Respect for People

Hace algunos meses indagando en la pagina de LEI encontré con un video-conferencia de Jim Womack, donde el compara lo que es para Toyota el respeto por sus empleados Vs lo que es para otras compañías, Pienso que es el elemento fundamental en la cultura lean y apropiado para publicarlo en el recién creado foro sobre la cultura lean japonesa.


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Respect for People
Womack, Jim

Tweet This For years I've visited companies where "respect for people" is a core element of the corporate philosophy. So I've asked managers in many companies a simple question. "How do you show respect?" I have usually heard that employees should be treated fairly, given clear goals, trusted to achieve them in the best way, and held to account for results. For example, "We hire smart people, we give them great latitude in how they do their work because we trust them, and we hold them to objective measures of performance. That’s respect for people."

When in recent years Toyota made respect for people one of the pillars of the Toyota Way I decided I should ask the best Toyota managers how they show respect for people. The answer I have heard is a good bit different from what I’ve heard at many other companies and goes as follows:

Managers begin by asking employees what the problem is with the way their work is currently being done. Next they challenge the employees' answer and enter into a dialogue about what the real problem is. (It's rarely the problem showing on the surface.)

Then they ask what is causing this problem and enter into another dialogue about its root causes. (True dialogue requires the employees to gather evidence on the gemba – the place where value is being created -- for joint evaluation.)

Then they ask what should be done about the problem and ask employees why they have proposed one solution instead of another. (This generally requires considering a range of solutions and collecting more evidence.)

Then they ask how they – manager and employees – will know when the problem has been solved, and engage one more time in dialogue on the best indicator.

Finally, after agreement is reached on the most appropriate measure of success, the employees set out to implement the solution.

For many of us that doesn't sound much like respect for people. The manager after all doesn’t just say "I trust you to solve the problem because I respect you. Do it your way and get on with it." And the manager isn’t a morale booster, always saying, "Great job!" Instead the manager challenges the employees every step of the way, asking for more thought, more facts, and more discussion, when the employees just want to implement their favored solution.

Jim

Jim Womack
Founder and Chairman
Lean Enterprise Institute

Vea tambien http://www.lean.org/common/display/?o=1078