLike the candle problem with the tacks outside the box


BUT TRYING TO MAKE EVERYTHING CERTAIN(which our brain tries to do)

IS DANGEROUS

Hereʼs

Why!


Canʼt see allthe way there

#1: WHAT IS AHEAD OF USSIMPLY ISNʼT CERTAIN

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


TRYING TO DECIDE EVERYTHING IN ADVANCEIS INEFFECTIVE


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

#2: THE SPECIAL LEARNING CAPABILITY OF OUR BRAIN GETS ENGAGED WHEN WE DONʼT KNOW

Our human capability to learn is often latent; it has to be activated

This brain is actively engaged in wiring new circuits (which uses more energy)

fMRI brain scan of a person in aChallenging

Situation

fMRI brain scan of a person in a

Predictable Situation

This brain is coasting on memory it already has (which uses less energy)


Prediction

Confirmed

ErrorSurprise. Potential for new knowledge, learning & discovery.

Strengthenscurrent thinking.Like re-walking apath in the snow.

Prediction confirmation keeps you in place. Prediction error leads you out of your assumptions and forces exploration.This is because prediction error reveals a knowledge threshold.

#3: UNEXPECTED RESULTS HELP YOU PROGRESSYou donʼt learn by doing something right, because you already knowhow to do it. You learn from making mistakes and correcting them.

Scientific thinking is always provisional. When a resultis different than predicted you can learn something new.


LEARN TO SEE AND UTILIZE THETHRESHOLD OF KNOWLEDGE

The Threshold of Knowledge is your learning edge

The Knowledge Threshold is the pointat which you have no facts & data and start guessing.

To reach new levels of performance a knowledge threshold has 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.


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

The Zone of Apparent Certainty + the Zone of Uncertainty

In 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

Expanded comfortarea

1

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

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty

Inside your current knowledge threshold

Outside your current knowledge threshold


The Toyota Kata Hypothesis:AN ADAPTIVE MINDSET CAN BE TAUGHT

THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL PRACTICE


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 we thought. The brain has plasticity.If an organization wants to make change happen, its leaders and managers should understand why we think and act the way we do, and what it takes to change that.

Here’s

how it

works(I think)


Dendrites (receiver)CellBody

Axon (sender)

The human brain is estimated to contain 80-100 billion neurons, and thousands of synapses per neuron. Clusters of neurons form circuits within the brain, which underlie perception and thought.For communication between neurons to take place, an electrical impulse travels down an axon to a synapse, or gap, where transmission occurs.

MINDSET = NEURAL PATHWAYS OR CIRCUITS

80,000,000,000 neurons X 10,000 synapses = 800,000,000,000,000 Connections


TrainedSynapse

Low resistance

Both the strength of connection between neurons (ease of impulse transmission) and the number of connections increase with use. Whatever you focus on and practice - with associated emotions - weaves a habit or pattern into your thinking. (Emotion helps determine what to imprint.)

MINDSET IS PHYSIOLOGICAL!The synaptic gap is part of what allows plasticity. The way

neurons function equips us for learning new patterns and habits.

Neurons that fire together wire together.

- Carla Shatz

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

- Alvaro Pascual-Leone

UntrainedSynapse

High resistance


THE BRAIN PREFERSALREADY-TRAINED PATHWAYS

TrainedSynapse

Uses less energy

Implementing

GreenZone

UntrainedSynapse

Uses more energy

Innovating

YellowZone

The brain learns toprefer whatever wefocus on repeatedly.

As this information grows stronger through repetition it becomes wired in the brain and solidifies thinking and behaviors.

Due to these preferred pathways in the brain, youʼre led by your brain to use them again and again, which strengthens them even more. This is how your organization's culture perpetuates itself.


SO ORGANIZATIONS ARE FACEDWITH A DILEMMA

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

(B) Meeting challenges - improving and adapting - means buildingnew neural pathways (learning area)Itʼs impossible to remove uncertainty from the process of improvement, adaptation and creation. The way forward lies outside our current knowledge threshold, and pursuing it activates new neural circuits that initially consume more energy.

We want to behere

We are here

Unclear Territory

Obstacles

How do we get more comfortable & skillful with this uncertainty zone?!


The trick is to develop well-worn mental circuits not for solutions,but for a means of developing your own solutions along uncertain paths.This is like training in sports: To prepare for contests with unpredictable solutions, the focus of the training is not solutions,but practicing how to play.

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

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

Thatʼs exactly what the Improvement Kata is

People can handle uncertainty,work iteratively, adjust and adapt......if they have practiced and mastered a wayof doing that.Itʼs not the natural way we operate.


MORE KEY POINTS

1. Mindset is the basis of our behavior and an organizationʼs culture.

2. Our mindset can be changed!

3. A task in improvement, adaptation and innovation is to develop habitual mental circuits that are effective for navigating grey zones... by practicing a systematic, scientific routine like the Improvement Kata under coaching guidance.


NextTarget ConditionTarget

Condition

CurrentCondition

Illustration by Dr. Lutz Engel

The more people in an organizationwho get to higher skill levels with the Improvement Kata pattern:• 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

INCREASING YOUR ORGANIZATIONʼS CAPABILITYPart 5 Conclusion

ApparentCertainty

Mystery

Uncertainty

Comfortarea


ONE CONCLUSION IS BECOMING CLEARIf we only periodically conduct training events or only episodically work on improvement -- and the rest of the time itʼs business as usual -- then according to neuroscience what weʼre actually teaching is business as usual.

If we want a Lean revolution, then we need to shift emphasis from staff-led, episodic improvement efforts, to daily efforts led by middle managers.

A slice of each day should be focused on iterating toward the next target condition by applying & coaching your improvement kata.

The Workday


WHERE DO YOU & YOUR TEAM WANT TO BE NEXT?What challenges are you trying to meet,

and what kata for getting there are you practicing?

We want to behere

We are here

Unclear Territory

Obstacles


FOR MORE INFORMATIONVisit the Toyota Kata Website

Documents

Improvement Kata Mindset - leanevent.nl · teaching their people a mindset and way of operating. So it makes sense to ask: “What patterns of behavior and thought do we want our