The Seven Habits of Toyota People

By Jon Miller Updated on February 19th, 2018

The harder Toyota’s overwhelming success becomes to ignore, the more books and articles are written about what makes them great. Many say the same thing, but in different ways. I’ve just started flipping through a Japanese book titled The Textbook of Toyota-style Work and I’ve already found something interesting.

In the section titled A Study of Toyota’s “Gemba Power,” the book describes how Toyota employees are loyal to the company due to how the company treats them, and how Toyota people have a uniformity in how they think and act that gives them power.

Stylishly, this is called the seven habits. They are that Toyota people:

1. Listen well to others
2. Think about what is the problem
3. Show a willingness to encourage and suggest
4. Have a habit of thinking of what needs to be done in order to win
5. Discuss things with each other
6. Are thorough about genchi gembutsu
7. Have an willingness to just try it

These are values and behaviors at the root of what makes Toyota successful. Obvious things. Easy to describe, hard to get everyone to do all of the time.

Jon Miller

Jon has dedicated his 25+ year career to the field of kaizen, continuous improvement, and lean management. Jon spent the first eighteen years of his life in Japan, then graduated from McGill University with a bachelor’s in linguistics.

Richard Brady
August 28, 2009 - 9:30 am
Reply

Most of the thoughts discussed in “The Seven Habits of Toyota People” appear to be from common sense and logical behavior. I have used these methods for most of my 47 year career. One suuggestion I would add is to approach some situations and people as is you were playing a game of chess and try to anticipate their response with a somewhat prepared comeback in a manner they don’t feel like they have been set up. This does a few things for the conversation. It allows the person you are workong with feel as if they are allowed input and you are listening. If you have anticipated their response you will have a reaction prepared so they can be stimulated by your response and so forth. has worked well for me allowing me to move forward with a project while listening to their concerns and hopefully positve contribution.