How does Kata coaching work?
The Japanese term "KATA" comes from martial arts and translates as "routine." In the context of continuous improvement and increasing one’s competitiveness, leadership plays a decisive role. Leaders at all levels and in all areas can systematically and actively participate in these improvement activities together with their employees through Kata coaching. The Kata includes various elements. These include the improvement kata, the coaching kata, the 2nd-coach kata and Kata practice.
Kata: levels and roles
The key roles are the improver, the coach and the second coach (2nd-coach). The improver is responsible for implementing individual improvement steps, which are often carried out by the next working day. Implementation often takes place through process observations and recordings or small experiments. The Kata represents the leadership standard — the routine in which the improver operates and which they internalize over time. Together with their coach, usually the next higher-level manager, a next step is agreed on at each meeting, derived from occurring obstacles and their influencing factors.
Tasks in Kata coaching
The coach assumes responsibility for results and development, supports the improver through regular coaching conversations and sets the goal. True to the motto "only through good leadership is improvement good," the coach also has the task of deriving the specific direction for improvement activities in their area from company goals and anchoring it in employees’ daily work. The regular coachings, which always follow the same pattern based on the Kata, ensure continuous work on the goals. The second coach (2nd-coach) has the function of developing the coach and supporting them in learning the necessary leadership qualities and skills. They accompany Kata coaching across all hierarchy levels, prepare the coach for meetings and provide constructive feedback. Thus, a continuous development process also takes place here.
Kata coaching at apra
In the first phase of Kata coaching starting in autumn 2020, apra trained the executive management as well as some other managers and department heads. After a few sessions in which the Kata system was initially introduced and conveyed partly theoretically and partly through small exercises, participants already began their own practical projects. These were selected and defined by the participants themselves. This included, among other things, formulating the objective and providing a concrete process description.
Continuous improvement process in practice
To measure progress or development, a continuous comparison between the actual and target state is made. The basis for this is concrete, measurable process indicators. These can be, for example, processing times, the number of employees involved in the process, or the frequency of disruptions. Selected practical projects included the systematic development of Shopfloor-key figures, the reduction of lead time for purchased-part complaints, self-organization of the workday or the structured execution of stand-ups within a set time. In all projects, frequent work on the process and regular coachings quickly produced initial successes. Even obstacles that initially seemed complex could be eliminated by the solution-neutral approach and thinking in small steps.
Conclusion: Kata coaching brings success — and new projects
Overall, with routine and successes, participants’ motivation and drive to continue following the Kata and to spread it within the organization developed quickly. As a consequence of the exclusively positive experiences and the results achieved, including in collaboration with the management consultancy Lean Partners Projekt Gesellschaft mbH & CO. KG, several new apra Kata projects have since been initiated in different company areas. Numerous additional managers have assumed the role of "improvers"; since mid-May they have been learning the Kata under Lean Partners’ guidance and are working with strong commitment in their teams. Those managers who have already completed the first phase of Kata coachings and finished their own projects now act as "coaches." The medium-term goal is to spread this leadership culture throughout the organization in order to act successfully together and further develop apra.
