Kata is a methodology originally used in martial arts and developed by Toyota to make businesses more lean. It involves structured and repeated practice of routines to develop new skills through incremental improvements. Kata incorporates scientific thinking and focuses on continuous improvement rather than specific solutions. It includes Improvement Kata, which is a four-step process of setting a target, understanding the current state, defining the next target, and experimenting towards it. Coaching Kata provides a framework for coaching others through the Improvement Kata process using five questions. Implementing Kata can help organizations adapt, lower costs, and optimize value through habitual continuous improvement.

1. October 30, 2020
What is Kata? Toyota’s Karate Concept for Lean
Continuous Improvement and Coaching Success
process.st/kata
Jane Courtnell
October 30, 2020
Business Strategy, Management, Manufacturing
Yōkoso!
I apologize for my poor Japanse pronunciation. Pray, why am I speaking to you in
Japanse?
Well, for this post, we will be delving into the Japanese mindset for business using Kata.
Kata is a methodology used to make businesses lean. The approach, originally used in
martial arts, was developed by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and has since stormed
its way into the business realm churning out results, after results, after results.
For instance, Kata methodology has been shown to cut costs by 41%, and improve business
performance by 75%.
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2. I hear you, wow indeed!
In this Process Street article, we take a look at this karate concept and explain how to apply
it in a business setting.
Click on the relevant subheader below to jump to your section of choice. Alternatively,
scroll down and learn how to perfect the art of business.
Kiotsuke! Let’s get to it!
What is Kata?
Kata is a structured process inspiring repeated and consistent practice. Kata uses scientific
thinking to train the daily skills individuals need for rapid, incremental, continuous
improvements.
Whether Kata is used in martial arts, for personal improvement, or in business, the
principles remain the same.
The term is Japanese and has a literal translation meaning form, way of doing, or training
drill. The concept is to develop a routine or a pattern of behavior that can be practiced
again…
…and again…
…and again.
With this consistency, practice becomes perfect meaning that routine develops into a new
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3. skill.
This is all sounding simple enough, isn’t it?
Well, that’s because the concept of Kata is straight forward. Less is more when it comes to
deploying Kata methodology and realizing the benefits brought. However, consistency and
repetitive practice are vital for mastering the approach.
Originally, Kata was used in reference to the patterns of martial art movement, to be
practiced alone but also in groups. We are talking white coats, colored belts, pointed toes,
and fist-pumping.
In this sense, Kata evolved from combat, which isn’t as novel as you may think. Many
strategies used in business made a similar transition. For Kata, this evolution began at the
automobile manufacturer, Toyota.
Toyota Kata: The history of Kata
Kata in business is cited as Toyota Kata, a development made by internationally
recognized business guru Mike Rother, in his book Toyota Kata: Managing People for
Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results.
“Through the adjustment of what is learned along the way, Toyota advances as a scientist
would. With each new empirical observation, the scientist adjusts the course to take
advantage of what he has learned. I learn every day what I need to know to do tomorrow’s
work. – Mike Rother, Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and
Superior Results
Published in 2009, Mike Rother’s management book came about during exponential
growth in Toyota’s revenue – growing from ~$67,208 million in 1995 to ~$246,517 million
in 2008. It was this dramatic change that Rother reported on.
What was Toyota doing right?
This question perplexed American manufactures for some time. And judging by Toyota’s
success, it is easy to see how the obsession began.
Following World War 2, Japan’s economy took a nose-dive. The U.S. stepped in, with a
drive to rebuild Japan’s economy and infrastructure. American experts were called upon to
help with reconstruction, education, and training.
During their time in Japan, U.S. leaders sighted Toyota’s success and stepped in to observe
what Toyota was doing right. Observations were made regarding Toyota’s manufacturing
operations, with U.S. leaders bringing home the next big tool. Yet, despite learning a lot,
U.S. organizations were struggling to reap the same rewards from these tools.
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4. What do you do when you fail?
You try, try, and try again…
And so, from 2004-2009, U.S. leading manufacturers returned to study Toyota’s
manufacturing production methods once more.
What they saw was shocking.
Many of Toyota’s operations and procedures had changed. The tools U.S. leaders had
returned previously with no longer fitted. Different solutions were given for the same
process.
Toyota was adapting, and the success of this adaption could be seen.
You see, it wasn’t about the tools Toyota used to triumph, it was about the methodologies
employed to build organizational skills that addressed challenges over time.
Toyota was training and empowering employees to make consistent improvements. The
approach taken was adaptable, flexible, and always considering new ways to get a job
done. Observing the company at this level, U.S. leaders couldn’t believe their eyes – why
was this global, multi-million dollar company acting like a start-up, swapping, and
changing its approaches?
These observations were shocking because, during this time, most organizations moved out
from the entrepreneurial stage to business with steadfast procedures that set a status quo.
