Mike Rother – författare

Toyota Kata är det naturliga komplementet till The Toyota Way, boken som satte Lean på den internationella kartan. Den här boken ger nya insikter i Toyotas berömda ledningsprinciper och visar hur man praktisk går till väga för att leda och utveckla medarbetarna på ett sätt som fullt ut tar tillvara deras potential.

Boken bygger på sex års forskning kring Toyotas personalstyrningsrutiner. Den klargör och illustrerar det organisatoriska mönster som Mike Rother har valt att benämna Kata: dels Förbättringskatan som är VAD man gör, dels Coachningskatan som visar HUR man gör.

Toyota Kata ger chefer och ledare på alla nivåer pragmatiska modeller för både reflektion och handling i syfte att stärka organisationens långsiktiga konkurrenskraft. Boken har sålt i mer än 50 000 exemplar sedan 2009 och är översatt till flera språk.

Sagt om boken”Toyota Kata är den första bok jag läst som beskriver tillämpningen av Lean på rätt sätt, dvs. hur man får människorna i en organisation att växa. En av svårigheterna med införandet av Lean är att förstå på vilket sätt ledarna måste agera – Toyota Kata beskriver detta på ett pedagogiskt och begripligt sätt.” - Gert Frick, Vice President Global SPS Office, Scania.

”Då och då kommer det ut en ny Lean-bok som verkligen ger läsaren en aha-upplevelse och knuffar förståelsen ett distinkt steg framåt. För mig var Toyota Kata en sådan bok. Den beskriver en mycket tilltalande kombination: en experimentell och utmaningsdriven förbättringsmetodik kompletterat med en handfast coachstruktur.” - Magnus Lord, leg läk, civ ing., civ ek.

”I en sjukvård som dag för dag blir alltmer resurskrävande och komplex kommer praktisk lärande och ledarskapsmetodik, som i boken Toyota Kata, vara mycket viktig. Genom beskrivningar av Förbättrings- och CoachningsKATA förstår vi hur detta går till på Toyota. Vi har mycket att lära av dem.” - Jonas Leo, överläkare/kirurg/förbättringscoach, Capio S:t Görans Sjukhus.

"[…] Rother beskriver modellerna på ett pedagogiskt och överskådligt sätt och boken avslutas med ett gediget appendix över processanalysen som utgör en viktig del i Toyotas ledarskapsmodell. Han går även igenom de traditionella ledarskapsmodellerna och visar varför de inte fungerar i praktiken. Syftet är att ge läsaren förståelse för hur Toyota lyckats uppnå kontinuerlig förbättring och därmed även ge dig som ledare pragmatiska råd att ta med in i den egna verksamheten." Louise Sverud, lektör, BTJ häfte 13123216.

Om författarenMike Rother är ingenjör, forskare, lärare och föredragshållare inom ämnen som management, ledarskap samt förbättrings- och förändringsarbete. Han har varit knuten till University of Michigan, the Industrial Technology Institute, Fraunhoferinstitutet och Dortmunds tekniska universitet. Rothers arbete har lett honom till ett stort antal företag runtom i världen, där han samarbetar med andra för att testa idéer och dela med sig av sina kunskaper. Han har tidigare skrivit Learning to See (1997; med John Shook), Training to See (2000; med John Shook) samt Creating Continuous Flow (2001; med Rick Harris). Mike Rother bor i Ann Arbor, USA.

"[Toyota Kata is] one of the stepping stones that will usher in a new era of management thinking."—The Systems Thinker

"How any organization in any industry can progress from old-fashioned management by results to a strikingly different and better way."—James P. Womack, Chairman and Founder, Lean Enterprise Institute

"Practicing the improvement kata is perhaps the best way we've found so far for actualizing PDCA in an organization."—John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute

This game-changing book puts you behind the curtain at Toyota, providing new insight into the legendary automaker's management practices and offering practical guidance for leading and developing people in a way that makes the best use of their brainpower.

