Why I Needed to Leave Toyota

Leaving Toyota was one of the most difficult experiences of my career. 

Working there was a transformative experience. I fit naturally into Toyota’s deep-seated culture of continuous improvement, and my values were in total alignment with the company’s. The phrase, “Toyota builds people, not cars,” was completely true. I was given challenges and opportunities, and I experienced rapid growth. Within two years, I had been promoted from specialist to assistant manager. The future was bright, and I envisioned proudly spending the rest of my career at Toyota.

And then, my life circumstances changed. I found myself having to leave the company I had grown to love. I grieved this loss for months, even after starting a new job in full-time continuous improvement. It seemed I would never be as happy as I had been at Toyota.

I don't subscribe to the "everything happens for a reason" cliché, but I soon became aware of an unexpected silver lining forming around the cloud of my departure.

The Culture Shock

As I started my new role, I quickly came to the stark realization of just how much I had taken for granted at Toyota. Following the ingrained "go-and-see" principle, I asked an operator where the work instructions for his process were located.

“I’m not sure," he said. "I think some were created a few years ago, but we don’t really use them. Every operator kind of has his own way of doing things.”

I was stunned at his response. Standardized work was so elemental at Toyota that a manufacturing process without it was almost unfathomable.

This was just the first of many shocks. One day, I watched a team member struggle to put a label on a box. Instead of stopping the line, she hurriedly tried to fix the problem and keep up with production. I could sense her fear as she worked with flurried motions, but the work upstream kept accumulating. Inevitably, the line jammed and was forced to stop.

At Toyota, she would have pulled the andon cord at the first sign of distress to summon her team leader. If the leader couldn't fix it within the takt time, production would stop so intense problem-solving could commence. There was no shame in this; it wasn't viewed negatively but as an opportunity to improve.

The most significant challenge, however, was engaging employees in continuous improvement. Because daily kaizen was so integral at Toyota, I took for granted that everyone was at least willing to try. I soon ran into resistance and found myself in the surreal position of having to make the fundamental case for change. “What have I gotten myself into?” I wondered.

Confronting My Own Gaps

My new company was early on its continuous improvement journey. It wasn't reasonable to compare them to Toyota, which had over sixty years to develop its culture. I learned to accept where we were while simultaneously refusing to be satisfied with the status quo.

I soon discovered gaps in my own knowledge. My manager mentioned ‘SMED’ to me one day, and I asked her what it meant.

She looked at me with surprise. “It’s from Toyota. It’s a method for set-up reduction called Single Minute Exchange of Die.” I felt odd for not knowing this. It turns out this phenomenon is common among Toyota alumni. We intuitively understand "lean" concepts but have never heard the industry terms for them. Even "value stream mapping" was foreign to me, as was the concept of "kaizen events." At Toyota, kaizen was just something we did daily, not a condensed 3-5 day event.

I soon learned how kaizen events could be a useful tool for both quick wins and catalyzing cultural change. My first assigned event was, of course, a SMED setup reduction. I prepared by researching the process and seeking advice from other practitioners. Although the event was not perfect, the team did significantly reduce the equipment set-up time. I learned from my mistakes and applied the lessons to subsequent events that I facilitated.

I continued to apply continuous improvement to myself. I deepened my knowledge by reading books, listening to podcasts, and seeking advice. I learned how to make the case for change by asking people about their "pain points" and helping them envision what "True North" could look like.

Most importantly, I learned that to implement sustainable improvements, I had to actively engage the team in identifying and implementing their own solutions—even when I thought I had a better idea (and I was often proven wrong). I stumbled a lot, but I eventually began to transform into the practitioner my company needed.

A New Way of Working

This all came together when I led a 5S kaizen event. The area supervisor was initially resistant to change. He had a strong sense of ownership and saw our involvement as an intrusion. He micromanaged his process and had a hard time ceding control to his team.

I assured him we were not there to ‘fix’ his process, but to partner with him and his team to take it to the next level. Through respect and thorough communication, I worked to gain his trust. I recognized the leadership skills dormant in him and coached him toward realizing his potential. Eventually, he became more supportive and even volunteered to join a separate improvement team.

The event had begun with a 5S audit of the area. The baseline score was 1 point out of a possible 25. At the end of a 5S kaizen event, the team had achieved a score of 14. However, the supervisor was not satisfied. “Tomorrow,” he said, with a determined look, “we’re going to work hard to get that score up.”

At the end of every project, I would send a survey to the team members for feedback. This supervisor gave this response:

“Without a shadow of doubt, I would challenge anyone to say this project did not benefit our process. I myself have always struggled with being open and willing to listen to others’ ideas when I know the right way. This project helped me to see and learn how to be part of a team. Jess showed me that when you have the right people in the right places, the magic will happen. She showed me that all I have to do is give them the right ‘tooling’. I felt like she helped me become a more productive person. I guess you could say she was inspirational.”

The Full Circle

That feedback overwhelmed me. It was then I realized I had to leave Toyota to fully appreciate its most profound lesson: Respect for People.

At Toyota, I was the beneficiary of a established and well-functioning system. By leaving, I was forced to become a builder, a teacher, and a coach. I had the unique privilege sharing what I learned and investing in the development of others. And I came to more fully appreciate the Toyota culture and the lessons it imparted on me.

I will always be grateful to Toyota for the investment made in me. However, my next company gave me the chance to close the gaps in my own knowledge and empowered me to make a real difference. My mentors trained me, my teammates supported me, and my project team members inspired me.

Working for Toyota left a lifelong positive impact on me. Leaving Toyota was one of the most difficult decisions of my career, yet in retrospect, I am convinced it was also one of the best.