Superfactory – Article: The Equally Important “Respect for People” Principle by Bob Emiliani

Here’s a recent article from Bob that was hosted on superfactory.com about the Toyota Way principle of “Respect for People.” It’s a very well annotated history of writings and references about this oft-forgotten principle. If you’re skeptical about the origins or importance of this principle, please check out his article. “Continuous improvement” is not the only important Toyota Way principle. “Continuous improvement” and “respect for people” are of equal importance, according to Toyota.

From the article:

Lean community leaders have recently made two huge changes in how they present Lean. The first change is Lean as a management system rather than “Lean manufacturing.” Second, they are finally taking note of the long-established “Respect for People” principle. Why now? In part because there have been so few successful Lean transformations over the last 20 years. Another reason is that most other aspects of the Lean management system have been studied in detail, so this is the next territory to explore. This batch-and-queue non-integrative approach has severely increased the lead-time needed to properly educate people about Lean management – particularly the “Respect for People” principle.

I have a podcast interview with Bob scheduled for Saturday. If you have questions about that article or his most recent book, Practical Lean Leadership: A Strategic Leadership Guide For Executives, send me an email at leanpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.

You can listen to my previous podcast with Bob here.

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.

Tagged as: Books, Emiliani