The Five Coaching Kata Questions

© Mike Rother TOYOTA KATA 1

Mike RotherDecember 2011

12345Coaching KataQuestions

The


STRUCTURED PRACTICE TO DEVELOP NEW HABITS

The pattern of the Improvement Kata is Toyotaʼs fundamental pattern for improving, adapting and innovating. The goal is to make this pattern an autonomic habit. Think of the Improvement Kata as a "meta-habit" that can be applied to an infinite number of goals.There are several activities at Toyota where this pattern gets utilized and reinforced. These include daily management, daily problem solving, quality circles, improvement events, ʻToyota Business Practicesʼ and A3s. We found the Improvement Kata pattern being practiced with each of these activities.However, the Improvement Kata pattern is actually lodged in Toyota's people; specifically in its seasoned coaches (managers) who guide learners in repeating this way of thinking and acting. Just copyingToyotaʼs visible activities, such as A3s, without bringing along the coaching is unlikely to change much. Mindset change and skill development come from correct practice of a pattern, not just from implementing Toyota-style tools.Teams and organizations outside Toyota will require more structured routines to practice, especially for beginners. A tactic for teaching Improvement Kata thinking & acting is through daily use of the Five Questions described in this SlideShare.


THE FIVE QUESTIONSARE PART OF THE COACHING KATA

There are Kata for the Learner, and Kata for the Coach


You canʼt completely separate coaching from the skill thatʼs being coached. Whether in practicing music, a sport or the Improvement Kata.... The Coach and Learner have different roles but they also learn to share a way of thinking.

BUT BOTH COACH AND LEARNERREFER TO THE FIVE QUESTIONS


ONE COACHING CYCLE = THE 5 QUESTIONS

------------------------------>Return to question 3

1) What is the Target Condition?

2) What is the Actual Condition now?

--------(Turn Card Over)--------------------->

3) What Obstacles do you think are preventing you from reaching the target condition?

Which *one* are you addressing now?

4) What is your Next Step? (next PDCA / experiment) What do you expect?

5) When can we go and see what weHave Learned from taking that step?

The Five Questions

*Youʼll often work on the same obstacle for several PDCA cycles

Reflect on the Last Step TakenBecause you donʼt actually knowwhat the result of a step will be!

1) What did you plan as yourLast Step?

2) What did you Expect?

3) What Actually Happened?

4) What did you Learn?

The card is turnedover to reflect onthe Learnerʼs last step

The power of the Five Questions is great, when you know howto ask them and how to respond to the answers you get.Get the card at: http://tinyurl.com/katacard

http://tinyurl.com/katacard


PURPOSE OF THE FIVE QUESTIONSThe Five Coaching Kata Questions

help the Coach see how the Learner is thinkingThe Coachʼs job is to provide corrective procedural inputs, to ensure that the Learner is proceeding (practicing) according to the scientific pattern of the Improvement Kata.However, the Coach cannot provide such input until the Learner has said or done something, which shows how the Learner is currently thinking. It works like this:

The Coach asks a

questionThe Learner responds and the Coach listens

The Coach sees how the Learner

is thinking

A focused, corrective procedural input is given if necessary (what the Learner should practice next)


ITʼS THE SAME AS IN SPORTS AND MUSICThe 5Q process is analogous to a Golf coach saying, “Please swing the golf club a few times so I can see what you are doing,” or a Music teacher saying, “Please play a bit so I can see.”

However, since the Improvement Kata pattern is a mental process, the Coaching Kata Five Question approach is: “Iʼm going to ask you these questions. How you respond will help me to understand how you are thinking.”

The Coach asks a

questionThe Learner responds and the Coach listens

The Coach sees how the Learner

is thinking

A focused, corrective procedural input is given if necessary (what the Learner should practice next)


THE FIVE QUESTIONS HELP THE COACH TEACHA SYSTEMATIC SCIENTIFIC WAY OF THINKING

The Coach uses the same pattern of questioningin every coaching cycle

. . ....

