Many organizations have taken an event or project based approach to Lean. Call it what you will, ‘drive-by-kaizen’, ‘Six Sigma belt projects’ and similar ‘episodic’ approaches have proven insufficient in terms of their ability to fully develop the problem solving and process improvement abilities of all associates. Thus, the goal of creating a culture for continuous improvement – the true objective of Lean – remains unachievable for most organizations.

Ultimately all roads of CI will lead to front-line leaders working with their natural work teams to drive improvement over time. However, these leaders must develop the requisite skills and mindsets, and be provided with the methodology to do this. Kata, based on the Mike Rother book “Toyota Kata” provides two interlocking routines that leaders can use to practice continuous improvement and to coach others.

This webinar will review both routines as well as explain how kata complements other approaches to Lean. Further, it will ‘make the case for kata’ by explaining what is truly necessary for people to develop skills and habits – both critical to creating a sustainable CI culture.