It’s a very common conversation in teams today. We need to learn new things all the time, but without neglecting to implement what is known. How to achieve this?
A company recognized for its culture of continuous improvement (called Kaizen) It is Toyota. Their experimental approach, known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), was developed after World War II by Eiji Toyoda and Taichi Ono. he Kaizen It drives the relentless search for better ways to work without neglecting people so they can contribute their creativity and judgement. The result is a highly efficient and human-centered system. One principle is that decisions are not made by rank or gut feeling: they are tried and tested. This leads to better decision making and engages leaders at all levels in humble learning. Everyone, from frontline workers to executives, is expected to come up with ideas and test them through structured experiments.
Workers at the Japanese automaker’s plant are taught how to redesign their workflow through experimentation, a responsibility that at other companies would be reserved for specialists or managers. The goal is not the continuity of the facility, but rather the ability to adapt to what is required. Plant managers test their own proposals against the alternatives offered by their employees to find out what really works best. Even CEOs test their ideas when possible. In the 1980s, when Toyoda wanted to evaluate whether Toyota could manufacture cars in the United States, he did not make a strategic statement: he conducted an experiment. He convinced GM to let him reopen a closed GM plant in California under Toyota management. The experiment was successful, and led Toyota to begin manufacturing in Kentucky.
This commitment to experimentation can shape culture. When the type of work that applies the scientific method is established, it avoids the dynamics of command and control, and instead encourages people to engage in the kind of experimentation that is the cornerstone of a learning organization. Additionally, when leaders engage in testing an idea, and require data rather than a decision-making hierarchy, they lift teams up rather than impose themselves on them. Authority does not come from opinion but from evidence.
Another interesting fact about this culture is that they do not use the word “solution”. Problems are not “solved”: they are managed through successive interventions that are always open to improvement. The mentality is that any improvement can be better. Because the danger of thinking about “transformation” is in assuming that the work will end one day. The call is to exercise your “improvement muscle” every day so that the day never comes when you have to pivot. Through a culture of experimentation, they were able to maintain their physical fitness.
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