The slides for the ITSM.fi breakfast seminar about the capabilities of learning organisations and the Toyota Kata way of problem solving and managing. The new addition to this presentation was a play to highlight the differences in traditional management and Toyota Kata coaching.

1. Toyota Kata
The Truth Behind the Myth of the Learning Organization
Teemu Toivonen
Tomi Lamminsalo

2. Teemu Toivonen works as
manager of application
services in Aalto University
IT. Strong background in
Agile and Lean. Three years
of experience in Toyota Kata
problem solving and
coaching
Professional Interests:
Agile, Lean, coaching ja
systems thinking.
Tomi Lamminsalo works as
a developement manager in
Aalto University IT.
Tomi has used Toyota Kata
methods and tools
succesfully in a large
program.
Professional Interests:
Agile, Lean, coaching, syste
ms thinking and service
management.

3. Choose pairs
• Pick a pair
– One that you don’t know yet.
– You will be doing the excercise together.
• 5 minutes and tell your pair what are your
expectations?

4. Aalto University in numbers
• Customers
–
–
–
–
Students: 19 993
Staff: 5 330
6 schools
Stakeholders (mm. alumni, open uni
students): > 80 000
• Resources
– Budget
• Centralized IT: 17,4 M € / 425,3 M €
• Total costs of all IT in Aalto University
30,1 M €
– IT-staff
• 138,7 Centralized IT FTE
• 210,9 Total IT FTE
Photograph: Aino Huovio
ARTS alumni

5. What is a learning organization?
Discuss briefly with your pair, what you think
is a learning organization.

6. Capability-1:
Systems design
and operation
Manage by
developing
these
capabilities
Capability-3:
Knowledge
sharing
Capability-2:
Problem solving
http://troikka.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/what-is-a-learning-organization-part-13/

7. The Role of Toyota Kata
Toyota Kata

8. Goal for the event
You will have a basic understanding of the philosophy of Toyota Kata and how
it works. This will be achieved by a combination of:
• Short lectures
• Discussion
• Exercises
Engaging conversation is more important than quiet
listening so when you have a question or comment please
share it!

9. What is a Kata?
Kata is a routine or repeating pattern for doing
something

10. Why are habits and routines
important?
• Can someone describe shortly the difference
between driving a car:
– The first time they drove
– After several years of experience
Routines and habits are the bases for effective
and efficient action!

11. “We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
- Aristoteles
Toyota Kata is about creating habits that
create excellence.

12. The Philosophy Behind Toyota Kata
1. The second law of thermodynamics:
everything deteriorates over time
–
–
There is no stable condition that can
be maintained
The only solution is to improve
constantly
2. Grow people and maximize human
potential by engaging people to
continually improve as part of their
everyday work

13. Toyota Kata
Philosophy:
• Continually improve as part of everyday work to get
better and fight entropy
• Grow people and maximize human potential by
engaging them in the improvement through Toyota Kata
Questions or
comments about the
overview?
Toyota Kata is two behavioral routines to realize these goals
Improvement Kata
Mentee
Coaching Kata
Mentor

14. Improvement Kata
PDCA-experiment
1. Hypothesis
2. Experiment
3. Result
4. Learning
A good target
condition is abouth a
month away
Long term vision
”North Star”
Next target
condition
Current condition
PDCA experiment
your way to the target 1. Understand the direction
2. Understand the current
condition
3. Define the Next target condition
Understand deeply
4. Experiment your way to the
target
5. Start over

15. 1. Long term vision
• Also known as “True North” or “North Star”
• Sets the direction for short term plans
• Is brief and describes the outcome and the
process
• Toyota manufacturing example paraphrased:
– “One piece flow, zero defects and 100% value
adding steps (no waste)”
• Does not need to be realistically achievable
• Choose wisely 

16. == TASK
This seems
interesting
This seems
important!
There is always too
much to do and by
random choices you get
nowhere
A team without a North Star

17. Things you
must do!
Things you
can do
North Star
Things you
can do
A team with a North Star

18. 2. Understand the current condition
• Understanding the current condition is the bases for going
forward and means going deeper than the superficial lever
– Involves Systems Thinking and a process viewpoint
• “Go and see”
It’s a lot harder to
really see than you’d
guess

19. 3. Set the target condition
• A target condition describes both the outcome and process
and can be achieved in 1-3 months
– In the beginning shorter is better for learning
• A good target condition is challenging
– Just right, not too easy and not too difficult
• You can start with skeleton target (challenge) and fill in the
details as you learn more (target condition)
A good target
condition is just
beyond where you can
see clearly

20. What are the obstacles?
• As part of understanding the current condition
and setting the target condition you gain
insights into the obstacles that are in your way
• Pick one (which one seems most important)
and start finding your way toward your target
condition one step at a time with PDCA
experiments

21. 4. PDCA experiments
Time for a new plan!
or
How do I sustain the results?
What is your hypothesis?
Design a quick experiment
What is the expected outcome?
What was the actual outcome?
Was it what you expected?
What did you learn?
Run the experiment
“quick and light”
Points of emphasis
Short iteration cycles
Go and see
Focus on learning

22. 4. Navigate towards the target with experiments
Find the route to the target by
learning from experiments and
focusing on the next step forward
based on that learning

23. Example: Weight lose
• I will be using weight lose as an simple
example of the concepts I’ll be talking about

24. Weight lose: North Star
• Enough exercise to stay on
good shape and relax
• Eat healthy and good food
• Spend quality time with
family and friends with
good energy
• Get enough rest and
downtime

25. Current condition: Weight lose
• Quality of food is poor and the
amount of calories is too big
– Especially too much carbohydrates
and fat
• Not enough exercise
– Running every 2 weeks
– Floorball every 2 weeks
• Weight 93 kilograms

26. Target condition: Weight lose
• Regular meal and snack
schedule
• Less calories per meal by
healthy composition of meals
• Exercise
– Running 2-3 times a week
– Floorball 1 time per week
• Lose 5 kilograms of weight in
3 months

27. Obstacles: Weight lose
• Meal sizes are too big – food is good and I like to eat
• Too busy and tired to get exercise.
– Mostly a feeling rather than a fact.

