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3 pitfalls to avoid (or 3 must-things to do) when trying to have positive influence in the Japanese hierarchy.

・ We can not bulldoze over the hierarchy. It is still there and we can not ignore it. We need to find an effective way to evolve from where we are by navigating through the hierarchy.

・ There are three different players in a Japanese company, 1. Senior Japanese 2. Junior Japanese 3. Non-Japanese. And in order to navigate the hierarchy, each player should do certain things to evolve the company to the next level.

・ Senior Japanese are the holder of authority and power, whether conscious or not, they are intimidating junior Japanese and hindering free idea flows in the organization. Therefore, for junior Japanese, senior Japanese need to make significant efforts to provide more informal, casual and down-to-earth approaches to enhance psychological safety in the organization. For the non-Japanese who often do not have the same level of sensitivity and understanding toward the Japanese protocols, senior Japanese could coach and support the non-Japanese so that they do not have to go through unnecessary stress and confusions.

・ Junior Japanese are the ones who should drive the change and innovations in today’s digital age but they are often too obedient, silent and passive toward their seniors. They are too respectful to speak up. As a result, many Japanese companies can not achieve significant innovations lately. Therefore, junior Japanese should make a way more effort to be assertive. After being polite and respectful as they always are, they always need to communicate their own thoughts in an assertive manner. Without doing this part, junior Japanese are not adding value at all. For the non-Japanese, junior Japanese should treat them as their valuable colleagues/leaders from whom they could learn more global standards of communications and alternative ways of getting things done. They should increase more interactions with them to improve their global leadership skills for the future.

・ Non-Japanese are growing in numbers in the Japanese business society and they are playing more important roles lately. However, they are often frustrated, feeling unable to achieve as much as they could back in their home country or in the English business world. Here is the sad reality. Many non-Japanese actually could get much more things done much more smoothly only if they showed a little more respect and humility toward the senior Japanese. Before proving your point and how smart you are by expressing your opinions all the time, you could go much far much faster by showing senior Japanese your willingness to understand and contribute to the team. Senior Japanese are not your enemy. They could support you. But if you are seen arrogant, uncooperative and full of yourself, the senior Japanese do not feel like supporting you. Many foreigners make themselves the enemy of senior Japanese by themselves. Just by showing a bit more respect and humility as it is expected in this culture, that alone will make your life a lot easier in Japan. You can make your point and show your smartness as much as you want later. For the junior Japanese, non-Japanese people could show them more modern and global ways of business interactions and behave as good coaches and role-models and encourage them to speak up. They could also help the junior Japanese who are quiet in the meetings by facilitating the discussion, inviting them to speak up and help them get used to the global two-way communication styles.

・ Thus, if each player plays their part, the company can evolve to the next level despite the Japanese hierarchy still exists. When the people understand the problematic tendencies of each player in the hierarchy and take proactive actions to overcome them, slowly but surely, the teamwork will be strong enough to beat the hierarchy.