. . . .. ..Current

ConditionLearnerʼs

TargetCondition

Unclear Territory

Obstacles

Coaching Cycles

with the 5 Questions

5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q5Q5Q 5Q 5Q 5Q5Q 5Q 5Q

The pattern of questioning stays the same and repeats. This is the pattern the Coach is teaching.

Coach

Learner

The content and obstacles the Learner works on are situational & vary

IK-SkillTarget

Condition


ASK THE FIVE QUESTIONS AT EACH STEP

CurrentCondition

TargetCondition

Learner

Coach

PDCA Cycles RecordUsed by the Learner

The Five QuestionsUsed by the Coach


THE REPEATING COACHING-CYCLE PATTERNFollows the Five Coaching Kata Questions

Based on a diagram by Don Clark

1Target Condition

1Target

Condition

2Current

Condition

3Current

ObstacleNextCoachingCycle

4 & 5NextStep

Reflection :- What did you plan as your last step?- What did you expect?- What actually happened?- What did you learn?

2Current Condition

What are we striving to achieve?

Where are we actually now?Reflect on the

last step

3Current

ObstacleWhat obstacle

are wefocusing on

now?

4 & 5Next Step

What is the threshold of knowledge?

What is the next experiment?

Learner Conducts the Experiment

Testing aprediction

through action

The Five Coaching Kata Questions follow a scientific pattern of thinking and acting, and provide a structured practice routine for both the Coach and the Learner.


Next coaching cycle

1) What is the target condition?

2) What is the actual condition now?

-- Flip card & reflect on the last step --

3) What obstacles do you think are preventingyou from reaching the target condition?Which *one* are you addressing now?

4) What is your next step?(next experiment) What do you expect?

5) When can we go and see what wehave learned from taking that step?

PDC

A

Frame

Next PDCA experiment

Focus

Next coaching cycle

Reflect

A COACHING CYCLE SHOULD LEADTO SOME KIND OF PDCA EXPERIMENT

The Coach guides the Learner into making a chain of PDCA cycles,where one step builds on what was learned in the last step.

In most cases the dialog of one coaching cycle should focus down toone PDCA cycle. (That PDCA cycle may be as simple as “go and see.”)


PLAN

DOCHECKor Study

ACTGoandSee

PLAN

DOCHECK

ACTPLAN

DOCHECK

ACTPLAN

DOCHECK

ACTPLAN

DOCHECK

ACTPLAN

DOCHECK

ACT

And a lot of learning, improvement, adaptation, innovation and evolution comes from those micro PDCA cycles!

Shorter, rapid PDCA cycles are kicked off at Questions 4 & 5

“MACRO” AND “MICRO” PDCA CYCLESShorter PDCA cycles are nested within the larger objective

Questions 1 & 2: MACROWhat is the target condition?What is the actual condition now?

Questions 4 & 5: MICROWhat is your next step?What do you expect?When can we go and seewhat we have learnedfrom taking that step?

Illustration from Toyota Kata, page 144


The “P” of PDCA is an expectation or a prediction......a hypothesis

HOW PDCA HELPS YOU LEARN AND IMPROVE

Learning happens when there is surprise...when reality differs from expectation

When a hypothesis is refuted this is in particular when we cangain new insight that helps us reach new performance levels......because a refuted hypotheses reveals your knowledge threshold

Illustration from The Team Handbook, page 3-33

The “C” of PDCA is a reflection...What are we learning from this?What do weneed to adjust?


Thereʼs an invisible knowledge threshold around us. What makes it visible are comments like could be, might, I think and fractures; when something other than what we expect happens.A refuted hypothesis -- when a plan, step, belief or thought turns out to be incorrect -- is an opportunity for learning, improvement, adaptation and invention. Itʼs the learning edge.

