If one of our goals as a leader is to align our team members goals, aspiration, dreams and desires with those of the firm, it implies we know what they are aiming for. How would we know that information? We would gather that detail slowly over time and we would check back in occasionally to find out if things have changed or not. This cannot be an interrogation, like a job interview. We take our time and do these talks over coffee, lunches, dinners and in spare moments when chatting together. The flow of the talks is casual but we are trying to assemble a clear picture of this staff member, so there is a structure to how we find out more about them.
The structure is simple and the point needs to be made here that we are not doing this to better manipulate them to squeeze more productivity for them. If that is your desire, then in today’s employment market in Japan, you are going to be supremely busy. You will be doing a lot of things by yourself, because people won’t want to work with you. As mentioned, our objective is to make sure that the firm’s alignment matches their own.
There are different levels of understanding of our team members. The most basic are simple factual items. Where did they grow up, how many in their family, where did they go to school, where have they worked so far? The questioning about these personal items has to be done carefully. We don’t want to come across as prying. In today’s business world this has gotten a lot easier. When I was growing up in business, the boss would never have ventured into these waters, considering the information too private. Younger people today expect us to know more about their needs and their history.
We are trying to get some context on who this person is and where they have come from. If they studied overseas in a certain country, then we can get some insight into who they are today. If they studied a certain subject at university, we can get a clearer picture of their formative educational years. If they are from a big family or an only child, then that gives more context for their upbringing. They may have worked in certain industries so that again this will tell us more about their experiences and viewpoints. We are accumulating all of this detail slowly and casually and in no hurry to force the issues.
The next level of enquiry is about the causations. Why did they choose that particular line of study? Why did they join that industry? Why did they choose that company? Why do they have that particular hobby? We are looking for their motivations to date. What has been driving them so far in their life and career. They have been making choices and taking decisions. We are trying to get down to their motives and thinking about selecting alternatives. This is a very important stage because it helps us to unravel how they think about things and what was driving some of their decisions.
For small companies in Japan, the Japanese staff have often moved around a lot. We need to know why that was the case, especially in a time when mid-career hiring wasn’t so prevalent. We may have covered this off in the interview process, but maybe you weren’t here when they were hired and you have inherited them from your predecessors. Often quite a lot of information can get lost when bosses move around and the records you received may not be all that useful, beyond the basics. It is a good change to fill in a lot of blanks. Again, this will be done slowly over time rather than an interrogation when you turned up for the posting.
The last level is values. Trying to align the values of the firm with their personal values requires you know your people quite well. What things are a priority for them? What things are non-negotiable? How do they weigh up their choices? What are the deal breakers? These are very deep subjects and are not the type of thing you can knock over in a few minutes. Also asking directly about values sounds like the boss is trying a bit too hard. The conversation has to be natural and curious and then people will be willing to share their thoughts. These items will emerge gradually over time and shouldn’t be rushed.
The interesting thing is that life is not static and things we were told a few years ago may no longer be relevant. If they get married, get divorced, have kids, lose a child, have their parents pass, become ill, etc. these realities can impact their future direction for their lives. Many years ago, I caught pneumonia and spent six days in intensive care and another three weeks in hospital. If I had been a smoker, this story wouldn’t be surfacing today. That experience completely changed my thinking about life and about work.
It will be the same for our people. One conversation once, won’t work. We need to be having these deep conversations continuously over time to make sure we are abreast of what is important to then. Without that knowledge we cannot keep aligning their and the company’s goals.
