Page 243 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Chapter 10

Develop Leaders Who

Live Your System from

Top to Bottom

Success Starts with Leadership

When we begin to work with companies, they want us to tour their plants and
see what they’ve done with lean. The story typically goes like this: “We started
down our lean journey seven years ago. We had a consultant help us put together
some training materials, and we did a project in each plant. The project focused
on some kaizen events lead by the external consultant. Each plant was asked to
appoint an internal facilitator to learn and keep the process going. We have
one plant that went all out and has become a model in our company. We have
other plants that have not done anything beyond the initial events led by the
consultant.”
When we query about the differences in the plants that caused this large vari-
ance in the success of the lean programs, the answer is almost always the same:
“The plant manager of the model plant was very passionate and had great people
skills. She and her team were absolutely committed.” Unfortunately, another part
of the story is often: “She then left for another opportunity, and the plant has
slipped back.”
It is clear that the difference between success and failure starts with leader-
ship. This starts at the top, but ultimately the process is carried by those in the
middle supporting the value-adding employees. In many organizations these
“middle level managers” are seen only as a necessity to keep things in order.

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