Makiko Shinoda: "Listening" is Effective for Management

After stepping down from my previous job, I spent a year wandering around, calling myself "jobless." Whenever I met acquaintances, they would ask, "What are you doing next?" and I would answer as best as I could. Through repeating these dialogues with many people, I felt my thoughts gradually becoming organized.

What was happening there was simply that people with no vested interests were listening intently to my story. When we think about it, when we speak, we sense the listener's attitude and unconsciously adjust what we say. Conversely, it was because they listened to me in that way that I was able to speak honestly about myself, including my flaws.

Through this experience, I learned that the quality of communication changes dramatically depending on the "way of listening." When we want to improve communication, we tend to focus only on "how to speak." We don't pay attention to the other side, which is "listening," even though "listening" has so much power.

Just as I was getting excited about the potential of "listening," I encountered my current workplace, YeLL Inc. The company provides a service where external personnel conduct 30-minute online 1-on-1 meetings once a week with employees of contracted companies.

For example, even when a business owner tries to implement a strategy, things may not progress as expected. The owner might give pep talks or reassign personnel to increase momentum. The reason results still don't follow is that the "brakes" are still on—such as a weak sense of ownership on the front lines or concerns about consistency with the past.

When an entire organization receives YeLL's 1-on-1 sessions, there is always an "outsider" who listens, allowing people to talk about their true feelings and the future. This has the effect of loosening each individual's brakes. The sources of ownership and motivation hidden deep within individuals are put into words, and through dialogue, the direction of management becomes a personal matter. Individuals change, and the organization changes from the inside. I was moved by how "listening" supports business promotion, and I decided to join the company.

YeLL aims for an increase in "organizations that listen to each other," for "listening" to spread throughout society, and for everyone to become more like themselves. The society YeLL aims for is the society I want to live in, and a future worth leaving behind. Toward such a future, 30 years after graduation, I have just embarked on my first early-stage venture (adventure).