Improvement Kata & Coaching Kata – A Practice Based Workshop

Every team has a list of problems. Few have a repeatable way to close the gap between where a process stands today and where it needs to be — especially when the fix isn’t obvious. This workshop builds that routine, starting with an honest look at your threshold of knowledge: the line between what you know for certain about your process and what you’re only assuming.

What is the Improvement Kata & Coaching Kata?

This workshop teaches the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata — the routines Toyota uses to build improvement skill in every associate, not just a few designated problem-solvers. You’ll practice each step on a real process at Hollingsworth: establish a challenge statement, observe and document the actual current condition directly on the floor, set a target condition with a defined achieve-by date and measurable metrics, list obstacles and select one to work, and run a PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle against it. A second participant coaches you through the same steps using the coaching-kata questions, so you leave able to both run the routine and teach it to someone else. Everything gets documented on a visual storyboard as you go, so the pattern of work is visible, not buried in a binder.

The Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata routine itself isn’t a factory concept. Teams across manufacturing, engineering, material handling, product and process development, chemical and mechanical labs, and food service — in industries from aerospace and healthcare to pharmaceuticals, education, and construction design and build — use the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata to close the gap between current and target performance. If your work is in software, financial services, or a nonprofit and you’re skeptical that a “shop floor” workshop applies to you: the routine works on any process with a current condition, a target condition, and obstacles in between. It does not require a production line.

Learning Objectives

• Write a challenge statement you can actually hit or miss. Establish a challenge statement that’s aspirational, tied to a real timeframe, and written so you’ll know for certain when you’ve hit it — not a vague goal like “implement 5S.” Business impact: your team stops chasing activity and starts chasing a specific, dated result everyone can see.

• Grasp what’s actually happening on the floor, not what the paperwork says. Grasp the actual current condition of a process through direct observation on the floor — not from standard work documents or what people assume is happening. Business impact: decisions get made on what you observed, not on secondhand assumptions that turn out to be wrong.
• Set a target condition you can test, not just hope for. Establish a target condition with a defined achieve-by date and specific process and outcome metrics, written as a prediction you can test. Business impact: you’ll know within weeks whether the plan is working, instead of finding out at the next audit.
• Name the real obstacle blocking your process — and work one at a time. List the obstacles actually blocking your process — not people, not vague labels like “training” — and select one at a time to work. Business impact: effort stops spreading across ten action items and starts landing on the one thing actually in the way.
• Run a PDCA cycle and coach someone else through it. Run a PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle against that obstacle, record what you expected versus what happened, and coach a learner through the same steps using the coaching-kata questions without handing them the answer. Business impact: you leave able to both do the work and teach a direct report to do it without you in the room.
• Build a storyboard anyone can read by walking past it. Build a visual storyboard so your challenge, current condition, target condition, and PDCA record are visible to anyone walking by — not buried in a file. Business impact: status updates stop requiring a meeting — the board tells the story.

Concepts Introduced

• Improvement Kata
• Coaching Kata
• Obstacle parking lot
• PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle
• Challenge statement
• Scientific thinking
• Threshold of knowledge
• Visual storyboard
• Target condition
• Process metric vs. outcome metric
• Current condition
• Coaching-cycle questions

Who Should Attend

This course is ideal for:

• Operations managers, plant and production leaders, and continuous improvement leaders/coaches who need a repeatable way to build their team’s problem-solving skill.
• HR and OD professionals responsible for capability-building; senior leaders who want a firsthand look at kata before rolling it out to their organization.

Group Discounts

• Register three or more students from your organization and save 12.5% off every registration. This discount will be automatically applied at checkout when you register with your group. 
• LEI Co-Learning Partners: Receive 25% off the current price. No group discount can be applied. 

Cancellation Policy

To cancel, please call LEI at (617) 871-2900 or email registrar@lean.org. 

• 2+ weeks before start date: full refund 
• Less than 2 weeks before the start date: $350 fee
• After the start date: no refund

Recommended Reading: 

Toyota Kata Managing People for Improvement Adaptiveness and Superior Results