Let's Stop Trying to Read the Room | Jiro Kokuryo, Vice-President / Professor, Faculty of Policy Management
2021.05.18
Watching the daily news, I often lament the sluggishness and indecisiveness of this country and my own organization. But of course, I am a part of it all. Before criticizing others, I reflect on myself. I realize that I, too, get angry when things I'm involved in are decided without my input. When someone asks for my permission to do something, I tell them to wait while I check with others who might be affected, only to let time drag on. I find myself paralyzed, thinking, "I'd better not, that person will get angry," or I become unable to act because I'm trying too hard to "read the air." Sometimes, when correcting something a senior colleague has done, I worry about embarrassing them, which leads to an ineffective response. This is happening all over Japan, and it's what makes our organizations so ponderous.
It's not good to be overly self-deprecating, so I should also write about the positive aspects of the Japanese way. By laying the groundwork (*nemawashi*) with many stakeholders and proceeding only after securing everyone's consent, things tend to move forward smoothly and without omission once a decision is made. In areas like manufacturing, it has long been said that while some prefer a modular approach where roles (architecture) are defined and autonomy is respected, Japan excels at an integrated (*suriawase*) approach where everyone coordinates the whole. This has, in some respects, produced wonderful results. The reason Japan still shows strength in high-performance components and other areas is arguably because of this thorough internal coordination (*suriawase*) within the components themselves.
However, I believe this approach alone is no longer sustainable. The organizational management style based on unspoken deference (*sontaku*) and consensus-building (*suriawase*) requires face-to-face meetings to convey the "air," which leads to numerous meetings, with more and more scheduled after 5 p.m. In the National Diet, there is no sign of a shift to online meetings, and politicians are complaining that they can't have their evening gatherings. This isn't something that will be solved by suppressing COVID-19 with vaccines and returning to the old ways. I believe the time has come to clarify the division and location of responsibilities, reduce the need for meetings, and make online meetings the standard. This is essential to enable people raising children in regional areas to participate directly in politics.
I have spoken in terms of an extreme and simple dichotomy, but I think we should probably be seeking a third way. Now that online tools allow us to share a reasonable amount of information more flexibly and with a wider range of people than ever before, perhaps the way forward is for everyone to disclose what they are thinking within their scope of responsibility from the deliberation stage, and to hold meetings only where opinions conflict.
As I write this, I have another consensus-building (*suriawase*) meeting tonight.