Example Coaching Cycle - The Basic 5Q Structure Mike Rother 2026-09-28 | Example Coaching Cycle - The Basic 5Q Structure
Scientific Thinking at Work Mike Rother 2025-02-28 | The event takes place on Sept. 22-23, 2025 in Cincinnati, OH. Information at: www.sites.google.com/umich.edu/sci-fairPractical, everyday scientific thinking is a highly effective way to navigate unpredictable territory toward challenging goals, and Toyota Kata is a popular way to practice and coach it. In a unique collaboration, The University of Michigan and GE Aerospace invite you to the first sharing event centered around everyday practice of scientific thinking in workplaces and education.
The Wisdom of Uncertainty Mike Rother 2024-11-24 | Toyota Kata helps you become skillfully unsure, so you can tackle unpredictable journeys toward ambitious objectives. Maggie Jackson and Tracy Defoe discuss how to skillfully confront the unexpected and the unknown; how to harness not-knowing in the service of creativity, adaptiveness and effective collaboration. The ability to more readily learn and adapt has become a crucial skill for the 21st century.This video is an edited version of a conversation between Maggie Jackson and Tracy Defoe at the Lean Global Network's 'Lean Global Connection' online event on November 21, 2024. Maggie connects the dots in a fluid manner and is a great duo with Tracy. The session was organized by Sergio Caldeirinha of the Lean Academy Portugal. (You can view the full, unedited session at youtube.com/watch?v=GfnBrrSV6_o)Read more about the subject via the following books:• 'Uncertain' by Maggie Jacksonamazon.com/Uncertain-Wisdom-Wonder-Being-Unsure/dp/1633889181• 'Bringing Scientific Thinking to Life' by Sylvain Landryamazon.com/Bringing-scientific-thinking-life-next-generation/dp/2897993502
Adding Starter Kata to Existing Activities Mike Rother 2024-04-25 | Add-A-Kata! Mark Rosenthal describes how you can add practice of scientific thinking to common work activities. Terrific video for any change agent.
Mark Rosenthal - Infusing TK Into the Organization Mike Rother 2024-01-21 | Mark Rosenthal describes how teams and organizations can build practice of scientific thinking into regular work activities, and also utilize scientific thinking to more effectively manage any change process. Terrific video for every manager, leader or change agent.
TK at Robert Bosch Corp. Mike Rother 2024-01-07 | Learn how Toyota Kata was deployed and is practiced at the Robert Bosch Automotive Electronics plant in Hatvan, Hungary.This video is edited from the presentation made at the 'Lean Global Connection' online event on November 30, 2023. View the full, original video at youtube.com/watch?v=AfE9d-h5d4U
The Storyboard is Just a Starter Kata! Mike Rother 2023-11-02 | Dr. William Harvey encourages you to coach scientific thinking more frequently; in everyday conversations and meetings, not just in front of a Toyota Kata storyboard. One of Dr. Harvey's favorite Starter Kata to use in frequent coaching is the experimenting record, which you can download at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/Exp_Record.pdfFor details on how to use the experimenting record see the 'Toyota Kata Practice Guide.' (amazon.com/Toyota-Kata-Practice-Guide-Practicing/dp/1264983816)This clip is an excerpt from Kata School Cascadia's 4th Anniversary Kata Meetup in October 2023. Watch the full 52-minute meetup video at: youtube.com/watch?v=OfMKIBeQjFQ
Scientific Thinking .. A Good Habit for Managers Mike Rother 2023-07-10 | Following publication of his latest Toyota Kata book, in this presentation Montréal-based professor Sylvain Landry asks, "What is the organizational equivalent of breathing?" 🤔(Presentation made March 16, 2023 for Germany's annual 'Lean Around the Clock' conference.)
Mike Rother at KataCon9 Mike Rother 2023-04-21 | Mike Rother's remarks about Toyota Kata and scientific thinking, made at the KataCon9 conference on March 14, 2023.
