Customers take on cultural transformation with 'Purpose Carving' that supported Fujitra!

Suddenly, have you ever thought about your own 'purpose'?
You might feel that "the concept of purpose itself doesn't really resonate with me".

Hello, I am Kai Tamura, also known as Tamukai from the Fujitra Expedition Team, who is in charge of this article.

The purpose we think of is one's reason for being or existence.
By the way, my purpose is to "raise the level of creativity in the world by one notch," and I use these words as a touchstone in my daily work and life.

Nowadays, I often see scenes like this where people introduce themselves using their purpose within Fujitsu.
"Purpose Carving," which is one of the representative initiatives of Fujitra and the catalyst for Fujitsu employees to start talking about their individual purposes, has now transcended the boundaries of internal company initiatives, and the number of people outside the company who agree with it is starting to grow.

In this article, I will introduce the past and current state of purpose at Fujitsu, as well as case studies of customers who have implemented it, while also incorporating my perspective as Tamura, the designer of this program.

What is Purpose Carving again?

As mentioned in the first article of this series, Purpose Carving is a dialogue program for verbalizing individual purpose.

There are two major effects that can be obtained.

One is the relationship building that occurs while looking back on one's life and listening to the thoughts and values of other participants.
It is currently often used for organizational setup or project kickoffs, and the Fujitra promotion team implemented it as a team-building program for heading toward a future without a correct answer called "company-wide transformation."

The other is the point where you can understand the concept of "purpose," which is unfamiliar to many people, as something that concerns you personally.
At Fujitsu, the Fujitsu Way code of conduct was renewed for company-wide transformation, and the purpose of "making the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation" was established, but initially, there were voices of confusion within the company.
However, when we carefully unraveled the various voices, we gained the insight that it was not about the content, but rather "confusion about the new concept of purpose".

Therefore, this program was designed with the aim of touching upon "the concept of purpose itself" by thinking about "one's own purpose," and further deepening understanding of the company's purpose.

An individual's purpose does not necessarily match the company's purpose. Rather, it is natural for them to be different as separate entities. That is precisely why we find points of contact with the purposes of others and our own company, and use that combined force as a driving force for transformation.
We created this way of thinking, as well as the program, on our own.

The name Purpose Carving was named after the concept of "carving out the purpose that exists within oneself," and the program itself is designed in five major steps, likened to sculpture.

① Digging up: Life reflection, looking back on your own life, which is the raw material of purpose
② Shining a light: Gaining new ideas and insights through mutual interviews between participants ③ Carving out: Verbalizing individual purpose
④ Bringing together: Bringing together and appreciating the purposes that each person has put into words
⑤ Continuing to polish: Acting based on the verbalized purpose and facing one's purpose

Originally, it was a two-part structure of DAY1 and DAY2, but it is now also held in a 1-DAY version.
The main mutual interview is structured so that after listening to each other's lives and the values they cherish, they face the organization's purpose again, and finally, the listener gives a "gift of words" to the speaker.
Listening to each other's reflections on themselves, as well as being able to feel a new side of oneself through the words of the dialogue partner, leads to an improvement in the participants' experience value.

Now, the content up to this point has been touched upon in past articles, but in the second half, in addition to the practice within Fujitsu, I would like to introduce the voices of customers who have actually experienced it.

At Fujitsu, to share DX activities across the entire group, we have been holding an all-participation internal event called Fujitsu Transformation Now since 2020, with three months as one cycle.

This time, I will introduce the content of the session held on November 15, 2024, at FXN Cycle 17, where Mr. Tsujii and Mr. Yamane from the Osaka International Cancer Institute were welcomed as guests, and Fujitsu CHRO Hiramatsu took the stage.

Fujitsu's Personnel System and Purpose Carving

As I mentioned at the beginning, Purpose Carving was not originally a personnel measure aimed at company-wide deployment, but one of the initiatives carried out at the very beginning by the Fujitra project promotion team for the purpose of building relationships.

While advancing this initiative, all members became convinced that thinking about individual purpose increases the level of understanding of the company's purpose, and as Fujitra, we proposed a company-wide rollout.
By the way, the concept of "TOP FIRST," where management takes the lead, was born as a deployment method at this time.

CHRO Hiramatsu, who received the proposal, was also confused at first, asking, "What is the point of talking about individual purpose?" but as he actually experienced it with his subordinates, he felt the positive connection between his past experiences and his current self, and above all, the deepening of trust through the gift of words sent by his subordinates, he realized the importance of individual purpose, and the company-wide rollout was decided.

On the other hand, because there was a possibility that the effect would be diluted with Purpose Carving alone, "individual purpose" was incorporated into the elements of the personnel system "Connect" that was renewed to realize purpose as a personnel department.

"Connect" renews the conventional goal management evaluation system, aligns Fujitsu's purpose, organizational vision, and individual growth vision, and comprehensively evaluates individual actions and learning.

In evaluation, we emphasize careful communication and feedback with superiors, and aim to increase persuasiveness. Through this system, individual purpose is utilized in daily communication and the personnel system, and sustainable effects are generated.

As an example of purpose being utilized in career formation, Fujitsu shifted to a job-based personnel system in 2020, aiming for each employee to build their own career autonomously. As an important element supporting that mechanism, the internal recruitment system "Posting" was significantly expanded.