YOUR KNOWLEDGE THRESHOLD

The threshold of knowledge is the place for your next PDCA experiment. Use the pattern of the 5 Questions to help you:A) Spot knowledge thresholdsB) Define a hypothesis (a step)

and test that hypothesisas simply and quickly aspossible

C) Learn how you need to adjust and adapt in order to reach your next target condition


Predictable Zone Uncertainty / Learning Zone

NextTarget

Condition

Your Current KnowledgeThreshold

IMPROVING, ADAPTING, INNOVATINGHow will you make your kanban system work?

How will you achieve 1x1 flow?How will you achieve shorter value-stream lead time?

How will you achieve your objective?

The way forward is iterative & experimenting, aimed at a desired condition that we donʼt yet know how we will achieve

Learn to spot the knowledge threshold

We want to be here

next

Obstacles

Unclear

Territory

? ?

?


THE WAY TO A GOAL IS ITERATIVE

Napkin drawing by Carl Richards


EXAMPLE

Predictable Zone Uncertainty / Learning Zone

Kanbansystem between processes A & B

working as designed,by (date)

Your Current KnowledgeThreshold

TargetCondition

Spot the knowledge threshold, conduct your next PDCA experiment there and ask the Five Questions ...repeat

We know how a kanban system works,but we donʼt know what will makeyour kanban system work

Experimenting


WHY YOU SHOULD TRY TO SEE THE KNOWLEDGE THRESHOLD (1)

Our unconscious responses to uncertainty are fast, automatic and emotional. They may not lead us where we want to go.

Persons who consciously acknowledge uncertainty

are more ableto influence their

responses to it


WHY YOU SHOULD TRY TO SEE THE KNOWLEDGE THRESHOLD (2)

Napkin drawing by Carl Richards


The Five Questions are an attempt to change that!

MOVING AWAY FROM THE MECHANISTIC VIEWThe idea that learning comes from surprise is known in science, but in business and the popular press we often miss that point

What we may think scientific is

What scientific really is

• Quantification and precision• Objective and certain• Reveals what is there Eg: We have made the right plan

• Involves uncertainty,ambiguity & incompleteness

• Never free from error• A process of discovery, via

systematic trial and error Eg: Our plan is a hypothesis


COACHINGCorrective feedback

KATAStructured routine

to practice

MASTERYOvercoming

obstacles

PRACTICEDaily

3

41

2

THE FIVE QUESTIONS ARE A COACHING KATA

Four ingredients

for acquiring a skill

• They give you a form for coaching, which is aningredient for acquiring new skills

• They mirror a scientific behavior and thought patternto teach and practice so it becomes second nature


YOU CAN PRACTICE SCIENTIFIC THINKINGEVERYWHERE EVERY DAY

Use the 5 Coaching Kata Questions in any team effortEvery time you do or think something, youʼre more likely to do it again. The pattern of these questions is easy to learn, and each time you think through them and apply them it can strengthen the scientific pattern of the Improvement Kata in your brainʼs wiring.

1. What are we trying to achieve?2. Where are we now?3. Whatʼs currently in our way?4. Whatʼs our next experiment,

and what do we expect?5. When can we see what weʼve

learned from taking that step?

Five Coaching Questions


JUST REMEMBER WHAT KATA ARE FOR!The Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata are Practice Routines

to Develop Scientific Thinking. Theyʼre “Starter Kata.”

KataPractice To develop

foundationalskill and mindset

Beginners should follow Starter Kata exactly; not deviating from them in order to internalize and understand their patterns. But with increasing proficiency each Learner can start to develop their own style, as long as the principles remain the same.

Likewise, over time each organization can evolve the Kata it began with to better suit and mesh with its culture. The original Kata evolve into organization-specific practice routines.


Best wishes for fostering moresystematic & scientific thinking

with the Five Coaching Kata Questions!

BillCostantino

MikeRother

The Five Coaching Kata Questions

Business

Transcript of The Five Coaching Kata Questions