Work in the center of the vortex

This time Inamori spoke at the Seiwajuku workshop about the theme: “Work in the center of the vortex.” This is the metaphor that each one of us should be the self-starter, create the work and involve other staff to proceed with it.
Inamori explained as follows.

“ Each of us can’t work alone. We should understand how the team works and we should involve our supervisors as well as subordinates. In that case, you must be proactive in creating work for which you are responsible, and make sure that the people around you spontaneously cooperate with you. This is to say, “Work in the center of the vortex”. There are various whirlpools of work here and there in the company. If you remain as a simple ‘observer’ of what’s going on, someone takes the role of a coordinator, and you may end up floating on the edge. In that case, you won’t be able to enjoy your work. So, listen guys, you must become the center of the vortex and actively involve the people around you.”

“Various themes come up within the company. For some themes, it’s unclear whether it’s an administrative assignment or a personnel task. Especially when the company is small, the boundaries between accounting, administrative, and sales are not very clear. I think that each staff member should be involved in all kinds of work. So, I encouraged Kyocera people to propose as follows, ‘Hey guys, get together a little after work. The president has been saying that we should develop the training system and improve our service quality.’ The proposal does not always come from the team manager, but from a new staff member. Even young staff can ask the seniors’ involvement to create a vortex. One theme creates one vortex. And similar vortices have been seen here and there. I think a company like that is a vibrant and energized one.”

“I also encouraged seniors to take initiative in creating vortexes. ’ Work hard to create the vortex, otherwise, you would end up circulating the edge of the circle, far from the center. You can create your life, you can fulfill yourself by proactively getting involved in an assignment. ‘
Please bear in mind that you should not control people by commands. If you raise any issue, your colleagues will naturally get together and start thinking how to help you as long as you are the one to be helped. We need such a corporate culture.”

“I want you to be a person who creates a whirlpool. Unless you work in a company with many such people, you will not be able to develop yourself as a good person.”

Above are Inamori’s words.

Saying is one thing and conducting is another.
Why is conducting so difficult? After all, I think fear of failure is the main reason why we can’t be proactive vortex producers. I would like to share some hints on how the staff can become the center of the whirlpool by getting rid of anxiety towards failure.

Here are some tips to help you get rid of the fear of your staff.

1 Starting from a small vortex

2 Experience acceptable failure

3 Have them be aware a backup

Let me explain one by one.

1 Starting from a small vortex

Those who are afraid of failure always have experience of his or her own failure in the past. “What if I end up failing again.” People tend to think like that. To get rid of that anxiety, it is effective to have a successful experience for small things.
For example, even for a very small job, staff needs to take the lead in working and succeeding.

2 Experience acceptable failure

Why are people afraid to fail?
Because there is a fear of losing.
If you fail, you lose the position, property, networks, credibility, and much more that you have already acquired and developed. Let me take a look at more of the psychological aspect. Why do you hate losing them? Because by losing something tangible, you would become an unacceptable one as a human. You would be afraid of losing loved ones: families, friends, staff and clients. Therefore, people remain reserved in terms of challenges.
However, where there is no challenge, there is no growth.
Thus, Ianmori came up with developing a corporate culture where people are willing to challenge. In Kyocera, the most respected staff is the one who challenges something new. Regardless of the result, that guy is respected by everyone. On the other hand, those who have never challenged are the least respected.
Psychologically, it looks very effective that a staff experiences failure but gets encouraged and respected. Through such experiences, people are getting less anxious about failure.

3 Have them be aware a backup

Even if you make a mistake, the top will resolve the issue on your behalf.
Your friends will help you. No one blames you for such a mistake.
A company needs to have such a system. Each staff member should be aware of this through experience. I think it is also necessary to create such a corporate culture and environment.

In order to become the center of the vortex, it’s important to reduce fear, to develop a corporate culture where failures are accepted, and to create a backup system.