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The biggest competitive advantage an organization can achieve comes from the synergies created by employees skilled in enhancing organizational dynamics. The Seven Kata: Toyota Kata, TWI, and Lean Training supplies time-tested tools and advice to help readers adapt to changing conditions and outcompete their rivals. It explains why a mix of the ski
The biggest competitive advantage an organization can achieve comes from the synergies created by employees skilled in enhancing organizational dynamics. The Seven Kata: Toyota Kata, TWI, and Lean Training supplies time-tested tools and advice to help readers adapt to changing conditions and outcompete their rivals. It explains why a mix of the ski
"Toyota Kata gets to the essence of how Toyota manages continuous improvement and human ingenuity, through its improvement kata and coaching kata. Mike Rother explains why typical companies fail to understand the core of lean and make limited progress—and what it takes to make it a real part of your culture." —Jeffrey K. Liker, bestselling author of The Toyota Way "[Toyota Kata is] one of the stepping stones that will usher in a new era of management thinking." —The Systems Thinker "How any organization in any industry can progress from old-fashioned management by results to a strikingly different and better way." —James P. Womack, Chairman and Founder, Lean Enterprise Institute "Practicing the improvement kata is perhaps the best way we've found so far for actualizing PDCA in an organization." —John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute This game-changing book puts you behind the curtain at Toyota, providing new insight into the legendary automaker's management practices and offering practical guidance for leading and developing people in a way that makes the best use of their brainpower. Drawing on six years of research into Toyota's employee-management routines, Toyota Kata examines and elucidates, for the first time, the company's organizational routines--called kata--that power its success with continuous improvement and adaptation. The book also reaches beyond Toyota to explain issues of human behavior in organizations and provide specific answers to questions such as: How can we make improvement and adaptation part of everyday work throughout the organization? How can we develop and utilize the capability of everyone in the organization to repeatedly work toward and achieve new levels of performance? How can we give an organization the power to handle dynamic, unpredictable situations and keep satisfying customers? Mike Rother explains how to improve our prevailing management approach through the use of two kata: Improvement Kata--a repeating routine of establishing challenging target conditions, working step-by-step through obstacles, and always learning from the problems we encounter; and Coaching Kata: a pattern of teaching the improvement kata to employees at every level to ensure it motivates their ways of thinking and acting. With clear detail, an abundance of practical examples, and a cohesive explanation from start to finish, Toyota Kata gives executives and managers at any level actionable routines of thought and behavior that produce superior results and sustained competitive advantage.
Take the Kata path to scientific thinking and superior results! In this long-awaited companion to the groundbreaking book Toyota Kata, Mike Rother takes you to the next level of developing business mindset and capability for the 21st Century. Much more than a list of management concepts, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide walks you through the process of making improvement, adaptation, and even innovation routine behavior. Designed to help a coach (the manager) and a learner work together for developing new skillsets, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide delivers the information, insight, and frameworks you need to: * Form habits that help you solve problems and achieve challenging goals * Modify the thought patterns that drive your behavior* Develop an organizational mindset that drives superior results The Improvement Kata gives learners the means to experiment their way through obstacles and achieve tough goals; the Coaching Kata gives managers the means to accelerate and cement their people's learning. In the new age of business, increasing efficiency and decreasing costs is no longer the end game. A manager's job today is to develop patterns of thinking and acting in their people that lead to success with any challenge. Consistent, mindful practice is the best way to do it--and The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is the best way to get there.
Describes the characteristics, objects, and principles of the various basic attack and defense movements of the martial art of judo
Looking at a Far Mountain is a remarkable comprehensive survey of the core of kendo, an internationally practiced martial sport derived from the ancient Japanese warrior art of the sword and heavily influenced by the tenets of Shinto, Confucianism, and, particularly, Zen Buddhism. This is the first study outside of Japan and the first in English of the history, philosophy, and technical aspects comprising the system of predetermined sword techniques knows as Teikoku Kendo Kata. Lavishly illustrated with historical photographs and encompassing a history of the kendo kata tradition, technical training and advice, the individual kata themselves, lineage charts of particular schools and notable kendo masters, and a complete glossary of kendo terms, Looking at a Far Mountain remains firmly anchored in the Japanese tradition while addressing the growing international corps of kendo practitioners.