As a result, out of 80,000 domestic employees, 27,000 applied for posting in the four years since 2020, and 10,000 passed and transferred departments. This is an important indicator showing that the movement of employees being conscious of their own purpose and trying to choose their careers proactively is becoming active.

In fact, many people around me, Tamura, have transferred through the internal internship program "Job Challenge!!" or through job postings, and as I mentioned at the beginning, they almost always start their self-introductions with their personal purpose.

As Fujitsu's own transformation progresses in this way, opportunities to explain our practical examples to customers have increased, and cases of actual implementation have emerged. One of them is the case of the Osaka International Cancer Institute, which I will introduce this time.

Practice at the Osaka International Cancer Institute

The Osaka International Cancer Institute became interested in Fujitsu's company-wide transformation project, "Fujitra," against the backdrop of cultural transformation being a management issue for the advancement of medical care and ensuring sustainability, and we introduced our initiatives to them.

Sawamura, the Fujitsu business producer in charge, talks about that time as follows:

"At the time, Dr. Sakon (currently Honorary Hospital Director), who was serving as the hospital director, reached out to me saying, 'I want you to tell me about Fujitra.' I was surprised, but at the same time, I was anxious about whether Fujitsu's initiatives would be useful, given the high level of expertise in the medical industry.
However, as we talked, I felt that there might be something we could do about the sense of crisis I glimpsed in the doctor.
After that, I strongly empathized with the love that Nursing Director Yamane, who was introduced to me, had for the organization and each individual staff member, and I wanted to find a way to give shape to this sentiment."

When we focused on Purpose Carving and explained it, they strongly empathized with the content of how to encourage individual consciousness reform. As a result of Yamane-san trying Purpose Carving herself, she experienced an indescribable sense of fulfillment, and she wanted other staff members to experience it as well, so it was decided to conduct it for 28 executive-level staff, including the deputy nursing directors and head nurses of the nursing department.

In terms of deployment, we followed a two-stage process.

As STEP 1, we facilitated the verbalization of the purpose of the seven deputy nursing directors who would act as promoters, and after they understood the concept through experience, they were in a state where they could deploy it.
Then, in STEP 2, the seven promoters conducted interviews with 21 head nurses in their own organizations. In this way, the program and facilitation are designed in a reproducible form, and being easy to deploy within an organization is one of the features of Purpose Carving.

We received the following comments from Yamane-san and Tsujii-san, who actually experienced it.

"I like new things, so I was looking forward to it. The reflection of looking back on past experiences was fun, and various memories came back to me, such as 'Oh, that happened.' I received the gift of words, and I was able to know a side of myself I hadn't noticed and an unknown self, and "}, {I have become able to work more positively and confidently than ever before." (Yamane-san)

"It was a little difficult to verbalize my purpose, but by listening to not only my own purpose but also the other person's purpose, when I felt the connection between the past and the present, I felt like I wanted to convey that as a gift of words, and "}, {we were able to get to know each other deeply." (Tsujii-san)

Furthermore, the Osaka International Cancer Institute has had the goal of improving work engagement since last fiscal year, and it seems they were worried about how to achieve it, but regarding this point as well,

"I don't think engagement will rise immediately with Purpose Carving, but by reaffirming one's own values and reason for existence, I believe it will become a trigger for behavioral change and lead to improved engagement. "}, {In a recent staff satisfaction survey, the scores of head nurses and above were particularly high, and I feel that it has been effective. I hope that by deploying it to other staff in the future, it will lead to an improvement in overall engagement." (Yamane-san)
was the comment we received.

We started with the implementation in the nursing department, and Fujitsu plans to continue supporting the organizational transformation of the Osaka International Cancer Institute.

At the end of the session, a graphic recording by Matsumoto, a graphic catalyst belonging to Fujitsu's Design Center, was shared, and the feedback was, "Through Purpose Carving, I feel that new ideas and realizations are born in a sense of re-experiencing each other's lives, creating good relationships, and bringing good effects to engagement."

Please see the archive here for the entire session
["Each and every" purpose changes the organization! How to create the "happiest organization" seen in the practice of the Nursing Department of the Osaka International Cancer Institute] FXN (FujitsuTransformationNow) Cycle 17 External Public Seminar

The future of Purpose Carving

"Purpose Carving," which was born at the time of the launch of Fujitra, has become a major initiative that exceeded our initial imagination.

In the latest company-wide survey, actually about 84% of employees answered that they "recognize and understand the company's purpose". This shows that Purpose Carving is deeply rooted in Fujitsu's culture and is influencing the actions of each and every employee, and that is why it has become something that can be conveyed to customers outside the company.

However, putting purpose into words is not the goal. What is important is that, after understanding that purpose, each individual proactively acts and makes decisions to realize the purpose and vision.

At Fujitsu, as the next stage, we have begun rolling out a new dialogue program called "Decision Crafting." This is a program that supports individuals in how they make decisions and take action, starting from their purpose.
I hope to share more about "Decision Crafting" in a future note article as well.
Please look forward to the trajectory of Fujitsu's transformation and its future prospects.

[This time's Fujitra Expedition Member]
Kai Tamura: Concept Designer
Starting his career in UI/UX design, he is also active in personal projects as a Doodle Life Coach and Graphic Catalyst. He has been involved in the project since the inception of Fujitra, planning and designing various initiatives, including "Purpose Carving." Commonly known as Tamukai, his trademark is polka dots.

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