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| Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota, testifying before the US House of Representatives |
A lot of Lean practitioners dislike
the use of Japanese words. However, some concepts don’t easily transcend culture. Hansei
is one of those.
Hansei, commonly translated “time
out” (as in giving a disobedient child “time out”), is a much
deeper concept in the Japanese culture. It means to reflect on and acknowledge one’s
mistake (or one's success), seek it's root cause and resolve to improve.
As with time out, Hansei almost
always requires withdrawal from others so as to go inside oneself, to discover not only what went wrong, but why (root cause).
Equally important, Hansei for a mistake requires contrition and resolve. After getting to the root
cause of the problem, one expresses sorrow and resolves to change for the better (Kaizen). The key here is preventive measures to
avoid this problem in the future.
With a success, one seeks to know the root cause so as to repeat, and improve on, it.
With a success, one seeks to know the root cause so as to repeat, and improve on, it.
Similarly, Hansei-Kai is Hansei
done by a group. It bears all the
same traits of personal Hansei, but is conducted as part of a larger group.
So what? How does Hansei apply to business? Let's put this concept in context.
BACKGROUND: On August 28th, 2009 Toyota became the center of news, when a Lexus ES350, driven by an off
duty California Highway Patrolman, accelerated out of control and killed all
four occupants.
What made this crash front page news was that the events leading
up to the crash were captured in a 9-1-1 call from the driver’s wife. Coverage of what was later called
“Sudden Unintended Acceleration,” or SUA, grew world-wide, badly tarnishing
Toyota’s reputation as one of the world’s safest and most dependable
auto makers.
Waive for a second the fact that
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had been
investigating similar problems with Toyota vehicles since 2002 and, in each case, exonerated the auto manufacturer (http://www.safetyresearch.net/toyota-sudden-acceleration-timeline). Within Toyota, the problem was taken
much more seriously.
Although never recorded, what
appears to have occurred within Toyota was Hansei-Kai. What leads me to
say that?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & CONTRITION: On February 24th,
2010, Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota, stood before the U.S. House of
Representatives and “profusely apologized and took personal responsibility”[1]
for the sudden acceleration problem that led to the recall of millions of
Toyota’s vehicles.
Mr. Toyoda went on
to state, “I extend my condolences from the deepest part of my heart.”[2]
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS: In a prepared
statement to the U.S. Congress, Mr. Toyoda cited as the root cause of the SUA problem
not poor design, nor poor craftsmanship, nor poor maintenance, nor operator
error. Instead, he said, “I would
like to discuss what caused the recall issues we are facing now. Toyota has,
for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I
fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick.”[3]
RESOLVE: In the end, Toyota
recalled almost 10 million cars and began an internal campaign to rededicate itself
to safety. Although not publicly
stated, it is presumed that care in future growth was one of the many Kaizens
within the leadership team of Toyota.
This kind of response doesn’t
come from speechwriters or “spinners,” but from deep introspection. In short, while never acknowledging
that they had done so, it is evident from their actions that Hansei-Kai led to
Toyota's deeply insightful acknowledgement, contrition, root cause analysis and
resolve.
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