Toyota’s methodology and culture turned this consensus on the head, establishing a lasting
entrepreneurial spirit that inspired agility, flexibility, and adaptation, in which Kata is key.
The benefits of Kata
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5. Source
Kata incorporates routine and scientific thinking into the fabric of an organization by
targeting its culture. The aim is to move away from rigidity and stale operations. Kata
focuses on continuous improvement with the knowledge that it isn’t the solutions providing
competitive advantages, but the extent to which businesses have perfected routines.
We at Process Street couldn’t agree more, we say, teach the skills that create the
solution.
So how was Kata propelling Toyota to glory?
Kata seeks opportunities quickly
Toyota Kata centers around making subtle changes over time. Leaders and employees are
empowered to pinpoint opportunities and take action as necessary. The resulting current
business condition is well understood by an organization’s employees.
Kata fine-tunes organizational operations
Toyota Kata facilitates the opportunity for continuous improvement. As shall be discussed,
Kata is split into two sub-branches – Continuous Kata and Improvement Kata. The former
involves continuously repeating routines, taught to all employees to maintain ongoing
business improvements. The latter teaches the skills for Improvement Kata thinking.
Kata lowers costs and optimizes value
Kata, as a methodology, is multidisciplinary in terms of its application. This means the
approach is used in other industries, not just business, to lower costs and optimize value.
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6. For instance, a 2015 study by J. Avansino et al. targeted the implementation of Toyota Kata
methodology in a multidisciplinary healthcare clinic. The aim was to reduce costs whilst
still delivering high-value.
At the beginning of the study period, clinic costs were $619 per patient. Employment of
Kata methodology reduced conference time from 6 minutes/patient to 1 minute/patient,
and physician preparation time from 8 minutes to 6 minutes. Cost reductions of 41% were
made.
These results show the effectiveness of Kata in lowering costs and optimizing value. These
results are applicable to Kata implementation in a business setting.
Kata uses scientific thinking in business
Most businesses fail to establish new ways of thinking due to an absence of consistency.
It is scientifically proven that occasional efforts to improve do not provide the regularity
needed to forge new neural pathways and erase old ways of thinking. This is why
improvement efforts need to be continuous. Kata methodology provides this consistency to
alter the underlying company culture for sustained business improvement.
Kata maintains motivation for change and lean solutions
Many empirical studies indicate a strong link between the inhibition of lean practice and
employee resistance to commitment, involvement, communication, and preparation of
such practice. Improving people skills and process performance via Kata is found to
remove these roadblocks to establish a lean business.
Kata is a proactive approach to business
Traditional methods of lean business improvements are reactive, responding to the
symptoms of non-lean practice. Little is learned, with an absence of experimentation to
understand the root causes fully.
Business environments are dynamic, consisting of complex systems meaning factors
frequently arise causing unpredictability and non-linear solutions. Kata is proactive via
accounting for this.
Examples of Kata from Toyota: Improvement Kata and Coaching
Kata
During Rother’s research, it was recognized that Toyota employed scientific thinking to
solve problems.
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7. Scientific thinking is a routine of intentional coordination between:
Theory: What we predict will happen
Observation: What we observe to happen
Adjustment: Making adjustments based on what is learned
This scientific thinking was summarized as a four-step model dubbed Improvement Kata.
The approach develops on a baseline of knowledge incrementally by testing, learning, and
adapting.
Improvement Kata is the way of doing, that is, the Kata part of Toyota Kata methodology.
Improvement Kata is then combined with the way of coaching, otherwise known as
Coaching Kata. Coaching Kata is a master-apprentice approach to teaching. Input is given
by the coach to correct the practice, and the learner continues to apply this new input.
Let’s have a look at these two branches of Kata in more detail…
Improvement Kata
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8. Improvement Kata is a repeating four-step routine that helps organizations improve and
adapt.
1. Get the direction or challenge: This is where you want to be. This step is about
understanding the business direction, setting your vision, and being clear on what
this is.
2. Grasp the current condition: Examine where you are currently at, this includes
process documentation, transparency, and measurement of key process metrics.
There is a gap between where you want to be and where you currently operate that
needs to be closed. Implementing Kata will close this gap.
3. Define the next target condition: Determine your goal that provides a challenge
to move towards. These goals will help you close the gap between where you
currently operate and where you want to be.
4. Move towards the target and experiment: Conduct experiments scientifically,
to get to the first defined target. These experiments are iterative. Obstacles will stall
progress, but experimentation will help a business move past these obstacles. Once
the first goal is achieved, set the next goal, and conduct experiments to reach this
goal.
Think of these steps as a basic methodological repertoire. Like learning the piano or
practicing dance steps. By completing these steps, a scientific mindset is adopted.
The Improvement Kata is a creative process, that inspires innovative thinking. For
instance, the final step, conduct experiments, seeks to find new solutions and take small,
calculated risks via trying new approaches. Fear-of-failure as a mindset is condemned.
Improvement Kata aims to address the following questions:
What are we trying to accomplish?
