Partners in Learning
Learning to Lead Change: Building System Capacity

Leadership for Change Library

The Toyota Way
J. Liker
New York: McGraw Hill, 2004
330 pages

Toyota became a world class power through the explicit and consistent use of fourteen principles which it established in its day-to-day practices.

  1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term gain.
  2. Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
  3. Use "pull" systems to avoid overproduction.
  4. Level out the workload.
  5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
  6. Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
  7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
  8. Use reliable, thoroughly tested technology that saves your people and processes.
  9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
  10. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company's philosophy.
  11. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.
  12. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.
  13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly.
  14. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement.

The book also has advice for building similar cultures in your own organization:

  1. Start from the top — this may require an executive leadership shake-up.
  2. Involve from the bottom-up.
  3. Use middle managers as change agents.
  4. It takes time to develop people who really understand and live the philosophy.
  5. On a scale of difficulty it is "extremely difficult."

It takes at least ten years to really become in tune with such a culture and to manage it in a way that sustains it.

Why We Like This Book
It brings to life all the core principles which are espoused in other books on our list. Clearly stated, well-grounded with real-life examples. Shows that there are no shortcuts, but that learning cultures can be understood and implemented.