Obeyaka Skills — Measuring Continuous Improvement
Obeyaka Skills are real-time behavioral indicators that emerge from practicing the framework. They are not evaluations of people — they are measurements of behaviors that the system makes visible. Every interaction with objectives, commitments, problems, and initiatives generates data. Skills transform that data into actionable feedback.
Skills can be measured at multiple levels: per person, per team, per process, or across the entire organization. They are always derived from what people do inside the framework, never from subjective assessment.
Skill Groups
Skills are organized into four groups, each reflecting a fundamental capability of continuous improvement.
Compliance — The Ability to Fulfill Direction
Compliance skills measure how well a person or team fulfills the objectives in their charge and sustains them over time.
| Skill | Description | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance | Ability to fulfill the objectives in charge | Objectives in charge in a healthy state / Total objectives in charge |
| Consistency | Ability to sustain a goal in a healthy state | Average time of an objective in charge in a healthy state |
| Contribution | Ability to participate in the fulfillment of third-party objectives | Third-party objectives in a healthy state / Total third-party objectives |
What "healthy state" means: An objective is in a healthy state when its current measurement is within the target range defined in the Matrix. It is not binary (met / not met) but continuous — an objective can be healthy, at risk, or critical.
Where the data comes from: The Matrix defines objectives and their targets. The Board tracks progress. The Review verifies results. Compliance skills are updated every time an objective's status changes.
Why it matters: A team with high Compliance but low Consistency meets targets but cannot sustain them — they sprint to each checkpoint and collapse afterward. A team with high Compliance and high Contribution is not only meeting its own goals but actively helping others.
Commitment — The Ability to Honor Promises
Commitment skills measure how reliably a person or team fulfills the actions they commit to — on time, ahead of time, or through responsible renegotiation when circumstances change.
| Skill | Description | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment | Ability to fulfill an action within the agreed deadline | Promises in charge closed on time / Total promises in charge |
| Resolution | Ability to fulfill commitments in the shortest possible time | Average time to close a commitment in charge |
| Collaboration | Ability to collaborate in another person's commitment | Commitments as collaborator fulfilled on time / Total commitments as collaborator |
| Renegotiation | Ability to anticipate non-compliance and reschedule scope or deadline | Renegotiated commitments fulfilled on time / Total commitments in charge |
| Anticipation | Ability to close a commitment earlier than planned | Commitments closed before the agreed deadline / Total commitments in charge |
| Programming | Ability to schedule in advance and fulfill a promise | Planned commitments in charge fulfilled on time / Total commitments in charge |
Where the data comes from: Every task on the Board has an owner, a deadline, and a status. When tasks are assigned during Briefing and reviewed during Debriefing, the framework naturally captures commitment and resolution data. Collaboration is tracked when multiple people work on the same Story or task.
Why it matters: Commitment without Renegotiation leads to hidden overload — people fail silently. High Anticipation indicates that estimates are conservative or that the team has spare capacity. High Programming indicates mature planning habits. Together, these skills reveal the team's reliability profile.
Diagnosis — The Ability to See and Act on Problems
Diagnosis skills measure how effectively a person or team identifies problems, takes action on them, and solves them permanently.
| Skill | Description | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis | Ability to identify and resolve problems or breakdowns | Problems identified / Total identified gaps |
| Reaction | Ability to react to the identification of a problem | Average time elapsed between an open gap and a problem identified |
| Proactivity | Ability to take action on an already identified problem | Open action plans / Total open problems |
| Effectiveness | Ability to solve problems that do not reappear | Problems appearing for the second time or with the same root cause / Total problems identified |
Where the data comes from: The Board's Check column captures gaps (anomalies, deviations, unexpected results). Stories transform gaps into structured problems with root cause analysis and countermeasures. The Circle tracks whether problems recur.
Why it matters: High Diagnosis with low Proactivity means the team sees problems but does not act. High Proactivity with low Effectiveness means the team acts but does not solve — the same problems return. These skills reveal whether the team is truly learning or just reacting.
Note on Effectiveness: This is an inverse metric — a lower value is better. A team with 0% Effectiveness means no problem has recurred, which is the ideal state. A team with 30% Effectiveness means nearly one in three problems reappears, indicating shallow root cause analysis.
Proactivity — The Ability to Create Value from Ideas
Proactivity skills measure how effectively a person or team transforms ideas into tangible improvements with captured value.
| Skill | Description | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion | Ability to transform ideas into initiatives with captured value | L0 initiatives presented / Total L5 initiatives in capture |
| Innovation | Ability to present initiatives with capture potential | L0 initiatives presented / Total organization initiatives |
| Excellence | Ability to tangibly capture the value of initiatives | Total captured value in L5 of initiatives in charge |
The initiative lifecycle (L0 → L5): These skills reference a maturity scale for improvement initiatives:
| Level | State | Description |
|---|---|---|
| L0 | Presented | An idea has been formally proposed with estimated value |
| L1 | Validated | The idea has been reviewed and its potential confirmed |
| L2 | Planned | The initiative has an action plan, owner, and timeline |
| L3 | In Progress | The initiative is being executed |
| L4 | Verified | Results have been measured against the expected value |
| L5 | Captured | The value has been realized and a new standard established |
Where the data comes from: Stories move through these levels as they progress from Circle identification to value capture. The Funnel (in Scale) aggregates all initiatives across the organization. These skills can be measured at individual, team, or organizational level.
Why it matters: High Innovation with low Conversion means the team generates ideas but does not follow through. High Conversion with low Excellence means initiatives are completed but their value is not captured into new standards — the improvement is temporary.
The Obeya Skill — Composite Index
The Obeya skill is a composite indicator that summarizes a team's or person's overall continuous improvement capability. It combines the four skill groups using weighted factors:
Obeya = α · Compliance + β · Commitment + γ · Diagnosis + δ · Proactivity
Where each group score is the average of its individual skills, and α, β, γ, δ are weight factors that the organization defines based on its strategic priorities.
Default weights: If no weights are defined, all groups are weighted equally (α = β = γ = δ = 0.25). However, organizations are encouraged to adjust weights based on their current focus:
| Strategic focus | Suggested emphasis |
|---|---|
| Execution discipline | Higher α (Compliance) and β (Commitment) |
| Problem-solving culture | Higher γ (Diagnosis) and δ (Proactivity) |
| Innovation and transformation | Higher δ (Proactivity) with balanced others |
| Operational reliability | Higher α (Compliance) and γ (Diagnosis) |
How to read it: The Obeya skill is not a grade — it is a compass. A team with a high Obeya score that is heavily driven by Commitment but low in Diagnosis is reliable but not learning. The composite score matters less than the shape of the profile across the four groups.
Measurement Principles
Real-time, not retrospective. Skills are updated as events occur — when a task is closed, when a Story advances a level, when a problem is identified. They reflect the current state, not a periodic assessment.
Behavioral, not judgmental. Skills measure what the system observes, not what a manager evaluates. A low skill is not a failure — it is a signal that something in the system needs attention.
Contextual, not absolute. A skill score must be read in context. A team in its first Obeyaka cycle will have low scores across the board — this is expected. What matters is the trajectory: is each skill improving over time?
Multi-level. Every skill can be aggregated from person → team → process → organization. The same formula applies at each level, just with a different scope of data.