Last month I had the privilege of training with some of the best Kata Coaches in the USA and Canada who teamed up throughout four Kata Coaching Dojo events. We started in Memphis, followed by Seattle and Montreal, and finished with the Zingermans Kata Lab in Ann Arbor. Four workshops in two weeks. What a ride.
Here is a summary of what happened in these awesome workshops:
40 extraordinary coaches joint forces, worked together, shared their experience, and learned from each other
running a total of 20 individual Kata Coaching Dojo sessions providing intensive, hands-on practice for coaches
helping over 140 people to step up their coaching game
hands-on practice for everybody, deep in the personal learning zone
One participant put it nicely: Painful learning for the brain while having great fun at the same time!
So what is the Kata Coaching Dojo about?
"Dojo" is a Japanese word used in martial arts for the place of practice. Another translation I like very much is this: A Dojo is "the place for looking for a better way".
The Kata Coaching Dojo provides a sports-like approach where coaches can repeatedly practice a series of specially designed training exercises and role play in a safe offline environment. This setup allows coaches to hone their skills through repeating coaching situations at a much higher frequency than would occur in reality.
In short: A place for looking for a better way of coaching.
But why would we need that?
Since there is no roadmap for many of today's challenges developing people's scientific-thinking ability might be one of the core tasks of our time, in organizations and society alike.
Therefore having managers, supervisors, and anybody leading others to develop their people's navigation skills is an increasingly crucial factor for most organizations. Crucial in reaching challenging goals, adapting, innovating, and achieving continuous improvement at scale.
As a result, coaching ability is becoming an essential skill for any manager.
However, developing excellent coaching skills is a challenge and needs practice and, therefore, time. Hence, it often develops too slowly, haphazardly, or not at all.
That is where the Kata Coaching Dojo provides hands-on support with a quicker and more effective approach to develop coaching skills with individuals as well as throughout all management levels of an organization.
Imagine your organization having a permanent training center for managers, supervisors, and team leaders where they can hone their coaching and communication skills;
a safe place to look for a better coaching way.
If you would like to get a first hands-on experience or you would like to learn more about the Kata Coaching Dojo check out kata-dojo.com to find upcoming Dojo events in your region.
Those of you following my blog regularly, please excuse the long pause. In the last weeks, I put all my time and energy into preparing for the Kata Dojo events. Denise will return next Monday, and I plan to publish a new blog every week after that. Hat tip to Christophe Mazenot for calling me back to duty.
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