Episode #263: Stress In Business In Japan

We know that stress is a killer. Stress is something that sits there under the surface and it effects our health and our performance. It runs deep and can well up in us. We are not fixing it or diminishing it, we are just suffering it. Japan can be stressful place in business. Decisions take a long time and the client is never on your timetable. You expected that payment, but it didn’t turn up. You discover that the invoice had to be in by the 15thof the month, but no one bothered to tell you that. You are not getting paid and now cash flow issues arise. Currency movements have now had a strong impact on your profitability and this wasn’t factored in fully, when you did the business plan. Regulatory barriers are making it hard to supply the market. The buyers prefer the devil they know, to the angel they don’t know, and that angel means you. So how do you break into this market when nobody knows you? Then you have the problems of running your own team. People are getting older and have all sorts of personal health issues or issues around taking care of their own parents. You have recruit and retain issues with younger staff. The list just goes on and on.

What do we do about these things? There are many things blinding us to the real issues. We are battling through a fog of confusion most of the time. We have to cut through that and work out clearly just what is the problem. Unless we can identify the problem, we have little hope in fixing it. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, because there could be many factors at play, but which are the really key ones?

The key here is to write them down. Somehow the act of writing helps us to refine what we are thinking. We need to get them into priority order. That also forces a higher level of thinking about what we are facing. Are there any threads or similarities?

Having sorted that out, we now have to dig a bit deeper and look at what are the causes behind these problems. We can identify the symptoms, but what are the root causes of the troubles we are suffering? This again needs some analysis and often we are not operating with a lot of numbers we can rely on, to pick out the threads of the root causes. We often have to go on instinct and this is an imperfect science.

Having ascertained what is causing the problem, well what can we do about it? We start digging deep for solutions, for ideas, for innovations which will provide us with a way forward. This is a brainstorming process and the object should be to throw up as many ideas as possible. We do this on the basis that even a crazy, impractical idea might be the trigger for a really great idea. The excellent idea may not have emerged with out the stimulus of the crazy idea in the first place.

Having drawn out a broad range of possibilities we now need to whittle these down to the best ideas. We start evaluating the consequences of taking possible actions on these ideas. We will distill the best solution in this way and now we have created a roadmap for ourselves. Through action comes clarity and the solutions flow forth. We need to get the battle plan into priority order for the execution piece. We are trained to execute and once we get a plan together, we can start to move forward and get out of the hole we have been lodged in for some time.

Dale Carnegie wrote a whole book on this subject, called How To Stop Worrying And Start Living. He was thinking that we needed to find a way through the worry stage and get out of that hole we have dug for ourselves. If we don’t do this we will see our stress mount up. Once we find that way, we get on the front foot and we can exercise more control over our attitude and our circumstances. This means we can start living in a full and complete way, because we have thrown off the yolk of stress and we are now tapping into our full potential.

If you find alcohol isn’t doing it for you or you find yourself worrying while at yoga, maybe get the book and read it. Today we know the connection between stress and illness and we can’t take it lightly. The likelihood of our lives becoming less stressful in the future is slim, so we are better off finding ways to deal with it today.

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.