new manager from the outside to the point where the manager can be trusted
and autonomous. At the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor they describe as
“painful” the process of bringing in managers from the outside.
The reason for these difficulties is that Toyota does not view the manager’s
job as simply accomplishing tasks and having good people skills. Managers are
viewed as bearers of the Toyota Way. More than anyone, they must exemplify
the philosophy in everything they do: the decisions they make and how they go
about making the decisions. They must be teachers of the Toyota Way. They also
must understand the actual work at a level of detail that most American man-
agers do not feel is necessary to do the job.
- Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your
company’s philosophy.
One thing that is obvious in talking to a lot of different Toyota employees—or
“team associates,” as they call them—is that they are more similar than differ-
ent in the way they talk about Toyota, its philosophy, and their work. We often
think about “cults” negatively—people, who are brainwashed into a strong,
often counterculture, belief system. But any strong organization that has sur-
vived through centuries, like the Catholic Church, has a strong sense of shared
purpose and a strong culture shared by members. The definition of a strong cul-
ture is one in which values and beliefs are well-aligned among members. Toyota
has a strong internal culture that they often refer to as their DNA. Toyota is very
conscious of the importance of maintaining this DNA in all their associates and
works hard to continually reinforce the culture.
The essence of the Toyota Way is exceptional individuals and teams who
work within the philosophy of the Toyota Production System to achieve out-
standing results. The tools are just tools that can be picked up by any company.
But the gifted carpenter who carelessly leaves his tools lying around so someone
else can steal them does not have to worry about being replaced by an amateur
who finds his tools. And picking up kanban and andon from Toyota will not
make you a world-class lean enterprise. The people using the tools, and how
they use them, are what bring the Toyota Production System to life.
- Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by
challenging them and helping them improve.
Toyota does not use and abuse their partners, extracting whatever value they
can for the lowest possible price. A partner becomes an extension of Toyota. Part
of contributing to society is supporting partners so that they become better as
a result of working with Toyota. It is part of “Respect for Humanity,” a concept
that has a far different implication than terms like “human resource manage-
ment,” which imply making the most productive use of resources, almost like