Toyota’s learning culture offers a useful question for any leader: what happens after somebody brings you bad news? Your response can help people examine a problem—or teach them to keep the next one to themselves.
This post draws on material from The Mistakes That Make Us. I’ve studied Lean management and applied its methods in manufacturing, healthcare, and software organizations. Toyota is not perfect. The learning is in specific leadership behaviors we can examine and practice.
Make problems easier to discuss
I’ve worked with many people who don’t like the word “problem” because it seems negative. Some people feel the same way about the word “mistake.” But with the right kind of leadership, we can turn the negative into a positive. Instead of sugarcoating the situation by choosing softer words, we can lean into problems and mistakes—recognizing that the problems exist whether we like admitting them or not.
Toyota people often say,
“No problems is a problem.”
Having no problems is a problem because it means you don’t understand your business or are not admitting the truth. Toyota leaders realize that they must make it psychologically safe enough for people to reveal problems and mistakes, and they work hard to cultivate that culture.
Toyota leaders do this by visiting a site and asking questions like, “What are your top three problems right now?” They’re asking about priorities, but that question assumes problems exist, which permits others to acknowledge and discuss them. In other workplaces, asking a closed-ended question such as “Do you have any problems right now?” might lead to a quick “No” response, especially if leaders haven’t proven they can react constructively when somebody answers “Yes.”
Respond constructively when an experiment fails
As recounted in Katie Anderson’s book (and my podcast), Anderson’s mentor and the subject of Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn, Isao Yoshino, made many mistakes throughout his career. In Chapter Five of The Mistakes That Make Us, I share a mistake from his first year at Toyota. His manager responded by saying,
“Don’t worry. Mistakes can happen. You are just a beginner, and you did your best.”
Toward the end of his 40-year tenure, Yoshino led a startup boat business that failed and lost $13 million for Toyota. Bookending Yoshino’s career, then-Chairman Fujio Cho told him,
“You were new to the boat business. And so were we at headquarters. We all make mistakes, particularly when we try something totally new. We know you took on a challenge and worked so hard to make it happen.”
A constructive response does not erase the loss or remove responsibility. It gives people a chance to examine the decisions, the information they had, and the support they needed. Leaders can acknowledge their own part in an unsuccessful effort, too.
Learning from mistakes includes preventing the next one
We do not need to choose between prevention and learning. A team can mistake-proof a routine task while testing an uncertain idea on a small scale. The response should fit the work and its risks.
“Try it and see” is incomplete advice if a failed test could harm someone. Before an experiment, agree on the prediction, the boundaries, and when to stop. Afterward, compare what happened with what you expected. What did the result teach you, and what will you change?
Three questions to try with your team
What problem is making your work harder? Give people time to answer. Ask for an example rather than immediately defending the current process.
What did we expect, and what actually happened? Separate the result from assumptions about the person. A disappointing outcome is a reason to investigate.
What can we change, and how will we check it? Agree on a next step and follow up. Thanking someone for speaking up matters; acting on what they raised helps make the next conversation worthwhile.
If people hesitate to answer, consider how psychological safety supports continuous improvement. An invitation to speak is more credible when people have seen leaders respond well before.
Bring a useful conversation to your team
Start with a free preview of The Mistakes That Make Us. See how the book approaches learning, accountability, and improvement before deciding whether it is right for you.
Prefer to listen? Choose a My Favorite Mistake episode to discuss with your team. To explore these ideas together, bring Mark to your organization or event.