The Skills Required of a Companion Supporter: The Ability to Endure Is More Important Than Knowledge or Technique

The skills required of a companion supporter
—The ability to endure is more important than knowledge or technique.

So far, we have organized the concepts and processes of companion support based on the Growth Driver Theory.
In this article, we will consider what kind of skills are required of the "companion supporter" who provides that support.
In conclusion, what a companion supporter needs is not special know-how or the latest management theory.
Rather, it is the ability to endure not acting immediately.

■ Why support fails even with knowledge
Many people involved in management support have sufficient knowledge and experience.
Management strategy.
Finance.
Personnel systems.
Marketing.
Even so, there are many situations where companion support does not go well.
Manager:
"I was taught many things, but conversely, I became unsure of where to start."
This statement is not a sign that the support has failed.
However, it is also the result of the supporter continuing to "add" things.
From the perspective of Growth Driver Theory, the input of knowledge may stimulate only one driver and disrupt consistency with others (Higashibuchi, 2017, 2020).
Therefore, the more knowledge there is, the more difficult support can become.

■ What are companion supporters enduring?
What a companion supporter must endure most is silence.
Manager:
"...Please let me think for a moment."
During this time of silence, the supporter is exposed to many impulses.
The impulse to give advice.
The impulse to organize things for them.
The impulse to fill the silence.
However, that silence is also the time for the manager to organize the propagation of influence in their mind.
If the supporter intervenes here, the manager's thinking is interrupted.
One of the skills required of a companion supporter is to endure this silence.

■ "Waiting" is different from "neglecting"
When we say endure, it is often misunderstood as doing nothing.
However, "waiting" in companion support is not neglect.
Companion supporter:
"You don't have to give an answer right now.
Could you just tell me which decision is bothering you the most?"
This question provides direction.
The supporter narrows down the questions to the minimum while determining where the chain of influence is blocked.
Growth Driver Theory is a framework that supports the design of such questions.
Which driver to touch, and which driver not to touch.
That judgment is made inside the supporter.

■ Letting go of the supporter's own "correctness"
Another skill required of a companion supporter is to let go of their own correctness.
Supporter:
"I think this method is the most rational."
This statement may be correct as a fact.
However, it is not necessarily correct as a manager's decision.
The manager simultaneously holds elements that are difficult to see from the outside, such as:
・Relationships with employees
・The history up to this point
・The context with the region and business partners
Growth Driver Theory assumes such overlapping contexts.
Therefore, the supporter needs to step back from the position of showing the "correct answer."

■ Resolve means making them take responsibility
In companion support, the word "resolve" is sometimes used.
However, the resolve referred to here is not about strictness or guts-based theory.
Manager:
"I will decide this."
Until this statement comes out, the supporter does not provide an answer.
This is because the person who takes responsibilityfor the decision is the manager themselves.
In decision-making research, it has been shown that ownershipinfluences the quality of decision-making (March, 1994).
The resolve of a companion supporter is for the supporter themselves to endure incompleteness in order to have the manager regain that ownership.

■ The skills of a companion supporter are difficult to measure
Finally, let us confirm that the skills of a companion supporter are difficult to measure with performance indicators.
Sales.
Profit.
Number of system introductions.
These are important, but they are not direct results.
What is truly important is the change in whether:
・The manager has become able to put their own judgments into words
・The manager has become able to grasp hesitation as a structure
These are skills that are difficult to quantify and difficult to evaluate.
However, in companion support based on Growth Driver Theory, they are also the most important skills.
In the next article, we will consider how to cultivate and support companion supporters who have such skills.
We will move toward the perspective of establishing companion support not as a temporary initiative, but as a social mechanism.

References
March, J. G. (1994). A primer on decision making: How decisions happen. Free Press.