Coaching Kata
A structured pattern of questions for developing scientific thinking and problem-solving skills in others.
Also known as: Toyota Coaching Kata, Five questions
Category: Frameworks
Tags: coaching, learning, questions, leadership, lean
Explanation
The Coaching Kata, developed by Mike Rother alongside the Improvement Kata, is a repeatable routine coaches use to help learners develop scientific thinking capabilities. Rather than providing solutions, the coach asks questions that guide the learner through the improvement process.
**The five coaching questions:**
1. **What is the target condition?** - Ensures clarity on where the learner is trying to go
2. **What is the actual condition now?** - Grounds discussion in current reality through observation
3. **What obstacles do you think are preventing you from reaching the target condition?** - Identifies barriers
4. **What is your next step? What do you expect?** - Focuses on single experiments with predictions
5. **When can we go and see what we have learned from taking that step?** - Creates accountability and learning cycles
**Why questioning works:**
- **Develops capability**: Learners build their own problem-solving muscles rather than depending on the coach
- **Reveals thinking**: Questions surface assumptions and mental models
- **Creates ownership**: Solutions the learner discovers feel more authentic than prescribed answers
- **Enables scaling**: Coaches can develop many learners simultaneously
**The coach's discipline:**
Effective coaching kata requires coaches to resist giving answers, even when they know solutions. The goal is capability development, not problem resolution. Coaches must be comfortable with learners struggling and failing as part of the learning process.
**Applications:**
The Coaching Kata applies whenever developing others' capabilities matters more than solving immediate problems: management, mentoring, teaching, parenting, or peer coaching.
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