Happy New Year!
We look forward to working with you again this year.
I will be teleworking again this year, and I will do my best to be of service to everyone at InfoEye, even if only in a small way.
I have chosen “communication” as the theme for the beginning of the year.
In teleworking, where communication is reduced, I think it is necessary to devise a way to deepen communication.
I hope that by reproducing my own experiences in the field, I can get everyone to think about how they can devise ways to do this.
Why? Why can’t we make 80% of the contracted budget? Why didn’t you tell us earlier, when today is the end of the month?
When are you going to be able to ship this backlog? What? The end of next month? Isn’t it already gone? It may not be ready? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?
This was a common conversation when I was a department head or section manager.
As a section manager, I wanted to get bad information as soon as possible, so that I could quickly catch it, plan countermeasures, and minimize the damage.
I am sure you have heard the word “horenso” before.
Horenso → “reporting, liaison, and consultation.
The basics of communication are reporting, liaison, and consultation.
I think this is a theme that always comes up in training for new employees.
I would like to consider why it is so important.
I think this “horenso” is important because it is necessary work to achieve goals.
What are the important goals of the company?
One important goal is to make a profit.
Our company is in the business of buying and selling fushion products, which are constantly changing. We earn our customers’ trust and generate profits by accurately suggesting products that will sell well in the next season, taking risks, and delivering the products they want in the time they want them.
In order to make a profit, which is one of the company’s goals, it is essential that the planning, production, sales, and delivery processes work together smoothly and without waste.
However, it should be noted that there are many cases where things do not go smoothly.
At each stage, some kind of problem is bound to occur. A customer reports a change in order, a factory informs a customer of a delay in delivery, a supplier is consulted about a change in sewing specifications, and if each of these steps is not carried out smoothly, a major problem will occur, resulting in a large loss rather than a profit.
An organization that can normally perform this “Hou-Rou-Sou” can create a highly productive organization, enhance team power, and create a synergistic effect, which leads to customer satisfaction, profits, and company development.
What happens to an organization that cannot do this?
The organization will become an organization full of waste, with double takes, re-dos, etc. Team power will deteriorate, power will be reduced, customer dissatisfaction will occur, customers will leave, losses will occur, and the organization will collapse.
This “Hou-Rou-Sou” is the key to the fate of the company. This is how important it is.
Even with such importance, it is difficult to establish a culture of “Hourensou” if the recipients do not take it seriously and do not respond to it sincerely.
Even if you do the reporting, no one will do it if they do not accept it and do not draw conclusions.
It will be harder to be criticized or to be offended.
In the aforementioned conversation between the section manager and the section staff, the section staff neglected their duty to report, but the section manager is also to blame for creating an atmosphere that makes it difficult for them to report.
In addition, not checking how sales contracts are progressing until the end of the month is also a
This is a management error. He puts his own mistakes on the shelf and blames the section staff. The relationship between the two becomes increasingly difficult, and the trust between the two becomes increasingly strained.
The Chief said, “Report! Report!” but to put them in the mindset of “I don’t want to report because I will get angry if I do, and even if I do, I don’t know if they are listening or responding, and I can’t come to a conclusion,” creates tragedy.
Subordinates have an obligation to report and supervisors have a responsibility to make it easier for them to report, and both sides, those who do and those who make them do, have obligations and responsibilities, don’t they?
However, not reporting because it is difficult to say is not a reason. If the person does not report, not only will the organization be inconvenienced, but in the end, the person himself/herself will suffer the most.
By the way, what is a report?
A report is a statement of the progress and results of a given task by a person who has been assigned to it. It is more of a vertical information, a lifeline between you and the people around you, a duty as an employee, and also a PR aspect.
Contact is to inform feelings, ideas, and information, rather than lateral information, and since it is about caring for and sharing information with those around you, you need to look at it with multiple eyes.
Consultation is the process of discussing and listening to the opinions of others in order to solve a problem, to present one’s own point of view and to think about it, and to solve problems with the wisdom of those around you.
I think we all know that “horenso” is important, but I think we need a culture in which this is actively practiced on a regular basis.
This is nothing less than a workplace where communication comes naturally.
I would like to see the creation of a corporate culture in which “reporting and communication” is a natural part of the company’s operations because we are a teleworking company.