Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results

Chapter 8The Coaching Kata: Leaders as Teachers

Coaching Is Required

Suppose we would like to teach a team of athletes some new skills and have them do well in competition. In this case, we would certainly not expect that simply explaining a different way of doing something, no matter how well that explaining is done, will be sufficient for altering their behavior. It is not possible to objectively assess one’s own performance and see what skills you need to work on. This is because we tend not to perceive our own habits and do not know what we do not know. In the case of athletes, we naturally expect them to practice under the observation and guidance of an experienced coach, and that the necessity of having a coach will not go away. If no one ...