Author Description

Continuous improvement and striving for challenging goals is a common desire and even a necessity in most organizations. Nevertheless, it is hard to implement and even harder to sustain on a daily basis unless we make it a habit as habits actually direct a large part of our daily lives. Practicing Toyota Kata helps to create a daily habit of continuous improvement and scientific thinking, which enables people to reach all types of challenging goals. It was developed by Mike Rother, based on his study of Toyota's management approach. This Memory Jogger is based on Mike Rother's findings published in Toyota Kata Culture (McGraw-Hill, 2017) and The Toyota Kata Practice Guide (McGraw-Hill, 2018). The Toyota Kata Memory Jogger covers the four basic steps at the core of Toyota Kata. It explains how to get started using numerous Starter Kata and then covers the Improvement Kata and the Coaching Kata in detail. The final two chapters go into depth on how to develop into a better Coach and how to ask the right questions in the right way. Practicing the tools and techniques described in this Memory Jogger has proven to be robust and powerful for individuals striving for a personal goal, managers seeking to enable their team to reach challenging targets, and organizations seeking to develop a culture of continuous improvement. This Toyota Kata Memory Jogger comes complete with a built in Coaching Kata Questions Card and a free downloadable set of Toyota Kata templates. (Memory Joggers are available in two standard sizes. The pocket size is 3.5" x 5.5" and the desktop size, with a larger font, is 5" x 7". This version is the 5" x 7" desktop version.)