stand for this. But if the supplier has its own version of a lean culture and it
works, that’s wonderful as far as Toyota is concerned.
Delphi, discussed in Chapter 12, is in the very early stages of working to
develop a Toyota-style lean enterprise with its suppliers. Delphi purchasing
executives realize the key to their success is winning the supplier’s trust.
Toward this end, they included as one of their key performance indicators a
supplier survey. They contracted with Henke’s Planning Perspectives company,
which does the supplier surveys for all the major automakers, and requested a
special survey of Delphi’s suppliers working at the tier-two level. The results in
2004 were not pretty. Delphi was not perceived as a trustworthy and reasonable
customer. This was not a surprise to Delphi after years of getting beat up by cus-
tomers and turning around to beat up their own suppliers. Now they had to
change this adversarial relationship to a win-win, cooperative relationship.
Delphi is working on this supplier by supplier. They started by sending top-
notch lean experts—some outside consultants and some internal—to help their
suppliers lean their processes. This was a huge success and began the process
of winning over suppliers. It will be some time before a large portion of Delphi’s
key suppliers believe and trust, but Delphi is willing to make the investment
and have the patience to spend years transforming to a lean enterprise. Over
time they are striving to create compatible cultures and trusting relationships
internally and with their supplier partners.
Now Please Try and Do Your Best
While David Meier worked at Toyota in Georgetown he was often asked to “do
your best.” This was not so much an instruction as a genuine request. It was
expected that every individual did his or her very best. There was no need for
discussion of “right or wrong” or “good or bad.” Team associates all simply put
forth their best efforts. It was all that was asked. We think that this request has
a place in every company faced with the challenges of implementing a version
of the Toyota Way. Everyone must give his or her best effort.
In addition, David would often be asked to “please try,” and if for some rea-
son he was avoiding the request, he was told to “just do.” It seems some people
are afraid to try things for fear of making a mistake or getting them wrong. One
thing is for certain: If you never make a mistake, you’re not doing anything.
When a request seemed to be greater than his capability, David was simply
asked to “please try.” That is one of the best suggestions we can make to any-
one. It’s necessary to try some of the things mentioned in this book before you
understand the true meaning or value.
If you’re having a hard time convincing yourself or others to try, then “just
do.” It was after several instances of doing that David discovered the meaning
Chapter 20. Leading the Change 461