{"id":12014,"date":"2021-03-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lei.flywheelsites.com\/the-lean-post\/articles\/real-respect-feels-like-knowing-youve-been-heard\/"},"modified":"2024-01-05T17:12:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T22:12:16","slug":"real-respect-feels-like-knowing-youve-been-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lean.org\/the-lean-post\/articles\/real-respect-feels-like-knowing-youve-been-heard\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Respect Feels Like Knowing You’ve Been Heard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Everybody listens to others constantly, yet rarely pays real attention to what we are hearing. This prompted Henry David Thoreau to note, \u201cThe greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought and attended to my answer.\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This basic aspect of human nature shows up in core lean principles. In June 2011 John Shook raised awareness of respect as a concern for the lean community with his e-Letter, How to Go to the Gemba: Go See, Ask Why, Show Respect<\/a>, The headline is based on the behavior of Toyota’s then-chairman Fujio Cho’s persistent challenge to managers and senior leaders to be mindful of these practices. John terms the three phrases \u201cbasic lean principles\u201d and describes how he tries to carry out each one when he goes to a gemba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying real attention to what others are saying resonates with core lean principles.<\/em><\/span>Since 2011 there have been countless articles and books written about the importance of \u201cshowing respect\u201d as a key factor in creating and sustaining a lean\/continuous improvement work environment. (I am tending to shy away from talking about culture because I\u2019ve learned that there generally too many ingredients in the soup to tackle as a whole. Work environment, on the other hand, seems to be something managers and leaders can influence by their behavior.) With full recognition of the value of John\u2019s e-letter and the efforts that followed<\/a> describing how to show respect, I am going to focus this piece on the source of the quote, Fujio Cho, and what I observed him doing at gemba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid-1980s I was hired to work at Toyota\u2019s first solely-owned North American manufacturing plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky. Fujio Cho was president of the plant and I had numerous opportunities to observe him at the gemba and to work with him on the development of his managers and senior leaders during the six years he was at TMMK. I want to describe what I learned from Mr. Cho about listening as a critical (maybe the most critical) way of showing respect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening as the Critical Way of Showing Respect<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most days when Mr. Cho was onsite at the Kentucky plant he would leave his desk around 5 PM and go out somewhere on the floor by himself. I saw him many times in many different parts of the plant standing alone and out of the way, simply observing. I also saw him talking with team members on the line. I could not hear what he was saying but I know from talking to several team members that he was primarily doing two things: Thanking people for their efforts, and asking questions. The questions usually were along the lines of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n