Develop Scientific Thinking, a Foundation of Lean Management in the 21st Century
The ability to reach goals consistently and profitably amid obstacles and changing business needs is critical to your success, your team’s, and the organization as a whole. The key is to develop a way for you and your team to dependably and quickly navigate the challenges and uncertainties standing between where the organization is now and your objectives.
In this online workshop, you’ll learn how to use the Improvement Kata, a practical and proven method to systematically navigate that “gray zone” between the current state and your target.
Then, in the Coaching Kata portion of the training, you’ll learn an effective way to teach the method to your team, so they achieve goals that appear beyond their reach. Dealing successfully with the challenges and uncertainties in the “gray zone” is a key to creating a company culture based on continuous improvement where people, coached by their managers, make daily improvements based on the scientific method of plan, do, check, act (PDCA).
“Kata” – a term for daily practice routines borrowed from Japanese martial arts – is so powerful because it’s a practical business technique for applying (PDCA) in rapid cycles. It’s a methodical and shared way of working and working together toward objectives. Instead of arguing over “my idea versus your idea,” you and team members have a conversation about what will be your next experiment/your next learning step and how to run it quickly.
What You Will Learn:
- How to intentionally practice the routines of the Improvement Kata to develop scientific thinking in yourself.
- How to intentionally practice the routines of the Coaching Kata to develop scientific thinking in others.
- A proven way to expand effective coaching across your organization to develop scientific thinking and a culture of adaptiveness and innovation.
- How to practice and coach scientific thinking, the foundation of lean management in the 21st Century
- Plus, you’ll learn and practice with a Kata Master Coach, who has over 12 years experience teaching, implementing, and coaching the Kata method at organizations around the world.
Who Will Benefit:
- Leaders who want clarity about what their management teams should do to gain a competitive advantage in today’s markets through innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement.
- Human resource and organizational design professionals charged with leadership development who want to involve more people in continuous improvement, adaptation, and innovation.
- Value-stream mappers who want a systematic way of really achieving their future-state design goals.
- Managers who want to lead and manage more effectively in today’s challenging environment.
- Teams of three or four people from the same organization learning and practicing the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata together.
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 your group.
Recommended Reading:
Toyota Kata Managing People for Improvement Adaptiveness and Superior Results
Schedule Overview
The 8 sessions are hosted over 2 consecutive weeks.
November 12 – November 22, 2024 Course
All sessions hosted 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM ET and instructed by Beth Carrington
- Tuesday, November 12
- Wednesday, November 13
- Thursday, November 14
- Friday, November 15
- Tuesday, November 19
- Wednesday, November 20
- Thursday, November 21
- Friday, November 22
Week 1:
Session 1
Introduction – Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata
Participate in an introductory experiential for the routines of the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata.
Session 2
Kata roles in developing scientific thinking in a learning organization.
Examine organizations practicing Kata and the relationship to the achievement of Hoshin Kanri, Policy Deployment and/or Planning Goals and Objectives.
Session 3
Improvement Kata Routines – Understanding the Challenge and Grasping the Current Condition
Practice the routines on a real process brought to you via video.
Session 4
Improvement Kata Routines – Establishing a Target Condition and Developing a Target Condition Mindset
Practice the routines on a real process brought to you via video.
Week 2:
Session 5
Improvement Kata Routines – Recognizing Obstacles and Experimenting to Overcome them through PDCA Cycles
Practice the routines on a real process brought to you via video.
Session 6
Coaching Kata Routine – Practice Routines
Practice the routines on a real process brought to you via video.
Session 7
Building Coaching Capability and Capacity Throughout an Organization
Examine your organization’s expanding Kata practice across your organizations.
Session 8
Recap of the Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata and the link to deliberate practice driving towards an adaptive mindset and culture of innovation
Examine the impact of Kata in an organization’s culture; developing the willingness and ability to take on tougher and tougher objectives in ever-increasing challenging environments.
Beth Carrington
Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata Instructor and Program Developer, Lean Enterprise Institute
President and Master Coach, Carrington Consulting Inc.
Since 1999, Beth has dedicated her career to coaching organizations through their lean transformations as an independent consultant and instructor at LEI and other global organizations, such as the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). As an Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata Master Coach since 2009, Beth has worked with organizations to build their scientific thinking capabilities for […]
Read more about Beth Carrington