Your Target Condition is a Hypothesis! Mike Rother 2022-11-17 | Delightful explanation by Mary Jones about how thinking of your next goal as a hypothesis or prediction helps turn you into a scientific-thinking experimenter!LINKS:Kata School Cascadia: kata-school-cascadia.orgKata Girl Geeks: katagirlgeeks.com (@KataGirlGeeks)#ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking #KataSchoolCascadia #KataGirlGeeks
Teaching Scientific Thinking is Important Work Mike Rother 2022-07-25 | Mike Rother's remarks at the Kata School Cascadia 'Kata Together' event on July 13, 2022. (kata-school-cascadia.org)
The Toyota Kata Mission Mike Rother 2022-07-14 | The point of practicing scientific thinking with Toyota Kata is to build a creative, curious, I-realize-we-don’t-know-yet attitude that makes us better travelers though hidden reality, and more able to collaborate well.
Job Instruction Training - How might you use this pattern today? Mike Rother 2021-11-03 | 'Job Instruction Training' is a WWII-era Starter Kata for managers, supervisors and team leaders that embodies respect for people and still finds application today. Think about how the intent and underlying pattern of instruction that's illustrated here might be useful in your work environment. (1944 film by the Federal Security Agency, U.S. Office of Education: "Problems in Supervision: Instructing Workers on the Job.")
The 5 Coaching Kata Questions Mike Rother 2021-10-28 | Get a daily 5-question card at the following link. And whenever you find your learner's current threshold of knowledge, go directly to question 4. Repeat the next day. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/5Q_Card.pdf
Prof. H. Thomas Johnson - Deming Medal acceptance remarks Mike Rother 2021-10-12 | May 5, 2008 remarks from Portland State University professor H. Thomas Johnson for receiving the ASQ Deming Medal. Prof. Johnson originated the principle of Management by Means (MBM) as opposed to Management by Results (MBR). Learn more in his books "Relevance Lost - The Rise and Fall of Managerial Accounting" (Harvard, 1991) and "Profit Beyond Measure" (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
The I May Be Wrong Starter Kata Mike Rother 2021-09-22 | GET INSTRUCTIONS AT: 734mike.wixsite.com/clickerkata. This simple and fun one-week practice routine ("Starter Kata") helps you experience unexpected events more positively.
Coaching Kata Lessons from Damen Parker Mike Rother 2021-09-15 | Got four minutes? A nice set of coaching lessons-learned from Kata colleague Damen Parker and the KataCon Europe crew.
Toyota Kata: Deliberate Practice for Scientific Thinking Mike Rother 2021-06-04 | This 'Lunch & Learn' presentation in the the Industrial & Operations Engineering Department at the University of Michigan (@UMIOE) was captured on April 23, 2021.The PowerPoint slides used for this video can be downloaded free at: tinyurl.com/KCEUslides (76MB) (tinyurl.com/KCEUslides)
Jeff Liker: The Toyota Way and Toyota Kata (Overview) Mike Rother 2021-05-26 | The new second edition of Professor Jeffrey Liker's book 'The Toyota Way' explains Toyota's management philosophy through fourteen principles, with scientific thinking as the central connection point. Toyota Kata provides a way to practice and learn scientific thinking as you work toward challenging goals of any kind.• The pptx slides from this video can be downloaded free at: tinyurl.com/LikerSlides (8MB) (tinyurl.com/LikerSlides)• amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Second-Management-Manufacturer/dp/1260468518#TheToyotaWay #ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking
KataCon Europe 2021 Keynote by Mike Rother Mike Rother 2021-05-10 | Scientific thinking skills have become essential for any team, and Toyota Kata has become the most popular way to develop those skills. Practicing the 'Starter Kata' routines of the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata helps anyone learn how to navigate complex conditions and achieve challenging goals. (Video was captured at the European 'KataCon' conference on April 28, 2021.)• The pptx slides from this video can be downloaded free at: tinyurl.com/KCEUslides (76MB) (tinyurl.com/KCEUslides)• This video can be used to provide background information for Toyota Kata training and practice sessions.#ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking
KataCon EU 2021 Mike Rother 2021-03-31 | Short preview of the subject matter at KataCon Europe on April 27-29, 2021. kataconeu.com
Starter Kata in 1 Minute Mike Rother 2020-07-31 | Starter Kata help get you into the habit of something new.More information is in the 'Toyota Kata Practice Guide' at tinyurl.com/TK-Practice#StarterKata #ToyotaKata
The Storyboard Starter Kata Mike Rother 2020-07-31 | Tilo Schwarz provides a three-minute introduction to the learner's storyboard and how it is used in the Toyota Kata approach to practicing scientific-thinking skills.Download a free storyboard template at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/Storyboard_Format.pdfDownload the five Coaching Kata questions at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/5Q_Card.pdf
Richard Feynman on Becoming a Scientist Mike Rother 2020-04-13 | Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was an American physicist who became one of the most iconic, influential and inspiring scientists of the 20th century.
