This was a keynote presentation at the 2013 AME Annual conference in Toronto. Kata Walks are a more focused alternative to Gemba Walks, and a type of structured practice of the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata patterns.

1. KATA WALKS
A
Different
Kind
of
Gemba
Walk
By
Mike
Rother
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!

2. -­‐-­‐-­‐
Or
-­‐-­‐-­‐
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
2

3. Deliberate
prac=ce
to
develop
scien=fic
minds
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
3

4. THE
FOCUS
OF
THIS
PRESENTATION
Lean
Concepts
Tools
Scien=fic
&
Tech
Itera=on
© Mike Rother!
The
Process
of
Making
it
Real
Transforming
our
thinking
and
ac=ng
KATA WALKS!
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5. INTRODUCTION
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
5

6. LET'S
LOOK
AT
THREE
COMMON
PURPOSES
FOR
GEMBA
WALKS
•
TO
SEE
-­‐
To
iden+fy
problems
and
waste.
•
TO
ELIMINATE
WASTE
-­‐
To
learn
why
by
asking
team
members.
-­‐
To
help
resolve
issues.
•
TO
LEARN
-­‐
To
be<er
understand
our
people
&
organiza+on.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
6

7. (1)
TO
SEE?
Read
what
you
see
Ca
© Mike Rother!
y u
rea
t is?
KATA WALKS!
7

8. (1)
TO
SEE?
Read
what
you
see
Ca
y u
rea
t is?
Our
amazing
brain
filled
in
the
blanks!
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
8

9. (1)
TO
SEE?
Read
what
you
see
IUMRING TQ GQNGIUSIQNS
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
9

10. (1)
TO
SEE?
IUMRING TQ GQNGIUSIQNS
But
our
brain
filled
in
the
blanks
here
too
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
10

11. (1)
TO
SEE?
What
each
of
us
sees,
the
impressions
we
get,
is
affected
by
subconscious
biases
that
all
of
us
naturally
have.
Our
brain
automa=cally
fills
in
gaps,
without
us
realizing
it.
We
may
not
understand
what's
really
happening
just
by
looking
and
asking
ques=ons.
That's
why
the
issues
a
team
works
on
should
be
based
on
what's
learned
through
experiments,
not
on
someone's
impressions.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
11

12. (2)
TO
ELIMINATE
WASTE?
Ask
5
people
what
to
improve,
get
5
different
answers
=
Observed
Wastes,
Problems,
Opportuni=es
This
seems
interes=ng
This
seems
important!
There's
always
too
much
to
do,
and
by
random
choices
you
get
nowhere
Illustra3on
by
Teemu
Toivonen
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
12

13. A
GOAL
OF
'ELIMINATE
WASTE'
IS
TOO
EASY
What
do
you
want
to
achieve?
Things
you
see
that
you
CAN
do
Things
you
discover
you
MUST
do!
Obstacles
that
need
to
be
worked
on
appear
along
the
way.
They're
not
all
visible
at
the
start.
Things
you
see
that
you
CAN
do
Illustra3on
by
Teemu
Toivonen
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
13

14. (3)
TO
LEARN?
Yes!
A
leader
or
manager
on
a
Gemba
Walk
learns
something
about
the
state
of
things.
And
a
leader
or
manager
is
also
a
teacher.
Anything
they
say
and
do
teaches
ways
of
thinking
&
ac=ng.
So
while
the
Gemba
Walker
(one
person)
is
learning,
each
team
he
or
she
visits
(many
people)
is
having
its
thinking
influenced.
Teaching
may
actually
be
the
most
significant
thing
that's
happening
on
many
Gemba
Walks!
When
a
Gemba
Walker
randomly
asks
about
things,
points
to
things,
suggest
things,
detects
wastes,
gives
compliments,
etc.,
they
may
unwi;ngly
be
teaching
a
mindset
of
random
improvement
instead
of
strategic,
purpose-­‐driven
improvement.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
14

15. -­‐-­‐-­‐
THE
SITUATION
IN
SUM
-­‐-­‐-­‐
A
Gemba
Walker
can't
know
specifically
what
each
team
they
visit
should
work
on
next,
and
anything
s/he
says
&
does
will
influence
mindset
and
behavior.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
15

