Episode #262: Worry In Business In Japan

There are so many things we have to worry about in business. Do we have enough cash flow to pay the bills, will we have enough left over to get to the end of the next month. Can we meet salary, do we have enough to pay our taxes, can we meet our supplier’s payment invoice requests. The one thing that will bring a business down and eliminate it is not enough cash flow. Once that becomes insufficient it is game over. So we need to preserve cash and that means you need a really accurate tracking system. You do not want any nasty surprises about cash flow.

We worry about our clients mix. Do we have the right balance of those we are farming, that is to say the regular buyers of our products or services. They may not grow much but they are regular and sound repeat business. We also need new clients though to replace the ones we lose and to expand the business or we need existing clients to spend more with us. This is the gross revenue side of the business. As we all know, you only need a couple of consecutive months of poor revenue flows to have cash flow problems, so the regular sources of business are very important.

Then there is expenditure side of things. We need to keep our fixed costs conservative, although that is not so easy in Japan. We want to see our variable costs/fixed costs ratio moving in the right direction.

Another area of prominence at the moment is retaining staff. We are seeing a drying up of hires in Japan, as the population decline makes it harder and harder to hire new people. If someone leaves, you are looking down the barrel of 18 months before you can recruit and train the replacement to get up to the speed of the person who left. This means the retain part of our companies activities becomes very important.

The younger generation are becoming more aware that they are in demand and they unlike their parents, can move from job to job, with no stigma attached. The grass always looks greener on the other side to them and so they will up and be moving to your competitor, unless they are properly managed. They are the first free agent era of workers in Japan. This has never happened before, this is all new and there is no road map on how to navigate our way through these societal changes.

Many of them have a very starry eye view of work and so when they start working for a firm they realise this isn't as glamorous as imagined, in fact a lot of what they have to do is boring and the boss isn’t all that great either. If they walk out they have taken all your training with them to a competitor. You have just lost your investment in them, plus they are very hard to replace, so you could be short of staff for some time.

The experienced workers are getting older as people want to keep on working and because we want them to keep on working. As they get older they have various health issues so they can’t make it to work some days as they are sick. They also face the health issues of their parents. They have to take them to hospital or they need to stay at home some days to take care of them. All of this is dislocating the work flow, but this is the new reality and we have to be geared up for dealing with it. This means we need to have a lot more flexibility than before about work hours, working from home, giving people enough sick leave and recreation time to recover.

So what do we do about dealing with all this worry. Here are a few ideas to adopt to get on top of all of this. Firstly, get clarity about what is the real problem. When are worried we have a lot of things flying around in our brain. We tend to be unable to get focus. We need to stop that. So call it out. What is the absolute worst thing that could happen? Name it, isolate it, focus on it. This gives us a clear target, gives us clarity around the problem. Next accept that it will happen. Don’t go into denial or delusion. Expect this will hit and hit hard. Face it. Having done that, now work on what you can do to minimize the damage. This helps us to move to a positive mindset around the fix rather than the problem. All of that mental white out we were facing lifts and we see a way forward, this gives us hope and improves our spirit and motivation.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.enjapan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years.

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.