Outtakes from the Online Toyota Kata Basics Course Mike Rother 2019-12-03 | We captured some of the struggles that Jeff Liker and Jim Franz had in creating their online TK basics course (http://www.kata.teachable.com).
ZMO Kata Lab, September 25-27, 2019 Mike Rother 2019-07-20 | Join us for the first-ever Kata Lab at Zingerman's Mail Order in Ann Arbor on September 25-27, 2019. Info and registration at zingermansleanlab.com/kata-lab
Introduction to Toyota Kata Mike Rother 2019-07-06 | Good introduction to what Toyota Kata is about, to share with anyone who needs it.• Captured at the 5th annual North American KataCon conference in Savannah, GA on February 18, 2019.• The pptx slides from this video can be downloaded free at: tinyurl.com/TKintroSlides (39MB) (www.tinyurl.com/TKintroSlides)• There's also a nice 1-page description of Toyota Kata at: tinyurl.com/NIST-MEP-TK (www.tinyurl.com/NIST-MEP-TK)#ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking
Lessons Learned - 20 Years of Value Stream Mapping Mike Rother 2019-04-10 | On the 20th anniversary of the 'Learning to See' book, Ron Pereira asks Mike Rother what we've learned from two decades of Value Stream Mapping. Valuable perspectives for anyone who uses VSM.
Add Toyota Kata to Your A3 Mike Rother 2019-03-30 | The Toyota Kata 'Starter Kata' practice routines play well with and enhance just about any improvement approach. The example presented here illustrates how the scientific-thinking TK routines help make the Lean A3 process function more as intended.Many teams incorporate the Toyota Kata 'experimenting record' Starter Kata into their A3s, leading them to perform more experiments and learn faster & deeper. The first few experiments are often about getting a clearer understanding of the current condition, which helps teams establish better target conditions and expedites learning cycles.Get the free Starter Kata forms mentioned in this video, on the Toyota Kata website downloads page at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Supporting_Materials.html
KiC Trailer Mike Rother 2019-01-18 | Everything you need to run the KiC exercise with your team is at katatogrow.comVideo captured at the lively annual German Toyota Kata Convention in Leipzig in November 2018.
Know Your Destination - by Simon Sinek Mike Rother 2018-12-12 | One of the Toyota Kata findings was that "eliminating waste" is more a by-product of pursuing challenging goals, rather than the goal itself. Simon Sinek gets it and explains it well. What do you want to achieve?
