Episode #206: Nemawashi Is A Key Skill In Japan

Understanding the basics of Japanese business requires we have to know about nemawashi and what it means for us.

Nemawashi is a very important word in Japanese. It is made up of two words “ne” which means root and “mawashi” which means to wrap around. Or wrapping up the root. A good translation however is “groundwork”, usually associated with a decision or a meeting. In Japan they can move 15-20 meters trees from one location to another. They dig down, cut the tap root, bind up the root ball, get a big crane, put the whole tree on a truck and transplant it to another place. Quite amazing.

That nemawashi represents preparation before the tree gets moved. In business the same things apply. We want a certain decision to be taken so we prepare to influence the direction that decision will take. We might be dealing with a client or within our company. Japan doesn’t leave anything to chance. Prior to the meeting, you meet with the other people who are going to attend the meeting and you try to get their agreement with what you propose. In this way, the decision is taken before anyone gets in the room. The meeting itself is just there to formally approve what has been decided beforehand.

In a Western context, we would make the decision in the room. Everyone would turn up expecting that there will a discussion, some debate and final decision will be reached during that meeting. In the Japanese case, they will already have made the decision, so if you want to influence the decision you have to start early. It is no good leaving it until the meeting itself, because that will be too late and the decision will have already been taken.

If it is a client company, you need to work with your internal champion to get the decision makers to agree with what you want to happen. Usually the decision you want is that the client uses your product or service. As an outsider you won’t be in the meeting, but you have to help your champion to be persuasive with everyone when doing the groundwork or nemawashi. Give them the data, the evidence, the testimonials, whatever it takes to make the case solid when presenting it to the people who will be in the meeting. Don’t leave it too late, because it takes time to get around everyone and have those discussions before the meeting is held.

Yes, absolutely they are. This is why you have to prepare your champion to be effective making the argument in your favour. They can get the meetings, but they need your help to be persuasive. The quality of the preparation has a big impact on the final result of course. You need to get them to nominate who is in the meeting and get an idea of what will encourage them to be in agreement with the decision you want. Your champion should have a game plan for each person and that should be put together with your help.

If you understand nemawashi represents the idea of preparation, then be well prepared. As pointed out, don’t leave this process to the last moment. You need to give yourself time to allow the nemawashi system to work in your favour. You also need to anticipate the arguments of the other side and head those arguments off at the pass. You are working through your champion, so the preparation becomes even more important in these cases. Does it mean you will always prevail. No, you will win some and lose some, but you will place yourself in the best possible situation to get a win. If you had no idea about nemawashi you can probably begin to understand why the decision you wanted went against you. From now on though become part of the Japanese decision-making process and exert influence from within.