Training Never Ends
We are so busy we overlook the importance of training long-term. I’ve been working with a number of companies lately. None of them have systems in place to grow the professional and/or personal skills of their employees long-term. There is such a focus on tasks and revenue that development is overlooked.
Not only does skill development and expanding someone’s knowledge increase their ability to do their job, but it also reinforces the culture of your company. In the December 3rd issue of BusinessWeek there is an article titled, Toyota’s All-Out Drive To Stay Toyota. The sub-title is Rapid growth and a generational shift have the company fighting to hold on to its DNA.
Toyota is having a lot of senior people retire. As new people come on board Toyota is concerned it might lose its culture of frugality, discipline and constant improvement. This would be a disaster. So management has launched a series of educational initiatives intent on teaching Toyota folks how to be Toyota folks. You have to realize, many young people today have never had a bad day at the office. They have not experienced catastrophe or screaming customers.
Admirably Toyota is not just focusing on the newbies. They are also reinforcing their training of senior people. For instance when Steve St. Angelo was hired from General Motors (GM) in 2005, Toyota forced him to start on the assembly line for several weeks. This is a senior executive who had spent almost 10 years at a plant in Fremont, California which is jointly owned by GM and Toyota. He had been immersed in the Toyota Way for almost a decade. Nevertheless Toyota recognized they were hiring an outsider for a management job and this is rare. They wanted to make certain St. Angelo was schooled in the basics. Toyota’s approach was to assume he knew nothing about Toyota’s production system even though he clearly did. Last June St. Angelo was promoted to become Toyota’s North American manufacturing boss.
Another example of the importance of training everyone is Randy Pflughaupt. Pflughaupt has worked at the company since 1982 and this summer was promoted to U.S. marketing chief for the flagship brand. The first thing he was required to do in his new role was accept a gift which was a stack of books and binders telling him all about the Toyota Way. Then they sent him off to the Toyota Institute in rural Mikkabi, Japan, for a week of indoctrination.
So as you consider your training and development programs for 2008, please make certain to include everyone in your organization - including yourself. Balance the knowledge and skill development with reinforcement of your company’s culture and unique way of doing things.
Nobody has all the answers. The joy is in the journey. Plan your 2008 employee development activities strategically so everyone stays on your company’s path.