28. Experiments: Weight lose
Experiment
Expected outcome
Actual outcome
Learning
Eat smaller meals
• Lunch
• Dinner
Less food consumption
during the day
More unhealthy snacks Eating smaller
in the afternoon and
meals makes me
evening
eat more snacks.
Lunch: Eat half
meat/protein and half
salad
Less calories during the
day and protein will
keep hunger away
Works out pretty much
as planned, except
when there is good
desert
Eating salad and
protein is good
diet choice and
makes it easy to
eat less.
Increase floorball and
running training by
making commitment to
friends to play once a
week and go running
twice
Social pressure will help At the beginning
me get more exercise
difficult, but as it
became a habit it got
easier. Also floorball
feels more bursty than
steady running.
Social
commitment is a
good motivator.
New habits are
difficult in the
beginning.

29. Improvement Kata
PDCA-experiment
1. Hypothesis
2. Experiment
3. Result
4. Learning
Remember quick
experiment cycles!
A good target condition
is abouth a month
away. Describes both
outcome and process
Questions before the
exercise?
Long term vision
”North Star”
Points of emphasis
Next target
condition
Short iteration cycles
Go and see
PDCA experiment
your way to the target
Current condition
Understand deeply
Focus on learning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Understand the direction
Understand the current condition
Define the Next target condition
Experiment your way to the target
Start over

30. Improvement Kata exercise

31. Improvement Kata exercise
• Make sure you have required tools to make notes:
Written guide / sheets to write on.
• Think of a problem and long term goal (3 min)
• Describe briefly what the current situation is (2 min)
• Choose the target condition (2 min)
• Choose first experiment:
–
–
–
–
Experiment (1 min)
Hypothesis (1 min)
Actual Outcome (1 min)
What did you learn? (2 min)
• What’s your next experiment? (1 min)

32. The Coaching Kata
The purpose of the Coaching Kata is to teach
and coach the Improvement Kata using real
world problems as practice.
Improvement Kata
Mentee
Coaching Kata
Mentor

33. When do you need a mentor/coach?
The need never goes a way. You can spend a
lifetime learning the Improvement Kata and
still have need for improvement. The role of
the coach is to help you learn.
No one questions why world class athlete’s
need coaches. Why should work be different?

34. The responsibilities of the mentor
• Teach the basics of the Improvement Kata to
the mentee
• Develop the mentees abilities by coaching him
in the use of the Improvement Kata through
real problems/challenges
• The mentor can not give solutions to the
mentee, but is responsible for the results

35. Requirements for the mentor
The mentor must have first hand
knowledge and experience of
using the Improvement Kata.
The mentor must be involved in
the Improvement Kata in order to
coach properly. Don’t coach blind.

36. Coaching Kata
Before the target
condition is set
After the target
condition is set
Focus on understanding
the long term direction
and current condition in
order to set a good and
challenging next target
condition.
Keep the target condition
clear in the mind while
focusing on the next step
towards that target
condition. A mindset of
experimenting and
learning is crucial.

37. Coaching before the target condition is set
• Is there a clear and shared vision for the long
term goal to set the direction?
• Does the mentee understand the current
condition deeply?
• Does he know what is the next target
condition? Do you need to give him a
challenge that he can turn into the target
condition?

38. Coaching after the target condition is set
The five questions:
1. What is the target condition?
2. What is the actual condition now?
3. What obstacles are now preventing you from
reaching the target condition? Which one are
you addressing now?
4. What is your next step (PDCA experiment)
5. When can we go and see what we have learned
form taking that step?
From Toyota Kata by Mike Rother

39. The next step
The most important thing is
making sure that the next
step is clear for the mentee.
It is better for the mentee to
figure out the next step, but
if necessary the mentor can
decide it. Go and see XYZ!

40. Remember routines are powerful…
… even in coaching!

41. Coaching Kata
Key points
•
•
•
•
The purpose of the Coaching Kata is to
teach and coach the Improvement Kata
using real world problems as practice.
•
•
Focus on guiding the Improvement Kata pattern
Ask question, don’t give answers
In unclear situations suggest: go and see
Remind the mentee about the key aspects of
the Improvement Kata
Short and frequent coaching discussions
Is the next step clear?
Coaching questions
Before the target condition is set
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the North Star?
What is the Current Condition?
What is the next Target Condition?
What is the first step?
After the target condition is set
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the Target Condition?
What is the Actual Condition?
Which Obstacle are you working on?
What is your Next Step
When can we Go and See?

42. Coaching Kata Play
• Teemu is a manager of
application services.
• Tomi is a team leader of
workstation services under
application services.
• The ticket situation is out of
control for Tomi’s team:
– 30 open tickets.
– 8 days average time to solve.

43. KELSEY GRAMMER
BOSS

45. VS

46. A3 - template
A3 is a single page document to support the
Improvement and Coaching Katas.
A3document
Mentee
Mentor
A3 – documents help to…
Learn the Kata
Create shared
understanding
Create structure
(thinking and coaching)
The A3 is not a form to fill! It is a living document that is updated
and revised throughout the Kata.

47. A3 and organizational learning
Solutions are documented
together with their context
The why behind the solutions
is also documented
A3 documents also reveal the
thinking process that lead to
finding the solution
Share the failures.
Worst practice is as valuable
as best practice