By Alex ThomasonNike, Inc.

Based on the Improvement Kata Handbook © by Mike Rother

Tips for the COACHING KATA

© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook

Purpose of this SlideShare

• Reflect on what is the job of a manager in the 21st Century? (Hint: You’re a teacher and a coach)

• Help you become an awesome Improvement Kata Coach by listing some common errors and deviationsthat Learners make as they practice the Improvement Kata pattern and routines.

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook

Iterate

The Improvement KataWhat the Learner Does

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COACHING / MANAGING

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Welcome toJedi Training

Skill building is what you're doing here

LearnerCoach

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“Always two there are, no more, no less. A master and an apprentice.”

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Just like learning to play an instrument, the Improvement Kata is about learning the scientific pattern of thinking and acting through deliberate practice of specific routines.

When a Learner practices the Improvement Kata routines, it's important for advancing their skill that the Coach pays attention to errors & deviations, introduces a correction and then has the Learner repeat the routine.

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The Coach’s Mission is to Train

Novice

Advanced Beginner

Competent

Proficient

Expert

“Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.”

Skill Levels

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Once You’re Proficient You Can Coach Others

Stage 1:

Practice the Kata Exactly

Stage 2:

Personalize Your Kata Practice

Stage 3: Intuitive Operating

Novice

Advanced Beginner

Competent

Proficient

Expert

Skill Levels

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1. Is the Learner following the Improvement Kata pattern?

2. Is the Learner acting beyond his/her threshold of knowledge?

3. Is the Learner practicing in the Learning Zone, beyond apparent certainty?

Ask Yourself

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“You must

unlearn what you

have learned.”

“Difficult to see.

Always in motion

is the future.”“The fear of loss

is a path to the

Dark Side.”

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Is the Learner Practicing in the Learning Zone?

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“Named must your fear be

before banish it you can.”

Target

Condition:

The Learner

Understands the

Overarching

Challenge

Common

deviations

from the IK

Pattern:

• Challenge derived

from the Lean Ideal

rather than from

Business Strategy.

• Proceeding without

alignment to the

Challenge.

• Proceeding without

a Challenge.

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Common Errors in this Step

Target

Condition:

The Learner has

Grasped the Current

Condition

Common

deviations

from the IK

Pattern:

• No actual data.

• Facts, but an

inability to use them

to describe the

operating pattern.

• Conjecture.

“This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing.”

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Common Errors in this Step

Target

Condition:

The Learner has

Defined the Next

Target Condition

Common

deviations

from the IK

Pattern:

• Describes tools

rather than the

operating pattern.

• Missing Output

Metrics and/or

Process Metrics.

• Too easy (solution

known) or too

difficult (time

horizon too long).[Luke:] “I can’t believe it.”

[Yoda:] “That is why you fail.”15

Common Errors in this Step

“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.”

The Force is the scientific pattern embedded in theFive Coaching Kata Questions! 16

FRAMING &

ANCHORING

Common Errors:

Actual condition is not

actual anymore.

Thinking process not

made visual.

Skipping these

questions.

Not going to see.

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REFLECT (back of

card)

Common Errors:

Verbal; not filling in the

PDCA Cycles Record

form.

Not making a testable

prediction.

Mistaking a missed

prediction as failure. 18

FOCUS

Common Errors:

Obstacles parking lot

outdated.

Obstacles parking lot =

an action item list.

Silver-bullet thinking.

Perceived or predicted

obstacles vs. actual

ones.

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NEXT EXPERIMENT

Common Errors:

We’re not at the

threshold of knowledge.

The planned experiment

is not scientific, rapid, or

measurable.

The experiment design

is too risky.

The experiment is not

part of a chain of

learning.

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“I think...” “probably...”

“maybe...” “could...”

“most likely...” “well...”

“on average...” “letʼs

reduce it by [big round

number]”

CONGRATULATIONS, you found the Threshold of

Knowledge!

“What do we need to learn now?” “How will we test

it?”“How will we measure it?”

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Threshold of

Knowledge

The Learner’s next experiment should take place at the current Threshold of Knowledge. The Coach must ensure that the Learner sees what is the current Knowledge Threshold before the Learner sets up the next experiment.

NEXT COACHING

CYCLE

Common Errors:

No specific date & time.

Too far out in the future.

Learner & Coach should

do at least one coaching

cycle per day.

Accidental switch from

learning orientation to

task orientation.

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“If you end your training now — if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did — you will become an agent of evil.”

Novice

Advanced Beginner

Competent

Proficient

Expert

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Keep Practicing & Learning

“Always pass on what you have learned.”

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

“May the Kata be with you.”

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Additional Resources

Table of Learner Skill Levels

Table of Coach Skill Levels

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook 26

Learner Skill Levels

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Coach Skill LevelsBy Yvonne Muir, Jennifer Ayers and Julie Simmons