Where are we now?
What happened when we tried something new?
What do we need to change or adjust to get to the next goal?
Coaching Kata
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9. Practicing Improvement Kata gives employees the skills needed to meet challenges and
adapt to the rapidly changing business landscape. To support the learning and problem-
solving aspect of Improvement Kata, Coaching Kata is to be used in conjunction.
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10. Coaching Kata has a foundation of 5 questions, structured in a way that provides clear
meaning. The Kata coach guides the Kata learner methodologically through the
improvement process until the target condition is reached.
The 5 questions of Coaching Kata are:
1. What is the target condition?
2. What is the current state of the process?
3. What obstacles are you working on now which are preventing goals being reached?
4. What are your next steps (PDCA cycle)?
5. When will the results of these next steps be realized?
Coaching Kata is vital in Kata methodology. You see, knowing how to step through a given
process is not enough for the development of good skill sets. Continued and deepening
practice is important, to learn from mistakes, to celebrate successes, and to not become
complacent or overwhelmed at the idea of mastering a new skill. Coaching Kata is designed
to guide and help the learner with all of these.
At an organizational level, Coaching Kata assists the following:
To teach everyone in the organization Improvement Kata, and to embed
Improvement Kata as part of the organizational culture.
To engage everyone in the organization with the engagement process, to train them
to use Improvement Kata as part of their daily working life.
To identify needed skills for improvements and how to solve real-world problems.
To ensure leaders have a strong grasp of the processes associated with a given
workplace.
To pass Improvement Kata to future employees and the next generation of leaders.
Implementing Kata: Putting Kata into practice the right way
For further understanding, let’s work through an example, putting the two main areas of
Kata described into practice.
For this example, I will pull from my experience.
Fresh-faced out of university, I managed to land a position working for a London-based
ecommerce startup.
The company dropped the ball during stock evaluation. There was no system in place to
account for what stock we had vs what stock had been sold. We had a problem. A problem
that needed to be solved.
With Kata, let’s work to strike a solution.
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11. Improvement Kata step #1: Understand the direction
We need a vision, one that is process focused not outcome-focused. This vision should
describe how the work is done, and how your processes function at the ideal state.
Our vision: To make the stock turnover and tracking a smoother process, with minimal
error.
Improvement Kata step #2: Grasp the current condition
With the shared understanding of our direction – vision – it is time to deduce where we are
presently at. For this, we would need to describe our actual processes. Process
documentation would give us the means of doing this whilst also allowing us to collect
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12. process metrics that describe our current operations – this step is quick and simple with a
tool like Process Street.
For example, imagine a simple stock-turnover process, e.g. something like this:
Current condition: Stock is obtained -> stock is stored in a warehouse -> sale goes
through -> stock is brought from the warehouse and posted to the seller.
Process metric: Turnover time ~3 days.
It was taking us ~3 days from when the sale went through to posting the stock item. Delays
incurred whilst locating the stock items. Also, errors were made selling items we didn’t
have in stock.
Improvement Kata step #3: Establish the next target condition
How will our new processes operate when we are at the desired state – again with a focus
on the process and not the outcome?
To set our target condition, we will copy our current condition. Then, we will identify the
changes needed to move us one step closer to our vision.
The target condition needs to be set in absolute numbers to be clear it has been reached.
Target condition: To track all stock items, from the moment they arrive to the moment
stock is sold.
Improvement Kata step #4: Use the PDCA cycle to move towards the target
condition
It’s time to start improving. We shall implement the PDCA cycle to conduct small
experiments.
1. Plan: Plan to label stock with numbers. Enter numbers into data-base, along with
stock details and location.
2. Do: Implement this stock-numbering system.
3. Check: How well is this stock-numbering system working? Is it effective? Are there
any bottlenecks/drawbacks to this approach? Will another approach be more useful?
4. Act: Identify drawbacks and resolve.
Coaching Kata
The second part of Kata, Coaching Kata, is equally important, supporting roles in a team.
Coaching Kata asks 5 questions during the 4th step of Improvement Kata.
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13. 1. What is the target condition? – Our aim is to have a smooth, quick, and
controlled stock turnover.
2. What is the actual condition? – Delays and errors are incurred whilst selling
stock.
3. What obstacles do you think are preventing you from reaching the target
condition? – The absence of stock tracking processes.
4. What is your next step? What do you expect? – To document stock intake and
selling processes. To establish key process metrics and to devise a system that
documents and tracks stock items.
5. When can we see what we have learned from taking that step? – Results
should be apparent as soon as processes are established and implemented.
Implement Kata to make continuous improvement habitual in your
business
Kata encourages a supportive company culture, where individuals are enthused to think
innovatively for improved business results. A dynamic business is produced that is
adaptive and flexible.
Kata methodology drives results through continuous improvement and problem-solving.
The methodology connects science and business to improve bottom-line results. It has
worked for Toyota, and it will work for you.
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