In a sense, Kata is a problem-solving methodology; like a number of others, it can be characterized as "the scientific method applied to business." What is distinctive, though, is that Kata (when properly applied) is a kind of discipline that permeates a company's decision-making. It's not just one more tool that sits on the shelf until you pull it down for a crisis. This distinction becomes clear when you look at the root meaning of the word: the term kata comes from martial arts, and it means "a detailed choreographed pattern ... made to be practised alone."* In the same way, the Toyota Kata is a pattern of thought and action that lets you pick your way through unknown territory; and ideally it should be so routine that you use it reflexively—on production problems, on management problems, or on finding your way in a new city when your GPS is broken. (Schildmeier says she has used Kata to improve her golf game.)
As an aside: Before I go too far, I should clarify that Schildmeier did not invent this system, though she teaches it, coaches it, and consults on it. The system was invented by Toyota (hence the name), and it was first publicized in the United States by Mike Rother in a 2009 book called Toyota Kata.
- Understand the overall challenge you face.
- Grasp where you are right now.
- Set a target for your next step towards the challenge.
- Run experiments on how to get there.
To illustrate what these mean, Schildmeier asked us to think of a football** game.
- The overall challenge is to win the game.
- "Where you are right now" might be, let's say, the 50-yard line. But it also includes understanding the weather, the status of the game so far, your own current condition and that of the other team. There might be other relevant factors, as well.
- Your next "target condition" is where you want to get to next, in the service of the final goal. But it has to be concrete and achievable. In a football game, that might be to advance the ball ten yards. (In business, Schildmeier says your next "target condition" should be something you can achieve in no more than two weeks.)
- And then you run experiments on how to get there. Wait, what? Yes, says Schildmeier, that's exactly what a team does. They have already been running plays hour after hour in practice, for weeks before the game ever started. But they don't know until they actually get on the field which of those plays is going to work. They have to observe the concrete conditions on the field and the behavior of the players on the other team in order to get an idea which plays are likely to succeed and which ones are doomed to fail. And then, based on that empirical input, the quarterback calls the play and the team carries out what is—in effect—an experiment. Whether it works or fails, either result constitutes additional information which the team (especially the quarterback, of course) uses to decide which plays to call next time.
Simple, right? 😀 Of course, conceptually it is simple. As for practice, ... well, anything can look simple if you've spent ten thousand hours perfecting it. But that's exactly why Kata is supposed to be a discipline and not just a tool. Besides, it's not like problems are so rare that they only show up once a year. Maybe the big ones are rare (though not rare enough, I might add!). But smaller problems show up all the time. If you can perfect an approach that handles problems of any size, you prepare for addressing the big ones by solving small ones routinely.
Naturally there is more. There is a whole body of practice and coaching to help your organization get from here to there—to help you get to the point where you can use Kata reflexively and routinely. Check out Rother's book, ... or give Schildmeier a call. She might be willing to talk to you about your golf game, as well.
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* Wikipedia, "Kata," retrieved 2023-09-20.
** I mean American football in this context.
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