Introduction

We expect greatness from all our people. We expect them to accept and conquer challenges that may seem overwhelming at first glance. The greatness in people comes out only when they are led by great leaders. We are all growing and learning, and we all need teachers and coaches to help guide us. We say at Toyota that every leader is a teacher developing the next generation

of leaders. This is their most important job.

—Akio Toyoda, president of the Toyota Motor Corporation

Coaching and mentoring by management and others are critical elements of understanding lean as a philosophy and respect for people. The primary task of Toyota’s managers and leaders does not revolve around improvement per se, but around increasing the improvement capability of people (Rother 2010). Coaching and mentoring are two of the most important things management can do to develop people to help them reach their full potential. Managers must recognize their responsibility to strengthen their team members.

Good managers recognize the difference between stretching their team members, which helps them grow, and overloading their team members, which does damage (Dennis 2007).

Coaching and mentoring carry many of the same traits, but there are also some subtle differences. Similar characteristics are shown in Table 1.3.5-1.

Sports Analogy for Coaching

The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.

—Vince Lombardi

Think of individuals who coach sports and their role on the team. During training and practice they give advice and encouragement to players. If there are deficiencies, they take the time to show a player the correct way or form. They introduce new plays and have the team practice them. They watch how the players are feeling and whether there might be anything that prevents their top performance. Before the game they draw up the best starting lineup based on players’ abilities and availability. They prepare a game plan. They confer with the other coaches, trainers, and doctors to make sure they are well informed.

During the game, they monitor the performance of their players. They think steps or plays ahead; they may even call the plays. They look to see whether adjustments need to be made. They substitute players as needed. They look for ways to create the win.

Coaching Tasks

A coach can perform many tasks, including:

 Performing skills assessments: see what skills your team possesses and what skills are needed (gap analysis).

 Training, on-the-job training (OJT), and cross training: train others to follow standardized work and to seek opportunities for kaizen or improvements to the methods.

 Promoting teamwork: this can include stepping in when needed or helping team members who are going through difficulties.

 Developing leaders: identify potential leaders and find opportunities for them to help solve problems or improve processes.

 Information sharing (Yokoten): make sure lessons learned are thoughtfully communicated to the people who can benefit from them.

 Monitoring and helping to implement ideas from suggestion systems: use these opportunities to see how team members think; what is their thought process? It is not about stepping in and solving the problem for them. Give them a safe environment to work on their solution.

 Solving problems: Use experience, education, skills, creativity, innovation, and “go see” to help solve problems. Practice Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA).

A coach does not always have to be a team leader, a supervisor, or a manager; a coach can be a coworker, someone more experienced at that particular skill or task who helps others.

Sometimes the best coaches are those without fancy titles, people who are well respected for their work, enthusiasm, and willingness to share.

A key element to being a good coach is continually learning new things. It is important to not only stretch the knowledge of coaching a task but also include learning about human nature, teaching techniques for adults, communication effectiveness, and more. A coach is a lifelong learner. It is said that the teacher sometimes learns more than the student, meaning that by preparing to teach and observing human nature, the instructor builds more skills and becomes a better teacher as a result.

Mentoring

Mentoring is typically a long-term commitment between mentor and mentee, along with the willingness of both members to work together. A good fit of personalities is important.

In a nutshell, mentors teach and give advice or guidance to a mentee, and the mentee works on the issue to learn and grow. The mentor should get himself or herself and the mentee to the point where “I don’t know” is an acceptable and valid answer. And when “I don’t know” is the answer, it is time to go and see (Rother 2010)!

Leaders may find different mentors for different stages of their career. Budding leaders should actively seek out mentors to help them on their improvement journey. Mentors may be one or two levels above the mentee’s position, or in the case of executive management, they may be at the same level but from another discipline. Even top executives should seek out mentors to help them become better at what they do. Lifelong learning is important to those in leadership positions.

Differences between Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching and mentoring share so many of the same elements that it is easy to think that they are the same thing. A closer look shows some understated differences (see Table 1.3.5-2).

Seek out coaches and mentors to help you on your lean journey and reciprocate by helping others.

It is often said that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Toyota takes this view to heart and expects that all leaders will be actively engaged in coaching and developing not just star performers or favorites but all staff members. In fact, it’s often said at Toyota that the best measure of a leader’s success is what is accomplished by those trained by the leader (Liker and Convis 2011).