＼The Energy Provided by the Vision-Building Process／
It has been a month and a half since our executive retreat where we articulated our company's new mission. We held an executive meeting to discuss how to design the next steps, and it was fun!
The conversation moved beyond just the company-wide sharing session, focusing on a timeline that looks even further ahead.
How do we design a process that keeps in view the major event of our headquarters relocation next year?
Regarding the personnel system development running in parallel, how can we ensure each employee embraces the major changes?
What kind of message should we send, and in what form, so that everyone can envision a bright future?
We discussed this from various perspectives.
Every day passes like a torrent, and before I know it, the day has dissolved in an instant,
in the midst of days where I even have that feeling,
doing thispausing for a while to let my thoughts wander to the future, and as a single management team, discussing in a space where psychological safety is guaranteed—that process itself is very enjoyable, and (while it uses my brain and makes me tired, at the same time) it also gives me great energy.
Maybe this is what Shigesato Itoi meant by "omotsurai" (heavy-yet-fun).
It is tough, but it is genuinely fun. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Kan-chan for giving us this opportunity (^^).
※ When I looked it up again, I realized "omotsurai" is actually quite an old word! I thought it was more recent. Also, while "omotsurai" is good, something like "tsuratanoshii" (painfully-fun) might fit my current state of mind better.
And, I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the two people from musuhi, Inc., who are accompanying us on this mission/vision/value articulation process.
For this session, there was an option for me, Ikeda, to lead as a facilitator, but it is difficult to balance the role of holding the space with expressing opinions as one of the executives. With the two from musuhi involved, I am able to focus on thinking and sharing my opinions as one of the executives.
Also, the tempo of the sessions led by musuhi is very comfortable.
They don't force everything to be filled with words, but proceed while treating silence as something meaningful as well. (They do call themselves a "Dialogue Farm" that values dialogue, after all!)
There are many ways to hold a space, but
the two of them thoroughly,convey that they genuinely believe in the potential of the space and the members, and the potential for interaction among the members. And they express that directly through positive strokes.
And it is clear that they try to see the space itself as a living thing. And that they are actually seeing it.
Well, I think there might be some bias since people I know are involved, but both the president and I feel that just from the process so far, we are glad we asked musuhi to help us (^^).
It looks like this will be a long-term project at least until the office relocation next year, and I am looking forward to it. I want to make this a mission/vision/value that is filled with soul.