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Influencing Change in Japan: Regional HR Successes and Misconceptions

Hosted by: McDonald's

In early December, ChapmanCG hosted an exceptional meeting for Singapore-based regional HR leaders on the topic of HR and talent in Japan. The ChapmanCG Japan consulting team flew in to offer their insights from the market, and a handpicked group of participants in Singapore who either covered HR in Japan, or had experienced living and working in Japan, also attended. The forum was designed to offer a healthy debate around the successes and failures of influencing change and managing talent in Japan, as well as to challenge many of the old assumptions that still linger about how Japan should be treated from overseas. The meeting was hosted by McDonald’s, and was attended by around 25 HR leaders from an A-to-Z of companies such as Accenture, Allianz, Celgene, CooperVision, Dimension Data, Flowserve, Groupon, Kulicke & Soffa, LEGO, Quintiles, Mitsubishi, Nokia, SAP and Zoetis.

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As an accompaniment to this meeting, our CEO Matt Chapman interviewed Managing Director, Oscar Fuchs, on his views of HR and talent in Japan, and we include a link below to the podcast in this article. With a decade of experience either living in Japan or covering the Japan HR market, Oscar has seen the shifts in talent and expectations first hand, and offers a fascinating analysis of the HR market from an inside/outside perspective. He was joined at the Singapore meeting by Yan Sen Lu, who was able to complement these big-picture themes with some practical and up-to-date information from the ground in Tokyo.

The key theme of the meeting was that ‘Culture Always Wins’. For some companies, this meant that Japanese culture can sometimes work against the expectations from overseas, and ideas and strategies simply don’t get accepted and implemented in ways that may ‘fit’ elsewhere. However in other companies, there was evidence that it is possible to build a corporate culture that transcends the notion of national culture, in a way that allows for a lot more integration of ideas and actions. There are no ‘quick fixes’ to this, but here are three of the key takeaways.

  1. Work with Japan’s natural strengths. If Japan has perfected a certain process or strategy, then make sure this gets exported, or at least showcased in other markets. This helps Japan to feel part of the larger picture, rather than just being on the receiving end of corporate direction.
  2. Help to break silos by rotating overseas talent into Japan, and Japanese talent overseas. The group discussed the many right and wrong ways of doing this, but in all cases moving talent around is time-consuming, organisationally challenging, and not cheap. With the right planning and management, though, the effort pays off.
  3. Build increased understanding for the Japanese leadership style into your regional decision-making. We tend to define leadership by Western standards of debate and ‘on the spot’ influencing and decision-making. But if you can accommodate a different style of leadership that allows for more consensus-building and less pressure to perform linguistic gymnastics in meetings, then you can build a truly diverse management culture in which Japan can feel more involved.

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ChapmanCG CEO Matt Chapman was also in attendance, observing: “Regional HR leaders sharing actual stories and experiences of working to maximise harmony while remotely managing their Japan operations was very useful. This was particularly true, as there were a number of cross-cultural Japanese-born Regional HR Leaders in the room.”

The Japan theme of the meeting allowed the group to have a very focused discussion, while at the same time tap into some issues that have universal application. We thank everyone who took part in such a memorable gathering, and we hope to hold similar market-specific groups at regional and global headquarters locations in the future.

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Key Contributors:

Matthew Chapman
Matthew Chapman

Founder

Global Management
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Matthew Chapman
Global Management

Matthew Chapman

Founder

Matthew (Matt) Chapman is the Founder of ChapmanCG.

He has also created the Thrive HR Exchange, a global community platform for people leaders and HR professionals to find and exchange inspiration, ideas and insights. Discover some of his interviews with HR leaders here.

Matt has a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Business Law from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He is a Singapore Citizen and divides his time between Asia Pacific, the Americas and EMEA.

Matt is a wellness, self-improvement and fitness addict. He has completed six desert, 250km ultra-marathons in Chile, China, Egypt, Antarctica, Namibia and Madagascar.

EA Registration Number: R1111550 Licence Number: 08S3543
Ringo Lau
Ringo Lau

Senior Director

Consulting Team
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Ringo Lau
Consulting Team

Ringo Lau

Senior Director

Ringo is a Senior Director with ChapmanCG based in Hong Kong. His role involves in-depth research and analysis to seek out high-calibre HR talent across the Asia Pacific region, with a particular focus on Hong Kong and North Asia. He also assists the group in the design and delivery of strategic internal projects involving process and operation development.

Before joining ChapmanCG, Ringo did several internships as a business analyst and photographer. He holds a Master’s Degree in Management and Organisational Analysis from the Warwick Business School, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing.

Outside of work, Ringo enjoys travelling, outdoor activities and photography. Prior to his move to study abroad, he was one of Hong Kong’s top competitors in athletics.

Licence Number: EA License 69316 (HK)
Paul Jury
Paul Jury

Managing Director

Consulting Team
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Paul Jury
Consulting Team

Paul Jury

Managing Director

Paul holds the position of Managing Director with ChapmanCG and is a member of the organisation’s senior management team (Global). He holds responsibility for people and performance across the Australia and New Zealand region, and he works with a dynamic team across SE Asia. Paul takes a particularly hands-on approach to building ChapmanCG’s business and brand in Singapore, Jakarta and Manila. In the past he has managed teams and continues to deliver regional searches across APAC.

Before joining the ChapmanCG team, Paul spent eight years at Talent2 International as Managing Director of the recruitment business across Australasia, where he also served as a member of the Global Recruitment team. Prior to this he held various senior management roles with TMP Worldwide (NASDAQ Listed) and Morgan & Banks (ASX Listed) across Australia and New Zealand.

Originally from Melbourne, Paul has worked with the Essendon Football Club, Arthur Andersen & Co and Pacific Access. He holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from Monash University and has participated in professional development at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

These days Paul’s personal interests revolve around his teenage family and trying to stay balanced. He is an avid lover of sport and has a passion for football, cricket and golf.