Have you experienced initial success with your Agile change initiative but found that improvement seems to have plateaued? Did you set out to become Agile but failed to truly understand what it means across organizational levels beyond vague terms like "empowerment," "high-performance teams" and "trust"? Are improvement efforts based on projects or workshops but failing to become an integrated part of your daily work and culture? Are leaders not given the responsibility and framework to become active drivers of organizational improvement and are Scrum Masters acting more like facilitators than active improvement drivers? Are your improvement efforts grounded in reactive problem solving and good intentions but failing to deliver true and measurable results? All these questions indicate that there is a "missing link" between Agile and its Lean foundations: an underpinning of continuous improvement that so many Agilists want but rarely find they can execute. Toyota Kata provides this practical framework, the keystone of culture, that allows an organization to attain that elusive state of continuous improvement. This book is based on the last six years of experience working with Toyota Kata in an Agile setting, helping teams, departments, business units and organizations learn how to set ambitious and measurable improvement goals and work iteratively toward them. Applying Toyota Kata to the context of innovation and knowledge work requires us to rethink some of the original elements. To that end, the book is packed with examples and cases that allow you to move beyond abstract theoretical principles. You learn a lot from mistakes but not all mistakes must be repeated by everybody (and I have made many). "I find myself paying attention and learning again, and I encourage you to do so too."-Mike Rother, author of three books on Toyota Kata"My electronic copy of the book is full of marginal commentary and highlighted sections. I found so much here to absorb and apply."-Diana Larsen, Co-founder of the Agile Fluency Model and author"Inspiring, insightful and actionable alternative to the often failing agile transformations"-Tomas Eilsø, Enterprise SAFe coach"This book is by far the most comprehensive and thoughtful approach I have seen to applying Toyota Kata in Agile IT organizations. You will find yourself going back to this book over and over again to mine the treasure trove of experience and knowledge that Jesper has meticulously laid out. In my opinion this text will be regarded as a standard that both Agile practitioners and business leaders refer to in years to come."-Michael Blaha, Director of DevOps Provation Medical"Agile practitioners take note: By 'mastering' Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe you have taken the first step. Now, read this book to continue your journey!"-Adam Light, Lean & Agile Consultant and Speaker and Toyota Kata coach"This book brilliantly shows how to apply Toyota Kata in knowledge work. This is a must read for agile leaders"-Håkan Forss, Lean/Agile coach passionate about continuous learning and LEGO
The culture of organizations and society is embedded in the behavior of both groups and individuals. To change the culture of an organization you cannot simply focus on individual leaders or employees. You must address the norms of behavior, the habits of group decision-making and problem-solving at all levels of the organization. High performing natural work teams and management teams are the key to high performing organizations. Building these teams is the purpose of Team Kata. The purpose of Team Kata is to develop the patterns of continuous improvement, high performance, and high satisfaction within every team and every employee. These are the skills of team leadership.This book represents the combination of two sets of learning: first, the experience of lean management; and second, many years of experience training and coaching high performing management and natural work teams. Many efforts to implement lean management have been disappointing. By far the most common cause is a failure to create a culture of teamwork and continuous improvement. This book presents the basic skills and habits that are essential to creating that change in culture. It should be read by every team leader, team member and team coach.
The embodiment of the ancient knowledge that underlies the dedication-to-perfection philosophy of Japan • How mastering these specific movement sequences known as katas provides a way to deepen one’s martial arts practice spiritually • Explores the psychological and social importance of the katas in martial arts and Japanese society, including their role in seppuku (ritual suicide) • Includes many examples from the lives of famous masters, from the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi to 20th-century poet Yukio Mishima An essential part of the martial arts of Japan, such as sumo and karate, the katas are specific sequences of movement that originated during Sakoku, Japan’s period of closure to the outside world from 1633 until 1853. The dedication-to-perfection philosophy of the katas, ubiquitous in Japanese society, is vital to understanding the spiritual aspects of their martial arts as well as other traditional Japanese arts, such as flower arranging, chadō (tea ceremonies), and kabuki theater. With examples from the lives of famous masters, from legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi to 20th-century poet Yukio Mishima, this book explores the psychological and social importance of the katas, including their role in seppuku (ritual suicide), the student-master relationship, and gyo (the point at which the practitioner breaks the mold of the kata and begins to embody it). Looking at their origins in the warrior class and how this pursuit of perfection is ultimately a way to accept the power of death, the author explains how performing the katas transmits ancient knowledge much deeper than just technical movements, providing a way to deepen one’s martial arts practice spiritually.
This remarkable book gives the reader a unique insight into an amazing five-year study of a single kata (Gojushiho). It shows the depth that is waiting to be discovered by the close study of kata, covering an incredible range of subjects including: * imagery * the psychology of confrontation * the common acts of physical violence * vital points and how to exploit them * the methodology for the break-down and understanding of kata * the applications of the kata * the principles of karate and how to apply them * the applications (in detail) for each of the movements of Gojushiho * the major variations of each application * objective measurements regarding their practicality * how to link the applications together The author also explains how to undertake your own study using a single kata of your choice, and how to build a training regime based on the kata. If you have ever wondered what kata is really all about then this book is for you. When karate was a secret art, practiced in the back yards of Okinawa by a few dedicated masters and their disciples, it was usual to train in a single kata for many years. A master of karate would know just one, two or possibly three kata. Through the deep study of those few kata the master karateka would possess a complete self-defence system, he would be well versed in the underlying principles of karate and he would have a memory aid which would map out his complete training regime. Over the last century the practice of a single kata has disappeared from karate practice. The deep understanding of a few kata has been replaced by the superficial understanding of many. This book shows you in great detail how to recover that understanding and how to put kata back at the heart of karate. What leaders in the field have to say about the book: "Without question this book adds to the body of knowledge in the study of karate" - Rick Clark
