Kata Coaching: Grasping the current condition
Overview
Kata Series Session Three
Where are we now in relation the challenge? How do we know? Join Coach Mark Rosenthal as he walks us through the steps of Grasping the Current Condition, a Starter Kata from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata Practice Guide and then expands them into a few non-manufacturing contexts. If you are a CI professional, some of the steps will be familiar and some might be surprising. Let’s get started learning how to grasp the current condition together in this webinar. Bio Mark Rosenthal is one of our most experienced and thoughtful coaches. He is a co-founder of Kata School Cascadia. A former Continuous Improvement leader, Mark is a consultant who blogs as ‘The Lean Thinker. He was an early adapter to kata coaching, calling it the ‘missing piece’ of the improvement puzzle.
Host Company
Kata School Cascadia (KSC) is one of the world’s most active kata schools. We are based in the Pacific Northwest and welcome people to our community from all over the world. Since 2019, KSC has met every Friday at Noon Pacific on Zoom to talk kata. We host two in-person kata learning events in 2026. Everyone is welcome.https://kata-school-cascadia.org/
Presenter
Mark Rosenthal is a co-founder of Kata School Cascadia and one of our most experienced and thoughtful coaches. After two decades in the trenches of Continuous Improvement, today Mark is a consultant who blogs as ‘The Lean Thinker. As an early adapter to kata coaching, calling it the ‘missing piece’ of the improvement puzzle that makes improvement about developing people. Mark is based in Washington USA.
Maria Grzanka is a facilitator, instructor, and coach with over 20 years of experience in continuous improvement. She helps organizations design better systems and build lasting capabilities by focusing on both processes and people. Maria is based in Portland, Oregon USA. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariagrzanka/
Tracy Defoe is an adult educator turned kata coach. She is a co-founder of Kata School Cascadia and Kata Girl Geeks; both are virtual kata learning communities. Tracy’s mission has always been to be smarter about learning. She wants to help you be smarter about learning kata routines and rocking people’s worlds when they achieve the impossible. Her consulting practice is called TLFI The Learning Factor. Tracy is based in Vancouver BC Canada.
Agenda
Wednesday, March 18, 2026 PT
11:55 a.m. Check in
12:00 p.m. Introduction
12:05 p.m. Presenter presentation
12:50 p.m. Q&A
1:00 p.m. Webinar concludes
PARTICIPANT BENEFITS
You will see and start to understand the five steps to understanding how a process is operating at the present time. Knowing where we start from is key to knowing if our improvement efforts have made a difference.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Leaders curious to learn more about kata a structured, scientific thinking framework for continuous improvement, a way to develop people and build a culture of learning and innovation.
Safety Requirements
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