“I hope you are ready for this, Julie. The subject of today’s discussion is nemawashi.”
“Nemawashi! What did I do to deserve that? After genchi genbutsu and hansei, the Japanese compartment of my brain is overflowing. Can I take paid time off and leave right now?”
“I admit that nemawashi will never become a household word in Wisconsin, but it’s a critical part of the fourth ‘P’ of Liker’s pyramid. If an organization is going to achieve a Lean culture, it will have to develop something that matches Toyota’s nemawashi.”
“Okay, Curmudge, I surrender. But if you are ever a patient in my unit…”
“…I know. You’ll provide the extraordinary care for me that you give to all of your patients. Let’s do a quick review of our last couple of discussions. For genchi genbutsu the American cultural analogy was Lead from the Front, and for hansei it was After Action Review. Regrettably, there’s not a simple three- or four-word American analogy for nemawashi.”
“Not so fast, Curmudge. Before you get too engrossed in the topic, you should explain what this—how do you say it—nemawashi stuff is.”
“Of course. According to Liker, nemawashi means to make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; then implement rapidly. Prior to a decision meeting at Toyota, an engineer will solicit input on his proposal from all stakeholders, modify the proposal as needed, and thereby develop a consensus. Final approval is often a formality.”
“From what we’ve learned about Toyota, I suspect that all data are examined critically; and the proposal is judged on its merits. But Curmudge, don’t we do that in the United States?”
“Some organizations do, but others don’t. Remember, Julie, U.S. industry—including health care—is working its way out of the old command-and-control culture. Let’s consider some of the old meeting-behavior and decision-making habits that need to be broken.”
“Please do, Curmudge. As the resident Old Guy, you’ve probably seen them all.”
“At the historical extreme were the nobles and the serfs. Then in the industrial revolution, there were the mill owners and the laborers. The boss made the decisions and issued the orders, and the workers responded out of fear.”
“I presume that that was a little before your time, Curmudge. Didn’t Dr. Deming say, ‘Drive out fear.’? It seems to have taken awhile.”
“More recently, members of management committees became involved in decision-making, but their actions were often governed by parochial interests. People protected their turf and the budget of their ‘silo’. Some became information black holes. Hidden agendas, mixed messages, adversarial labor relations, and corporate politics were all too common. There was a definite lack of trust, and fear still reigned.”
“What’s a mixed message, Curmudge? Can you give me an example?”
“Sure. The boss says, ‘I want to tell you about a developmental opportunity,’ and she is really thinking, ‘I want to get this guy out of my group, and I’ve found someone who will take him off my hands.’ That’s a mixed message.”
“Oo! Not nice, but probably not uncommon. How can an organization be as dysfunctional as your examples and still survive?”
“Probably not for long today. And even in our present enlightenment, we need to deal with our so-called defensive routines—our conscious and subconscious fear of appearing incompetent and our desire not to embarrass others. Sometimes critical issues are undiscussable, and people become resigned to their organization’s malaise. These might be considered second-order concerns, but they inhibit production of valid information and can keep an organization from reaching its full potential.”
“That’s quite a litany of transgressions, Curmudge. If the Japanese avoid them with nemawashi, it’s no wonder that they make good cars. So how can we Americanize nemawashi and overcome these problems? What is our goal, and how can we get there?”
“That will be the subject of our next discussion, Julie. Meanwhile, read the books that I recommended last month, including the Army’s Be, Know, Do, and the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.”
“Hoo-ah, Curmudge.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
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