Leading Lean

Chapter 4. Leading Others

Leading through service to others is a major tenet of Lean leadership. In this chapter, we’ll explore the complementary relationship between servant leadership and Lean leadership, which means giving yourself over into the service of others. A servant leader fully acknowledges and accepts the responsibility to develop, support, enable, and encourage others on their path to serve and lead. This is a major tenet of Lean leadership philosophy. We’ll also look at the two pillars of The Toyota Way—respect for others and continuous improvement—as well as how you can use the Toyota Business Practices (TBP) problem-solving technique in conjunction with on-the-job development (OJD) to develop aspiring leaders.

Defining Servant Leadership for the 21st Century

Servant leadership is focused on empowering and helping others become the best they can possibly be in all facets of their life, from a professional, social, physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual perspective. The values of The Toyota Way are all brought to life and supported through the practice of servant leadership:

• Continuous improvement through the spirit of challenge and a bias toward action by going to the place where work is performed (the gemba) and respecting people by being inclusive

• Taking responsibility

• Acting with humility, dignity, honor, and integrity

The Toyota Way and servant leadership are complementary leadership philosophies: Lean leaders are inherently servant leaders, ...