Drawing on six years of research into Toyota's employee-management routines, Toyota Kata examines and elucidates, for the first time, the company's organizational routines--called kata--that power its success with continuous improvement and adaptation. The book also reaches beyond Toyota to explain issues of human behavior in organizations and provide specific answers to questions such as:

Mike Rother explains how to improve our prevailing management approach through the use of two kata: Improvement Kata--a repeating routine of establishing challenging target conditions, working step-by-step through obstacles, and always learning from the problems we encounter; and Coaching Kata: a pattern of teaching the improvement kata to employees at every level to ensure it motivates their ways of thinking and acting.

With clear detail, an abundance of practical examples, and a cohesive explanation from start to finish, Toyota Kata gives executives and managers at any level actionable routines of thought and behavior that produce superior results and sustained competitive advantage.

Take advantage of your organization’s brainpower with Kata-driven continuous improvement

“This is the first book I have read that provides a clear picture of what it takes to develop and mobilize creative capability across an organization, to achieve challenging goals.” Jeffrey K. Liker, author of The Toyota Way (from the Foreword)

Nobody drives continuous improvement in real, tangible ways like Toyota, where everyone at every level works toward common, customer-related goals. At Toyota, continuous improvement is habitual.

In his groundbreaking book Toyota Kata, Mike Rother revealed management practices that drive Toyota’s success in providing value to their customers. Now, Rother and coauthor Gerd Aulinger provide the routines and know-how for scaling these practices across your entire organization. It all builds on five simple foundational questions at every level:

What is the target condition?What is the actual condition?What obstacles stand in the way of the target condition?What is the next step? What have you learned from taking that step?

Illustrated cover to cover, Toyota Kata Culture helps you visualize exactly how these methods work—so you can start putting them into action right away. You’ll learn how to develop your own iterative process of trial and adjustment, build a deliberate, scientific-thinking culture that grows capability, and make aligned strategic continuous improvement part of everyday work.

Achieve your goals and differentiate your organization by following the proven formula laid out in Toyota Kata Culture.

Take the Kata path to scientific thinking and superior results!

In this long-awaited companion to the groundbreaking book Toyota Kata, Mike Rother takes you to the next level of developing business mindset and capability for the 21st Century. Much more than a list of management concepts, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide walks you through the process of making improvement, adaptation, and even innovation routine behavior.

Designed to help a coach (the manager) and a learner work together for developing new skillsets, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide delivers the information, insight, and frameworks you need to:

* Form habits that help you solve problems and achieve challenging goals 

* Modify the thought patterns that drive your behavior

* Develop an organizational mindset that drives superior results 

The Improvement Kata gives learners the means to experiment their way through obstacles and achieve tough goals; the Coaching Kata gives managers the means to accelerate and cement their people's learning.

In the new age of business, increasing efficiency and decreasing costs is no longer the end game. A manager’s job today is to develop patterns of thinking and acting in their people that lead to success with any challenge. Consistent, mindful practice is the best way to do it—and The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is the best way to get there.

Take advantage of your organization’s brainpower with Kata-driven continuous improvement

“This is the first book I have read that provides a clear picture of what it takes to develop and mobilize creative capability across an organization, to achieve challenging goals.” Jeffrey K. Liker, author of The Toyota Way (from the Foreword)

Nobody drives continuous improvement in real, tangible ways like Toyota, where everyone at every level works toward common, customer-related goals. At Toyota, continuous improvement is habitual.

In his groundbreaking book Toyota Kata, Mike Rother revealed management practices that drive Toyota’s success in providing value to their customers. Now, Rother and coauthor Gerd Aulinger provide the routines and know-how for scaling these practices across your entire organization. It all builds on five simple foundational questions at every level:

What is the target condition?What is the actual condition?What obstacles stand in the way of the target condition?What is the next step? What have you learned from taking that step?

Illustrated cover to cover, Toyota Kata Culture helps you visualize exactly how these methods work—so you can start putting them into action right away. You’ll learn how to develop your own iterative process of trial and adjustment, build a deliberate, scientific-thinking culture that grows capability, and make aligned strategic continuous improvement part of everyday work.

Achieve your goals and differentiate your organization by following the proven formula laid out in Toyota Kata Culture.