Hoshin Kanri - Directing and Motivating Organizational Learning
The adage that “you get what you measure” is in a sense true at Toyota as well. Toyota long ago realized that the key to organizational learning is to align objectives of all of its...
Become a Learning Organization
Process vs. Results Orientation: The Role of Metrics
Believing they can get any behavior they can measure, companies wishing to emulate Toyota’s system often ask me about its metrics. To their inevitable disappointment, they learn that Toyota is not particularly strong at developing...
Hansei: Responsibility, Self-Reflection, and Organizational Learning
Teamwork never overshadows individual accountability at Toyota. Individual accountability is not about blame and punishment, but about learning and growing. A key to learning and growing, not only within Toyota but in Japanese culture, is...
“Practical Problem Solving” in Seven Steps
At Toyota, a five-why analysis is often used as part of a seven-step process they call “practical problem solving.” Before the five-why analysis can begin, “practical problem solving” requires you to clarify the problem or,...
Getting to the Root Cause by Asking “Why?” Five Times
An integral part of kaizen is Toyota’s famous five-why analysis. I recall interviewing Yuichi Okamoto, a former Toyota Technical Center vice president, about the secret to the success of Toyota’s product development system. I was...
The Principle: Identify Root Causes and Develop Countermeasures
Unlike most companies, Toyota does not adopt “programs of the month” nor does it focus on programs that can deliver only short-term financial results. Toyota is process oriented and consciously and deliberately invests long term...