Excerpt from the People and Partners Chapter

A good selection process helps to “thin the crop” to identify the people that will best fit your culture and needs. You may look at this section and think, “We already have all our people, and we are stuck with some bad ones and there is nothing that we can do.” Take heart. Even the best selection process in the world will allow some bad seeds to pass through. In the end you must work with what you have and make the best of that. The skills and traits that are targeted during the selection process are skills that can be developed. But every company has people who leave and must be replaced. Spending time up front with the selection process can help to reduce the time needed to develop these skills later.

The selection process used at the Toyota plant in Georgetown is based on the idea that a person’s past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior. The selection process is long and provides many opportunities to see potential candidates in various situations so that their behavior can be evaluated. These situations include simulated work activities (explained in chapter 10), and an interview that concentrates on actual experience. As discussed in The Toyota Way it is a multi-step process beginning with weeding out hundreds or thousands of applications and then conducting an aptitude test. We will focus here on the later stages of interviewing once a smaller subset has been identified.

The selection process targets the following skills for team associates:

1. Job-fit motivation- Does the individual’s personal motivation fit well with the companies? Will the work and the environment provide them with personal satisfaction? You may find that this person would be better suited for other jobs or tasks.
2. Meeting membership- Does the person have the ability to work with others, to participate but not dominate, and to gain cooperation and support of others?
3. Meeting Leadership- This trait may not be as important for team associates, but it includes the ability to convey ideas to others and to get support when needed. Toyota does like to grow leaders (chapter 10) so potential leaders are sought out.
4. Initiative- Is this person someone who will initiate action, and go above the minimum necessary to achieve goals, or do they wait to be told what needs to be done? Do they initiate action beyond their boundaries without approval?
5. Ability for the work- Has the person ever performed this type of work? If not, do they have similar experience such as home repairs, or publishing the newsletter for a church or civic group?
6. Adaptability- The Toyota Way is founded on continuous improvement, which means continuous change. People need to be able to handle various situations, tasks, and people.
7. Problem identification and problem solving ability- Many people can spot problems. Are they able to provide solutions? Do the expect others to solve the problem for them?
8. Work Tempo- Toyota assesses work tempo using a simulated work experience. This allows the candidate to understand the future work requirement to make sure they know what they are in for, and Toyota can assess whether the person has aptitude for the work.
9. Communication skills- Does the person speak clearly? Do they communicate ideas effectively? Are they able to understand questions and answer specifically?