Page 289 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

264 THE TOYOTA WAY FIELDBOOK

A team member who is interested in being promoted to the team leader posi-
tion must make a formal application to participate in the prepromotion process.
In order to be considered, a team member must have an excellent attendance
record and must have received at least a “meets requirements” on their most
recent performance review. A team member with any outstanding corrective
action is not permitted to participate.
All future team leaders must attend specific training in problem solving, Job
Instruction Training, and meeting facilitation (see Figure 11-4). The classes range
from 10 to 16 hours in length (42 hours total), and each student attends on their
own time (unpaid). Each class has a workplace exercise requirement to be com-
pleted and reviewed by the group leader and submitted to the training depart-
ment for final review. A final “grade” is provided for each class, which is used
to compare proficiency to other applicants.
The ability to relate with fellow team associates is a critical aspect of the
team leader role, and the other team members in the work group evaluate each
candidate during a peer review process. Peers rate the candidate on interper-
sonal skills, attendance, job knowledge, and safe working habits. The intent is
not to create a popularity contest, but to allow all peers to participate in the
evaluation process. In many companies the associates often complain that man-
agement will “pick who they want to.” The peer review process helps balance
any potential management bias.
Finally, the scores from the training classes, the peer review, and the perform-
ance evaluation are compared to other associates within the same department
(in some cases the selection is limited to those individuals with specific job skills),
and the top performers are selected for an interview. The interview is similar in
nature to the interview previously mentioned for initial hiring and is scored.
The final scores are placed on a matrix, and a final decision is made by mutual
consensus between the group leader, department manager, and a representative
from human resources (again preventing individual bias).
After selection, the new team leader is trained in specific aspects of the job.
Many group leaders have a preselection development process that allows a team
associate to develop necessary skills prior to promotion. The team associate fills
in for the team leader during absences, and in many cases works directly with
the team leader to learn the job. The tasks and skills required of team leaders are
placed on a Multifunction Worker Training Timetable, and all prepromotion
candidates are trained to perform the tasks. This allows for a virtually seamless
transfer to the new leader.
Pretraining individuals for leadership roles has other advantages as well.
Trainees have opportunities to experience new challenges and to grow. They
also have an opportunity to “test the water” for the role to decide whether it’s
something they are truly interested in (this reduces the number of people who