Giving Wings to Her Team

As CEO my vision for Elisa is for all leaders to be coaches and bring the best out of our people. This enjoyable novel gave me lots of new understanding of what it takes to learn to coach at a high level. --Veli-Matti Mattila, CEO, Elisa Telecommunications At AstraSeneca we are using Toyota Kata to coach and develop scientific thinking in our leaders. This novel was a delight and gave me deep understanding of what true coaching is and how to learn and spread it. Peter Alvarsson, Head of Operational Excellence, Europe Region This book demystifies Toyota Kata by telling the story of how Denise, an embattled but undeterred front-line manager, learns to coach. I found myself relating to the characters and the all-too-common challenges they face. I highly recommend this novel for any leader trying to get results while developing people in todays complex, ever changing world. Michael R. Galagher, GE Executive Lean Leader, Corporate Finance. Practicing Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata in Volkswagen Sarajevo empowered our organization to achieve historical results. The feel of this novel is as if the authors were there with us, observing our steps and participating in our struggle to promote scientific thinking. The universality of the message is astonishing, and I highly recommend it. Malik Sisic, Head of Purchasing / Vice CEO, Volkswagen Sarajevo d.o.o.

Tilo Schwarz is a leadership coach, former plant manager and co-founder of the Campus for Leaders at the University of Applied Science Ansbach. He helps managers to successfully lead change and empower their teams for improvement, adaptiveness, and superior results. During his time as a plant manager at a renowned German power-tool manufacturer, he started practicing Toyota Kata with his management team as part of Mike Rother's groundbreaking research in 2006. By doing so, Tilo and his team established continuous improvement as a daily routine throughout all processes and areas of the plant. That led to winning the A. T. Kearny operational excellence competition "Factory of the Year" and a WHU/INSEAD Industrial Excellence Award. Tilo is the author of several books on coaching and Toyota Kata. Jeffrey K. Liker is Professor Emeritus, Industrial and Operations Engineering at The University of Michigan and President of Liker Lean Advisors, LLC. He is the author of the best-selling book, The Toyota Way, Second Edition, and has coauthored nine other books about Toyota including The Toyota Way to Service Excellence and The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership. His graphic novel with Eduardo Lander and Tom Root tells the story of lean transformation at a mail-order company: Lean in a High-Variability Business. A more compact graphic novel, Engaging the Team at Zingermans Mail Order, illustrates how Kata unleashed the creativity of their team. His articles and books have won thirteen Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence. He was inducted into the Association of Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame and the Shingo Academy.

PART I - Learning to Think Scientifically while Producing Results Chapter 1 - Another day, another crisis Chapter 2 - Getting to Work with Lean Chapter 3 Whats our Challenge? Chapter 4 More Pressure Leads & a Breakthrough in Thinking Chapter 5 Getting Down to Kata Planning Chapter 6- Telling a Story on the Storyboard Chapter 7 - At Last, Experimenting! Chapter 8 - May the Coaching Lessons Begin PART II - Coaching as Learning Chapter 9 - Starting to Coach (with Some Struggles) Chapter 10 - A Little Japanese Cuisine, and a Lot of Learning Chapter 11 - A Coach for the Coach Chapter 12 - Spot-on Answers to Coaching Questions Chapter 13 - Digging Deeper into the Real Obstacles Chapter 14 - A Green Drink, and Fresh Look at Storyboards Chapter 15 - Obstacles and Experiments: Its Complicated Chapter 16 - We Deliver Same Day Chapter 17 - Fun in the Learning Group? Chapter 18 - A Big Promotionand a Bigger Crisis PART III - SCALING UP AGAINST THE ODDS Chapter 19 - A Confrontation, Then a Way Forward Chapter 20 - Denise Becomes a Motivational Speaker Chapter 21 - Preparing for Launch Day Chapter 22 - At Last: Grasping Current Condition Chapter 23 - Workshop Day 2: A Deeper Dive into the Current Condition Chapter 24 - Establishing Goals to set up the 3-1-1 Chapter 25 - Prepping for Fun with Puzzles Chapter 26 - Kata to Grow Exercise Chapter 27 - Welcome to the Coaching Dojo, Shoes off at the Door PART IV - Upping the Pace: Its a Sprint and a Marathon to the Finish Chapter 28 - A Month Down the Road Chapter 29 - A Fleet of Coaches is Born Chapter 30 - If Only You Could Kata Your Love Life Chapter 31 - Victories and Setbacks Chapter 32 -The Grand Finale Chapter 33 - New Beginnings