Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning by Anderson Katie

Author:Anderson, Katie [Anderson, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Integrand Press
Published: 2020-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

In 1983, with this agreement in place and the NUMMI plant scheduled to open in 1984, Toyota embarked on its newest challenge: translate its culture to a new environment.

“ Going to Gemba” Is the Best Way to Learn

Drawing on their fundamental belief in the “go to gemba” concept, Toyota leaders knew that the best way to teach the Toyota Production System was to bring the former GM American workers to Japan to work directly in one of Toyota’s plants. Yoshino describes Toyota’s challenge and approach for translating its culture to a foreign environment:

The NUMMI joint venture was Toyota’s first experience hiring American workers to produce Toyota-brand cars in the U.S. One of the first actions that NUMMI top management took was to send all American shop-floor leaders to the Toyota plant in Japan for hands-on training. We knew that these workers would need to understand Toyota’s corporate philosophy and put it into practice when they were back to California. It was a great, new challenge for Toyota.

Toyota developed a high-level training plan. Cohorts of approximately 30 NUMMI group and team leaders, chosen because of their crucial roles on the shop floor, would travel to Toyota City, Japan, for a three-week immersive learning experience. Here, Toyota would teach its management practices to its newest employees — many of whom had never been outside of California, and most had not traveled outside of the United States.

Just like the orientation program that Yoshino and all other Toyota new hires went through, the training program for the NUMMI workers would include both classroom training and firsthand experiences on the shop floor. Only through “learning by doing” in the actual workplace could American NUMMI employees start to understand Toyota’s culture and way of working. Toyota chose the Takaoka plant as the gemba-based training facility, as it was the plant that produced the same car that the NUMMI plant would make: the Toyota Corolla (though it would be marketed and sold in the U.S. as a Chevrolet Nova).

The Role of Team and Group Leaders at Toyota

Frontline Management Progression at Toyota

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