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January 24, 2022
vision for a Toyota leader is well summarized in the Toyota Way 2001: lead continuous improvement while treating people with respect. Respect starts with treating people fairly and as part of the team, but goes beyond that to challenging people to grow.
level 5 leaders’ characteristics included:4 Intense professional will, yet personal humility Understated, yet fearless Transformational leaders Dedicated their lives to building an enduring and great company Selected the best people for jobs, even bypassing family members of the founders Founded the company or grew the organization from within Looked in the mirror and assigned self-blame, looked out the window to assign credit Obsessive about knowing their business in detail Brutally honest about reality, even when it is bad news
Edgar Schein, one of the gurus of culture, defines “culture” as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration. . . . A product of joint learning.”
The commitment to hierarchy, respect for the wisdom of elders, importance of following standards, and obligation of elders to actively develop younger people are tenets preached by Confucius.
Dr. W. Edwards Deming had a profound impact on Toyota in many ways, but one thing in particular stands out: a deep belief that most problems are system problems that are the responsibility of management. Toyota leaders are taught that team members are rarely to blame for an error, but rather there is usually something about the system that allowed the error to occur.
I have come to think of leadership and culture as so intertwined that one cannot exist without the other. It is leaders who model the cultural norms and values and encourage adoption of the deeply held beliefs by others through their consistent example. Just as consistency between parents is key to raising children to become healthy adults, consistency across leaders and over time is key to building a healthy organizational culture.
What the Toyota Way requires is that employees and managers must “deeply” understand the processes of flow, standardized work, etc., as well as have the ability to critically evaluate and analyze what is happening. Analysis of data is also very valuable, but it should be backed up with a more detailed look at the actual condition.
The first step of genchi genbutsu, which is the power of deep observation. He was teaching Minoura to “think for himself” about what he was seeing, hearing, smelling—that is, to question, analyze, and evaluate what he learned through his senses.
3. “Think and speak based on verified, proven information and data: Go and confirm the facts for yourself. You are responsible for the information you are reporting to others.” 4. “Take full advantage of the wisdom and experiences of others to send, gather or discuss information.”
I insist that those who report to me send me a daily journal. So I get 60–70 emails from VPs or General Managers per day. I insist that they make bullet points in the messages. What are the key things you are doing? It has to be designed in such a way that others will read it. That stimulates thinking and sharing information. It is part of how Toyota does learning.
Glenn also identified from his own experience several daily leadership behaviors, four of which are critical to coaching and developing people: Ask challenging and intelligent questions. Challenge constantly for continuous improvement. Coach and be supportive of your staff . . . give them room to fail. Set challenging goals; allow the person responsible to decide method to achieve.
A company growing its own leaders and defining the ultimate role of leadership as “building a learning organization” is laying the groundwork for genuine long-term success.
Toyota needs team members to be observing, thinking, and experimenting.
Often, the people hired do not have the experience or technical skills for the job they are hired into. Toyota rarely hires veteran electricians, or mechanics, or welders, or painters. Instead, people are hired for their potential to learn those skills.
While work experience in those skills is helpful, the ability to work in teams, and most of all to learn to think critically and solve problems, is more important. Toyota believes it can develop these people to be exceptional.
Toyota wants more than a lot of pieces produced or ideas generated quickly. It wants production work done with high quality to the takt, not overproduction. It wants workers thinking about how to improve their work. It wants problems to be solved thoughtfully, usually as a team. It wants creative contributions by everyone.
Long-term partners are entitled to the same respect afforded to team members—treat them fairly based on mutual trust, challenge them, develop them, and help them grow.
