Episode #301: Power Harassment And Being The Boss In Japan

“Pawahara” the Japanese adoption of the English term “power harassment” has only appeared in the last few years in this country. In 2006, there were 22,153 complaints lodged with the Japanese labor Bureau and in 2016 it has jumped to 70,917 cases. In a 2016 government survey, 33% of respondents said they had experienced power harassment in the past three years. The Japanese government is drafting a bill to go to the Diet to ban power harassment in the workplace, but the bill does not include any penalties. What does this mean for bosses trying to get results from their teams?

Power harassment is defined by the Government as being an act that causes physical or emotional pain, or demoralizing the workplace by exploiting one’s position. In 2012 the Labor Ministry listed six examples of power harassment: physical attacks, verbal abuse, deliberate isolation from other employees, making excessive demands, making too few demands and infringing on the privacy of others.

Like many things in Japan, once something is established as a new concept, then the interpretation by staff of the boundaries of power harassment becomes very broad. Holding people accountable, expecting them to take responsibility for results are all part and parcel of being the boss. The issue becomes more potent when the staff don’t match expectations. Not doing your job is not considered to be reasonable grounds to fire someone in Japan. Courts are weighing in on the side of the staff against the employer, so there are some strong limitations on the power of the employer. Chastising staff for non-performance is being interpreted as power harassment by staff, because it suits them to do so. Taking personal responsibility for anything is avoided like the plague in Japan at the best of times.

So how can bosses navigate this tricky path between no control over outcomes and being taken to the Labour Bureau for power harassment? The missing component in Japan in companies is a clear understanding and sign on for the WHY of what we are doing. Staff are recruited out of university and are given a steady diet of WHAT and HOW and almost no WHY. This continues on through the years as the work efforts are focused on the tactical execution piece.

We need to break through this continuum and refocus the team on the WHY behind the reason we exist. Western businesses went through a big push on forming a vision for the enterprise which never really captured too many imaginations here in Japan. The Vision, Mission, Value statements are all safely ensconced behind framed glass and hung on the wall but almost no one can quote any of it from memory. If you can’t remember it, then how can you live it?

The other piece that is missing is the buy-in to realise the goals. This means switching from telling people what to do, to asking them what they think we should do to hit the target. In tandem with this switch is the concept of delegating responsibility to staff to achieve the results. Japanese people resist any accountability at all because that is the sure fire way to avoid failing. Delegation needs to be sold to the delegatee as a concrete opportunity for them to gain experience that will help them move up through the ranks. Normally it is just demanded and feels like an unfair burden given to them, on top of all the other things they are super busy with already. We need them to see doing these boss tasks is going to be a positive when the company looks for successors to replace the boss as they themselves move up into a higher level position. In Japanese companies promotion is still mainly based on age and stage, so these companies are denied engaging their teams through Vision and delegation.

The other missing ingredient is boss coaching of staff. Bosses are basically too busy today to coach staff, so it is more honoured in principle, than actually acted upon in reality. If the boss having reinforced the WHY, is having the staff member come up with the HOW, and then coaching them on how to improve on that, then we are getting accountability and the full scope of what needs to be done. This is the perfect combination. If the staff deviate from the correct direction, then the boss can help them, but this is done without trying to micromanage the work.

If the staff fail to deliver a task that is part of their work, then the way the boss handles that discussion is important. As we see yelling at people isn’t going to fly anymore. The boss needs to focus on fixing the issue and having the errant staff member come up with the fix. No yelling required and the work gap is plugged. It is the same concept as delegation, in that we get the staff member to take ownership and accountability for the task, but we help them to complete it correctly this time. We check, but we don’t micromanage.

Japanese staff will be quick to blur the lines between their being called to account for their work and power harassment. The weaker they are the quicker they will be to blur the lines. Going back to the WHY, getting them to uncover and own the how and then providing coaching, will go a long way to avoid being faced with a “please explain” power harassment claim notice from the Labor Bureau.