The Toyota Way Leadership Development Model

These values are the bedrock of Toyota leadership, but adherence to the values, in and of itself, does not a leader make. Toyota does have a systematic way of identifying and developing leaders over their careers, although this process has never been formally codified (unlike the core values). Based on what we’ve seen and experienced at Toyota, we have created a multistage leadership model that we think accurately captures the Toyota approach to leadership—both what it means to be a leader at Toyota and how to go about developing leaders (see Figure 1-1).

Figure 1.1. Diamond Model of Lean Leadership Development

The reality is not as linear as the model suggests and is most definitely cyclical, repeating over and over throughout a person’s career, but there does seem to be a logical sequence from developing oneself to ultimately integrating the whole organization to align on goals. It applies to both individual leaders and, by and large, to whole organizations (for example, Toyota North America). So, for instance, the first two stages of the model, self-development and developing others, are focused more at the individual and group levels. Toyota leaders are expected to do both simultaneously (improving their own skills while coaching those whom they manage), although of course a measure of self-development is necessary before one can begin develo....kaizen