16. SO
WHAT
THE
HECK
SHOULD
YOU
DO
ON
A
GEMBA
WALK?!
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
16

17. A
SOLUTION
AND
ACTIONS
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
17

18. FOCUS
ON
HOW
PEOPLE
ARE
WORKING
Perhaps
the
most
important
thing
for
a
leader
to
focus
on
during
a
Gemba
Walk
is
not
the
content
of
what
people
are
working
on,
but
the
pa<ern
of
thinking
&
ac+ng
they
u=lize
as
they
improve
and
strive
for
goals.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
18

19. WHAT
PATTERN
SHOULD
YOU
TEACH?

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
scien=fic
model

It
should
include
structured
prac=ce
rou=nes
for
beginners
(proficient
users
can
vary
the
rou3nes)
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
19

20. THE
IMPROVEMENT
KATA
+
COACHING
KATA
ARE
EXACTLY
SUCH
A
PATTERN
The
following
VIDEO
shows
a
KATA
WALK
in
ac=on,
illustra=ng
structured
prac=ce
of
the
Improvement
Kata
and
Coaching
Kata
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
20

21. THE
VIDEO
SHOWS
"COACHING
CYCLES"
A
scien=fic
paiern
in
Step
4
of
the
Improvement
Kata
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
21

22. TWO
FORMS
YOU'LL
SEE
Learner's
Storyboard
Forms
available
on
the
Toyota
Kata
Website
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
22

23. THE
FIVE-­‐QUESTION
CARD
USED
BY
THE
KATA
WALKER
Back
of
card
-­‐
Reflec+on
Sec+on
Card
is
turned
over
to
reflect
on
the
last
step
/
experiment
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
23

24. On
Next
Page
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
24

25. DEVELOPING
A
META
HABIT
THROUGH
PRACTICE
WHAT
you’re
working
on:
The
focus
process
provides
the
content
HOW
you’re
working:
The
Improvement
Kata
provides
the
form
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
25

26. THE
KATA
WALKER
GOES
THROUGH
A
LEARNING
PROCESS
TOO
The
prac=ce
of
management
is
here
To
be
a
Kata
Walker
you
should
be
a
Learner
first,
so
your
IK
&
CK
skills
are
developed
sufficiently
to
become
a
habit
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
26

27. CONCLUSION
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
27

28. FOCUSING
ON
HOW
PEOPLE
WORK
•
The
Improvement
Kata
/
Coaching
Kata
are
a
repeatable
management
model
to
produce
con=nuous
improvement,
adapta=on
&
innova=on.
•
The
Learner
iterates
his
way
forward,
instead
of
"deciding"
the
way
forward.
It's
the
ac+on
of
innova+on.
•
You're
equiping
people
with
a
paiern
and
mindset
that's
not
solu=on
oriented
but
discovery
oriented.
By
teaching
the
Improvement
Kata
&
Coaching
Kata
paierns
you
build
an
organiza=on
that
can
successfully
deal
with
challenges
and
uncertainty.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
28

29. THE
ACTION
OF
INNOVATION
That's
how
we
did
it!
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
29

30. FOCUSING
ON
HOW
PEOPLE
WORK
"You
talk
about
seUng
numerical
targets
and
using
them
to
determine
whether
something
is
acceptable
or
unacceptable,
but
that's
not
really
what
management
is
all
about.
That's
what
you'd
call
'monitoring.'
True
management
is
about
organizing
things
so
that
everyone
works
toward
their
targets."
~
Taiichi
Ohno
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
30

31. MORE
INFORMATION
On
the
"Toyota
Kata
Website"
Improvement
Kata
Handbook
The
Improvement
Kata
Handbook
is
for
anyone
who
wants
to
learn
and
master
achieving
effec=ve,
sustainable
con=nuous
improvement,
adap=veness
and
innova=on
in
an
integrated,
systema=c,
scien=fic
way.
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
31

32. BEST
WISHES!
For
developing
your
scien=fic
mind
© Mike Rother!
KATA WALKS!
32