Where Does Our Curiosity Go? Mike Rother 2018-12-10 | Children seem to be naturally curious and try things in a kind of scientific manner. But as we get older this exploratory mindset fades. Why does this happen? Many people have suggested that school 'beats it out of us,' but it actually happens naturally as we grow up. If there's a problem with schooling in this regard, it may be that schooling does not beat curiosity into us.Edit from a presentation by Jordan Peterson, professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto.You might also like the related SlideShare at: www.tinyurl.com/PracticeCuriosity
VSM + TK: Navigating toward your desired future Mike Rother 2018-09-10 | This short video by emsstrategies.com addresses the issue that once you've drawn a future-state map, how do you effectively move from current to future-state? We need a sense of direction or challenge, which VSM can help provide, but we also need some scientific-thinking skills for navigating our way there. VSM is a way to define direction, and practicing Toyota Kata develops your skills to get there.#ValueStreamMapping #VSM #ToyotaKata
Starter Kata in 4 Minutes Mike Rother 2018-08-30 | Starter Kata are basic practice routines you begin with, to get skill fundamentals. The goal is to internalize each Starter Kata's pattern, so you can then build on and adapt that pattern under a variety of circumstances with little thought or hesitation.The Toyota Kata Starter Kata help anyone develop greater powers of scientific thinking, which equips you to meet all sorts of challenging goals.More information is in the 'Toyota Kata Practice Guide' at: tinyurl.com/TK-PracticeInterestingly, the goal of the Dutch Reach is not 'to open the door with the right hand,' but rather for drivers to look back before opening the door. To build new skills and mindset it's helpful to have a little starter routine to practice, than to only hear, "Please look back before you open the door."#StarterKata #ToyotaKata
TK at Zingermans Mail Order Mike Rother 2018-03-15 | A short presentation about the early days of Toyota Kata practice at Zingerman's Mail Order, from February 2016. Decision-making can be successfully moved more to the people and teams in an organization, when that is combined with teaching people in the organization an effective way of making decisions and navigating toward goals. Practicing the scientific-thinking starter routines of Toyota Kata helps anyone and any team develop fundamental skills for experimenting and adapting like a scientist.
U.S. 2019 Toyota Kata Conference Feb. 18-19 Mike Rother 2018-03-12 | The U.S. Toyota Kata conference has its 5th (!) anniversary in 2019. Mark your calendar for February 18-19, 2019 and make plans to join us in Savannah, GA. Details on www.katasummit.com. (Video images are from KataCon4 in 2018.)
The Struggle Carpet Mike Rother 2018-03-10 | "Struggle" here refers to dealing with the inevitable difficulties and errors that occur when we're engaged in learning something new to us. In the carpet/buzzer experiment Westerners tended to view the buzzer as an error to be avoided, whereas Easterners tended to view the buzzer more as an input for learning. Struggle is a sign that we're engaged in learning, not necessarily something to be avoided. If we're not struggling we're probably not learning.Presentation by Professor Jeffrey Liker at the 2015 Toyota Kata Summit.
Jeff Liker Explains Starter Kata Mike Rother 2018-03-03 | Starter Kata are stepping stones for acquiring new ways of thinkingand acting, teaching you fundamentals that you can then build on. Starter Kata make skill and mindset transferrable, scaleable, and speed up learning.#ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking #StarterKata
Coach Wooden and Starter Kata Mike Rother 2018-03-03 | Basketball coach John Wooden did not start with layups or defense. That was too advanced. He started with shoelaces, and he did it every year. Before playing in a varsity game as sophomores, freshmen would practice the fundamentals. (Video and comments by Jeff Noel)
Toyota Kata Online Course by Gemba Academy Mike Rother 2018-02-28 | Ron Pereira provides a 5-minute introduction to the Gemba Academy Toyota Kata online course. More about the course at www.gembaacademy.com/school-of-lean/kata.
The Five Coaching Kata Questions Mike Rother 2018-02-05 | Toyota Kata five-question pens have been the most popular SWAG at KataCon conferences. They'll be back at KataCon5 in Savannah on February 18-19, 2019.
