Five Guiding Principles To Create The Right Culture: Episode #337 The Leadership Japan Series

Five Guiding Principles To Create The Right Culture: Episode #337 The Leadership Japan Series

Dominic Carter

If you come into Japan with the idea that you're going to give orders and people are going to follow your orders to the letter, that's not going to happen. People have very strong ideas on how things should be done. I've always found it useful to talk about what needs to be done, rather than how to do it.  

Everything that you know isn't necessarily useful in Japan

Generally speaking, I think Japanese have a good sense of how to manage issues among themselves. As long as the basic objectives of the business are being met, I've always found it is best to leave people to work out things on their own. I've found that people have a lot of wisdom, even at a very young stage, in how to get stuff done.

My rule on delegation is essentially, if someone else can do it, I get them to do it. Delegation is not just dividing work up and passing it among people. You actually have to understand what the process is that the person needs to go through to deliver what it is they need to deliver. Because if you don't understand that process, you don't know how to check whether they're actually doing their job or not. If you wait until a task is supposed to be done to check whether it's been done or not, generally speaking, that does not work. I like to check in maybe a third of the way through, halfway through, and three quarters of the way through.

If people are motivated towards the same goal that you are, they'll go to the ends of the earth and you won't have to be actively motivating them the whole time because they will self-motivate. So, you have to have the right people in the team. And if you don't have the right people in the team, you will not be able to achieve anything.

You also have to be very clear to the people that you're leading, where the company's going. You have to tell them. You have to set a vision for the business, and then what you need them to do. What you need to do with them is to map out that vision and what their role is in achieving the overall vision. It should be pervasive in all your communication.

I think that trying to create a single company culture when you have people from different cultures doesn’t work so well. There are always going to be cross cultural challenges. You need to always really be looking at people and their differences, then accounting for that and adjusting while you build a kind of shared dialogue. Honesty and dialogue about values is a must.

The Carter Way is 5 values we work by: success thinking, respect for relationships, being proactive, excellence, and collaboration and teamwork

I always want people to be thinking about how they create successful engagement with our clients. It's not about just doing your job, it's about creating success for our clients. It's about creating success for our team, success for the company, and success for yourself. It should filter through everything you do and the way that you think and the way that you approach every situation.

I think it's good to have some turnover in your team. It's natural for people to want to move on, and that also creates opportunities for people in the team. A team at a company where the personnel never changes is not necessarily a healthy business

Mistakes are something that we need to address because if we do have problems in our processes or we try something new and it doesn't work, we have to learn from that. But, punishing people for mistakes is not the way that I do it. Managing by fear is not useful.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story

Your Corporate Coaching And Training Guy

President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

Author of “Japan Sales Mastery”, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years.   He is also the author of the new book “Japan Business Mastery” aimed at business people who are new to Japan and want to know more about how things work here.

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year plus veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, he publishes articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, and daily releases his videos and podcasts.  

For podcasts and videos: 

Mondays THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show podcast &

THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show video

Tuesday “THE Leadership Japan Series”

Wednesday "THE Sales Japan series"

Thursday THE Presentations Japan Series"  

Friday THE Japan Business Mastery Show &

THE Japan Business Mastery Show video.  

He is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

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