Individual initiative or colleague collaboration?

One is a Western
more; the other is Eastern. But in this globalization era, the twain
shall meet and its a savvy businesspersons job to understand
both. One of my key duties as the head of a leading Japanese
company in India is to ensure cultural integration among teams.
Indian values are shaped through a curriculum of British origins;
well-educated staff can be quite Western-oriented in practice. This
can conflict with the collaborative Japanese way of conducting
business, called ho-ren-so. Understanding ho-ren-so may alleviate
conflict and improve business relationships.
Hokoku, Renraku, Sodan = Report, Contact, Consult. These are
the main pillars of ho-ren-so. It is essential to touch base with all
team members at all phases of project implementation. Initial
instruction tends to be generalized, even vague. The recipient
creates a work-plan. He goes to his supervisor to report, touch
base, and discuss. The supervisor assesses the authors skill set
and adjusts the mentoring strategy accordingly.
The leader gives feedback, with specific suggestions. This pattern
continues until the project goal is achieved, ensuring that the
supervisors expectations are met. There should be no surprises on
either side.
What results is a deep collaboration between the leader and
mentee. They share joint accountability and joint reward.
However, this style might not appeal to those leaning towards the
Western style of management. Ho-Ren-So can sometimes feel like
micromanagement.

The constant back-and-forth can be time-consuming. But adopt an

open mind, and you will find that Ho-Ren-So embodies wellmonitored milestones. The method creates checkpoints at every
phase and allows the recipient to learn maximally from the
mentor. The mentor is fully attuned to developments, yet allows
the recipient to implement the project. This delicate balance of
Reporting, Contacting and Consulting is the secret to Japans
success.
In contrast, Westerners and Indians are used to a style in
which the supervisor gives detailed upfront direction. The
subordinate is then left alone to complete the work. He avoids
asking too many questions, lest he appear incompetent. This style
is labeled positively as take the ball and run with it, or works
well independently. Upon receiving the finished work, the
supervisor might request one round of revisions, but no more.
Ho-ren-so is likely unfamiliar even counter-intuitive to nonJapanese. Thus, if you want a non-Japanese subordinate to do horen-so, its important to ask for this specifically. Of course the
term itself wont be meaningful to them, but you can say
something like please give me frequent status reports, or
please check in with me periodically to let me know how you are
doing.
In summary, Japanese businesspeople rely on teamwork while
Westerners focus on independence. Neither is better than the
other; it is all a matter of perspective and how each philosophy is
implemented in a scenario. But for foreigners working with
Japanese, it would be good to understand ho-ren-so, and even

practice it to a certain extent if it can improve the relationships

and standards of the project.