Mike Rother on Uncertainty Mike Rother 2018-01-16 | The Improvement Kata is a routine of thinking and acting that gives you a systematic and constructive way of dealing with problems, uncertainty, and change. Practicing the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata starter routines for scientific thinking will make anyone more adaptive, creative, and successful in the face of uncertainty.Video is an excerpt from a panel discussion at DevOpsDays Detroit on September 28, 2017. DevOpsDays is a worldwide series of conferences on software development, IT infrastructure operations, and the intersection between them. Topics often include automation, testing, security, and organizational culture.#ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking
Coaching Kata Skill Building, by Mark Rosenthal Mike Rother 2017-11-21 | This video illustrates how coaching skill progresses the way any skill grows when you practice a new routine. Once you internalize the Coaching Kata Starter Kata fundamentals – getting them out of your way by making them more habitual and automatic – you open up and become more able to focus on the learner's current thinking and adapt your coaching accordingly.
Example Coaching Cycle - With Feedback Mike Rother 2017-07-06 | This example shows you clarifying questions, discussion, and feedback between the five Coaching Kata questions. Notice how the five Coaching Kata questions are just the main headings in a coaching cycle, and prompts to help reveal how the learner is thinking - so the coach can formulate appropriate, situational feedback. Please excuse the poor audio. It helps to turn the volume up a bit.A great video for every Coaching Kata practitioner to study!#ToyotaKata #ScientificThinking #CoachingKata
Kata in Healthcare - Mike Radtke and Bill Boyd Mike Rother 2017-04-02 | Here's one example of how the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata are being practiced in Healthcare. The pattern of the Improvement Kata even mirrors good clinical practice.In this case example the Improvement Kata, Coaching Kata and "A3" are used together. Practitioners of the A3 approach typically capture background, current condition, and goals related to an issue, but then struggle with developing solutions in a scientific manner, since the A3 format is not set up that way. In this example Kata are used to help people think and work more scientifically. Practicing the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata develops scientific thinking skills that make you better at whatever improvement approach you use!This video is an excerpt from a Catalysis webinar recorded on January 19, 2017. Watch the original at: youtube.com/watch?v=mtBDzT_-gy4
Mike Rother - 2017 Kata Summit Opening Mike Rother 2017-03-23 | The purpose of this presentation was to give a quick overview of the Improvment Kata / Coaching Kata topic, to prepare attendees for participation in the February 2017 Kata Summit.Join us at KataCon4 in 2018!
Brandon Brown on Toyota Kata Culture Mike Rother 2017-02-10 | Practice Starter Kata for scientific thinking, to develop a scientific thinking culture.For more information see: amazon.com/Toyota-Kata-Culture-Organizational-Capability/dp/1259860442
Cracking the Talent Code Mike Rother 2017-01-20 | Fuzzy video, sharp guy. Author Dan Coyle talks about how we acquire new skills, with implications for training, coaching and organizational change.Presentation recorded at TEDx in Sitka, Alaska on July 21, 2012.
Why We Need Scientific Thinking Mike Rother 2016-12-04 | Our brain automatically fills in blanks and jumps to conclusions, so don't believe everything you think. Practice scientific thinking and test your assumptions. Every step we take is actually an experiment!The audio and original video on which this video is based were created by Mitchell Moffit, Rachel Salt, and Gregory Brown of AsapSCIENCE (youtube.com/user/AsapSCIENCE). Watch the original video at youtube.com/watch?v=0NPH_udOOek.
Mike Rother - 2016 Kata Summit Opening Mike Rother 2016-05-16 | The purpose of this short presentation was to explain the thinking behind the Improvement Kata / Coaching Kata topic, for attendees of the second annual Kata Summit ("KataCon") on February 17-19, 2016. It's good to know why you are doing something.You can use this video for similar purposes!The PowerPoint slides for this presentation can be downloaded at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/KC2_Opening.pptxJoin us at KataCon3 - in San Diego on February 21-22, 2017.
