Episode #280: Do You Have To Be A Saint When Leading In Japan?

Leadership can be broken up into two main activities. One is making sure that the processes of the operation are all delivering what they should, when they should and where they should. This is relatively straightforward, because usually all the processes are known and the people doing them have done them before and know what to do. There are clear measurements around quantity, quality, and timeliness, so we can keep track of how we are doing.

The other aspect of leadership is building our people. This means constantly skilling up to meet the changing demands of business, to make sure they are highly engaged and producing both effectively and efficiently. We need innovation in business to move forward and the people reporting to us are usually great sources of innovative ideas - if we are able to get them to care.

How we make the operation run smoothly is a choice. We can be a tyrant and brutalise our people, using fear, retribution, punishment and potential banishment to oblivion, as tools to get conformity to our will. This can even be physical. I saw a snippet on Japanese television recently of a Korean company, K-Technology’s CEO Mr. Yang Jin Ho, beating his male ex-staff member by slapping him across the face, making him kneel on the floor and then belting him on the top of his head. Mr. Yang recorded the beating as a souvenir, which has now gotten out and gone viral on social media. This is extreme and when you see the video, it seems incredible that this could be happening in this day and age. Yet there are still versions of this floating around in Leadership Land, where the attacks may be more verbal, rather than physical.

In this type of environment where the fear factor is the main leadership card being played, you can guess that the “building the people” part has gone completely missing from any consideration. The same for getting innovative ideas from the troops. Everyone will have their head down, trying to be as small a target as possible and just doing their job and no more.

Now we may not be a tyrant or a demon like Mr. Yang, in the workplace, but we could be clinical, cold, outcome driven, extremely “business like” in the sense of no warmth for and no interest in our people. We may be highly efficient, fully focused on getting the results and the people are just there to make sure that happens. We are not there to mollycoddle them. We are not there to be their friend. If we want a friend, we will get a dog.

Everyone is an adult and they know what they need to do to make the numbers. If they want to get ahead, they should take full responsibility for developing themselves and that has nothing to do with the boss. We pay them, so we expect results type of philosophy. Is this bad? Do we have to be a saint, to be indulging our people, rather than rigorously holding them accountable?

Yes, we have to be a saint or as close as we can get to it. There are 1.64 jobs for every candidate looking for a position in Japan and it will only get worse from a boss’s difficulty of hiring perspective. Recruiting people is becoming more expensive in terms of the costs of finding a replacement and the disruption of someone leaving. There are lots of hidden opportunity costs we must pay, when there is a break in the work production process. Keeping our people becomes only more important, so the people and communication skills of bosses are paramount in a way they have not been in the past. Hard skills aren’t enough and are not an excuse anymore for not doing what is needed in the 21stCentury workplace.

We need to take a greater interest in them as people. This may be hard when you yourself are extremely independent, self-reliant, driven, mentally tough and need no positive feedback or support from anyone. You tend to see the world the way you are, as opposed to how your people are and how they see the world. This gap can be pretty big. If you want to keep your people, then you need to change. If you can’t be bothered to change in this market, then you will see recruiters lifting your people out of your organization at a rate of knots.

Communication and people skills are the two areas usually requiring the most reengineering. Is this easy? No! But understanding the “build people” role makes the difference. Your role is defined, it is part of what a modern leader needs to do, so you can’t just squib it. Disengaged people do no contribute anything to the innovation process. They don’t care about the company, so they don’t care about making it more productive, through their creativity contributions. This usually means there is a lot of untapped potential inside organisations waiting to be released. Our job is to create a greater sense of engagement and identification with the company’s competitive advantages through innovation.

There is no shortcut here either. Each person has their own agenda, motivation, desires, dreams, goals and the better the boss understands that, the easier it is to know how to align the firm’s agenda with the individuals. It is not manipulation, but getting a good overlap between what the individual wants and what the company wants. When we get the staff member’s WHY and the company’s WHY to line up, then the leading bit gets a lot easier.

How would we know all of this? We need to want to talk to our team members, to want to help them, to want to be saint like. This is the starting point. Put their interests first and work from there. If you can’t do that, no problem, you won’t be around for long, so it will all become a theoretical exercise anyway. Your replacement will pick up the torch and carry the organisation forward in your stead. It will be out with the old and in with the new. Which one do you choose?

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.