The aftermath of the Lehman Shock and the tremors of the global economic crisis following it spurred many foreign-affiliated companies to press ahead with bold internal restructurings. Reflecting frustrations over sluggish Japanese operations, in stark contrast to the strong performance of Chinese corporations, many global head offices tightened their control over their Japanese units, introducing management strategies with a proven global track record. 

 

   Most companies would agree that 2010 is a watershed year for the Japanese economy—there are signs of an economic recovery, but corporate leadership will also face many hurdles. Many firms have lowered their sales targets compared to the trending lines with the determination to achieve these goals at any cost—or finally throw in the towel. 

 

   This sense of desperation is understandable given the rising attraction of China and other emerging markets as alternatives to Japan. If, despite all these attempts, the Japanese operations still fail to deliver results, their global headquarters are likely to decide to pull out from Japan’s graying market. 

   As part of these turnaround initiatives, some overseas head offices are now trying to transplant their global business strategies by parachuting experienced leadership teams into Japanese operations. While this approach may seem promising on paper, IWNC is afraid that this may also actually backfire. 

 

   Legendary Japanese teamwork that functions like clockwork has now become a thing of the past. This is especially true in foreign-affiliated companies where the senior leadership team typically comprises people who gathered experience in other companies prior to joining their present company. It is hard for this type of patchwork leadership to function seamlessly. From interviews with top leaders, IWNC found a common lament amongst them to be the dysfunctional state of such leadership.

 

   In general, Japanese businesses invest substantial time in team-building. This is partly because they believe that trust within the team and the feeling of security it provides is very important. To develop a sense of security, people involved have to know each other well and be able to empathize with each other. Once this relationship of trust has been established, they can then communicate on the same wavelength. The communication among Japanese is therefore described of highly contextual. If this sharing of context does not occur and each stakeholder lives only within his sense of value, a true basis of communication cannot be developed and the team fails to perform effectively.

 

   Hence, regardless of how great the strategy or the people, a team may not be able to deliver results. And in these critical times where there is little, or no, room for failure, a disunited team may become a burden to the organization. 

 

   IWNC’s team-building services are formed around an axis known as the Social Operating System or SOS. IWNC believes that, regardless of sizezzz or type, an organization has to strike a good balance between software and SOS to achieve their goals. Software here refers to corporate strategy, organizational structure and policies; SOS is the foundation to deliver the strategy and effectively use policies. In other words, SOS resembles the operation system that is a fundamental basis of a computer. Just as a strong OS is capable of running an advanced software package, a company with a good SOS allows its people to share the same organizational values and focus on ways to deliver the strategy.

 

   IWNC’s team-building activities focus on developing SOS. IWNC helps organizations unite on the same values, belief and mindset, promote attitude and behavior built on this shared foundation, and develop personal leadership skills. 

 

   To execute this, IWNC has assembled a team of professionals with a great deal of experience working in multi-cultural environments. Utilizing a largely bilingual staff, IWNC investigates and evaluates the context of each client in order to determine the best way to leverage their diversity and formulate the ultimate team-building experience. 

 

   IWNC’s vision is singularly devoted to helping individuals and teams reach their full potential as they discover new ways to excel in business. 

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