Lessons from how Toyota failed in its Core Values and Trust of their clients

I have been following the recent mass recall of Toyota’s Prius and other hybrid models. A total of 8.7 million recalls of cars and trucks have been issued (updated on 10 Feb 2010). To give you an idea of the magnitude of the recall, Toyota sold 7.8 million vehicles globally in 2009.

The recall is due to the accelerator pedal that does not move back to its original position after being released. In some worst cases, it actually gets stuck.

It is a great pity and regret that such an incident happened in Toyota, because there were many books written about “The Toyota Way”; how their values spurred the company to continuously improve and solving root problems.

In fact, one of Toyota’s core values is RESPECT. From its website, it mentions that

“Toyota respects others, makes every effort to understand others, accepts responsibility and does its best to build mutual trust.”

This is something that I really like about them, but recent news seems to suggest that this value was not followed closely. They did not understand their customer complaints about the brakes and thus resulted in many deaths from faulty components. This created a massive distrust in the safety of their cars.

In any company, Core Values are really important and because they provide guiding principles that your staff should live by. The best part about having clear values are that whenever you are faced with tough decisions (in Toyota’s case, it was to recall so many vehicles and take a substantial hit in their profits), you will make the right decision.

I know that in many companies, values are often overlooked and it is something that only the management talk about and not the rest of the staff. However, it is time to dig out the values and understand what each value actually means to the company and individual.

For example, if doing the right things is one of the core values in your company: this could mean that you will always seek to do the right thing regardless of situation; even if it means it costs more to develop environmentally products, or admitting to a mistake that could become a massive Public Relations disaster and costly recall or even apologising to your colleague when you are wrong.

I am happy that Toyota’s chief wrote an article that he will take personal responsibility for the entire situation, learn from their mistakes and quickly correct them (see their values on Genchi Genbutsu and respect).

For people in management, the Toyota incident is a great way to revisit your core values and what it means to each and every person in your organisation. For the rest, what are your core values and what do you stand for?

Do leave your comments below! I want to hear you.
PS: If you need team building or training programs that help you clarify and instill your core values to your team, do contact us!

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Tagged with: Core Values • Genchi Genbutsu • Toyota Way

Filed under: Personal Insights • Training

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