Dr. David Sweet initially worked in the US Treasury Department in labor relations and organizational development for 10 years before moving to Japan. He has been working in executive search, having worked in en world Japan and serving as Director of the Tokyo consultancy Wall Street Associates, Dr. Sweet is currently the CEO and founder of FocusCore, a recruitment company focused on mid to executive level search for small to medium sized businesses. He is also the author of Sweet Sales, Sweet Success and host of the podcast series, Barefoot Lunch.
One of the biggest leadership challenges Dr. Sweet faced was encouraging open communication and having his diverse team of people from various backgrounds all work together in the same direction. He found that having open forums enabled people to express ideas without fear as well as having offsite training and team building opportunities. Delegation and trust are also key factors, especially when the team grows to over 30 and it becomes important for mid-level management to take on more leadership. Dr. Sweet adds: “you need to really care about their wellbeing and follow up.” By doing so, he notes that the managers overtime learn to manage through outcomes instead of micro-managing, Dr. Sweet mentions the need to adapt to the Japanese style of communication, which is “high context,” and the importance of nemawashi before finalizing a decision. He adds, “[decisions are made] a little slower oftentimes, but I think there's a lot more buy-in and less mistakes along the way.” Dr. Sweet also notes the long-term trust and relationship building component of Japanese business that drives workers to always maintain a high standard of product and service quality. This strong sense of customer service and emphasis on softer communication skills such as listening to the buyers needs was something Dr. Sweet brought back to the US when he returned to run a sales training company.
Dr. Sweet believes that employee development is crucial in leading and keeping engagement high. For new recruits, FocusCore has a six month training program and for staff, there are weekly training opportunities. Dr. Sweet also encourages people to run projects. He finds that employees who take the training usually increases their performance and improves their time management. On Friday nights his team are free to join a zoom call to hold casual conversations where people exchange ideas in a more relaxed environment. In order to bring those ideas to realization, Dr. Sweet keeps track and follows up with people. He does however recognize that not 100% will be implemented.
On building trust with the team, Dr. Sweet emphasizes the importance of listening. Some tips he uses include, asking a question and counting to 10 to let the other have time to give a thoughtful response. Dr. Sweet also asks the question “what else?”to dig deeper into the answers to get to the heart of what really matters to his team. He also says using different management styles for different people is essential, whether it is micromanagement, coaching, giving public praise, or holding one-on-one meetings depending on what is best suitable for the particular employee.
Dr. Sweet advises newcomers to Japan to recognize 85% of leadership done in Japan is the same elsewhere, but be aware of the 15% that is different, learn it quickly. Dr. Sweet also points out the importance of forming good relations with 1 or 2 key players of a company who are the main drivers of the organization. He recommends going out for drinks and dinner with the team to build further trust, as it is an important part of Japanese culture.
