Episode #283: Japanese Young Grads: "I Want To Start At The Top, Thank You"

One great thing about those fresh out of University in Japan joining the workforce is they are fully primed to start at the top and work their way up. Grinding it out to gain experience and insight is boring. “Hey Boss, whisper the magic formula in my ear, so I can skip all that tedium” is their most attractive career plan. How do we manage young people who do not want to be like their sempai or seniors?

In the past, such unrealistic expectations would have been knocked out of them pretty quickly. Their bosses would have straightened them out about what they are supposed to do – work like a dog for forty years, so you can retire on a company pension. They would have been given them the worst, most boring jobs to teach them the ropes from the very start. Progress would have been glacial and the mindlessness of the some of the tasks, asphyxiating. “That is how we roll around here in Japan work world”, was the culture. Well that used to be it but not anymore.

This youth cohort are the luckiest bunch of Japanese young in history. The country is at peace, health care is phenomenal and cheap, the economy is doing well, there is rule of law, no guns and political stability. The youth population is in decline and will keep declining. There are 1.64 jobs out there for every candidate looking for a job. The traditional 3 K jobs (kitanai-dirty, kikken-dangerous, kitsui-difficult) will done by Asian foreigners, freeing Japanese up to do more sophisticated, better paying work.

By the way, anyone reading the press reports about how these foreigners will only be here for five years and then will have to go home, just watch this space. Does anyone seriously believe that after having spent five years here, learning the language and culture and mastering their jobs with Japanese firms, that their employers will want to see them shipped out to be replaced by a bunch of newbies, who don’t know anything? Once these foreign workers arrive, we can expect they will be staying forever, despite what the Abe Cabinet may be saying at the moment.

My soap box moment is over and so back to the young grads and their career planning. The beauty of this current situation for the young graduates is that they are in deep demand. Companies will quickly learn to adjust to their requirements, if they want to keep them. Recruiting is one dimension of difficulty, but so is retaining. The retain part is key, because so much will have been invested in them and they are needed to fill the succession funnel within the firm. Bosses balling them out will find they will just leave and go to the competitor. There is already an army of recruiters sweating on this churn to make their businesses flourish.

So how do bosses align this youth fantasy of how their careers will work, with the reality? One thing companies can do is to give them training to show they are supporting their development. The usual formula is you get formal training when you join and then again when you step up into management positions. The time lag can be five years plus before this happens. In the interim you are supposed to be get trained on the job. This would be fine if your bosses were actually doing it and even better if they knew how to do it.

We have to look at retraining the bosses. They need to understand their job is to retain these young people, not toughen them up. Bosses have to be better communicators, encouragers and mentors. As the boss, this is definitely not how you were treated on the way up, so the obvious thing to do is mete out what you got and pass that parcel down the line. This is a really bad idea because the world has changed and bosses have to get with the programme.

One very simple, but tough to implement change on the bosses part, would be to ask more questions, instead of firing out orders. Instead of telling them the task and then letting them do it, present the outcome desired and then ask them about their ideas on how we could deliver it. We may have to ask a series of questions that helps them guide and gel their thinking, but that is part of the responsibility devolution process. This is not appropriate in every case, but by engaging the young person to come up with their ideas, we get greater buy-in to the delivery of the solution. We are not necessarily expecting genius breakthrough ideas, but we want them to feel they have a say in how things are being done around here. They feel more empowered and in control of their work.

Another good idea is offering intelligent praise. Dumb praise is “Suzuki – good job”. Intelligent praise is “Suzuki – your report was on time, clear and well thought through. We can move forward now because your ideas are going to save us time and money. Thank you for your excellent contribution and please keep up the good work”. This technique is in four parts:

1. We recognize specific aspects of the task which were done well
2. We connect their contribution to the bigger picture of the firm
3. We thank them
4. We urge them to keep doing excellent work

Now maybe this type of praise was not part of the boss’s own upbringing at work, but they have to switch gears and learn how to praise their young staff, if they want to motivate them to stay. Handing out dumb praise is dumb, so bosses need to be educated on how to handle the development of these young people in a way that prepares them for future responsibility earlier, than in the past. The soft skills are going to be key to keeping young staff. The sooner companies and bosses realize that, the more effective they will be in their recruit and retain strategies. The penalty for failure is high – you can’t grow your business without the right people. If your competitor is doing better in this regard then over the long term, they will win and you will wonder why.