Thinking about "We Co-Build Team" with Manabe-san

Monosus's tagline, "We Co-Build," is followed by eight words: Relationship, Team, Community, Narrative, Brand, Eco System, Business, Today and Tomorrow. In the third installment of this series in which the CEO himself speaks about "We Co-Build," we interviewed him on the theme of "We Co-Build Team."

Sugimoto: This time it's "Team." It says, "Colleagues who discuss and act for the sake of self-governance."

Manabe: When I hear the word "team," what comes to mind is when Dave (David Gould), who was staying in Kamiyama for about a year from spring 2018 as a resident chef for the Food Hub Project, told me, "You're so weird, always going on about team." It's true, you don't really say "my team" in English. Well, I guess that's true, and I've been searching for another word but haven't found one yet.

Mr. Nagai (Vice President of Monosus) asked me, "You often say 'everyone,' but who exactly is 'everyone'?" I realized that he was right; I've been vague about who "everyone" refers to, so I try to avoid using the word "everyone" as much as possible, but it still slips out.

Sugimoto: So, when you spoke to Dave in English, the Japanese word "minna" (everyone) became "Team"?

Manabe: That's a possibility. They might have rephrased "everyone" and said something like, "It's something we need to think about as a team." I think it's not good to be vague about the subject and just say "everyone" or "team."

Sugimoto: Since we are "companions who discuss and act for the sake of self-governance," it might be better to have the "self-governance" side speak first.

Manabe: What I mean by "autonomy" here is that we all discuss and run the Monosus organization together. I know I'm saying "everyone" here (laughs). I think it means that not only the management team, but as many employees as possible should be involved in the operation. Not everyone has to be involved. It's fine for some people to say, "I'll leave the operation to you." However, if you choose to delegate, I hope you'll be supportive of the decisions made by those you've entrusted the task to.

I think the important thing is the process of reaching a consensus. It's not about deciding something just because 51% or more agree by majority vote. What's important, in my opinion, is whether you can proceed with discussions that allow people to come to terms with the idea, "I disagree, but okay, let's go with that." That applies to running a company as well.

Sugimoto: Tatsuro Ise of TOEC, a nature school in Tokushima, said that the word "oriai" has two meanings: "to be together" and "to compromise." "To compromise" means finding common ground with each other, while "to be together" means acknowledging each other's differences and being together. "We disagree, but that's okay" is closer to the image of "to be together." I'd like to hear some specific examples of discussions at Monosus.

Manabe: At Monosus, we have a system called "gatherings" where people who want to think about things within the company spontaneously get together and talk. We also allocate a budget for them, so once a gathering started because someone said they wanted to "make the office nicer," and we ended up renovating the large conference room. But usually, it starts with a small argument.

There was a time when I suggested, "Let's come into the office two or three times a week." Everyone was really working entirely within their computers, so I said something like, "Wouldn't it be better to work with a bit more reality?" This sparked a debate where people argued, "The inside of the computer is real too." I meant "outside the computer" as meeting clients or having face-to-face discussions with colleagues, but the discussion took an unexpected turn.

Monosus doesn't have employment contracts that say "you can work fully remotely," so in principle, the company can say "you must come to the office 100% of the time." However, even that is decided through a "gathering" of people who want to discuss it, and then management approves it and decides "let's operate with that." Currently, the rule is to come to the office at least four days a month. It took a very long time, though.

Sugimoto: How long did the discussion at the "gathering" last?

Manabe: It was about a year and a half. I suggested, "Why don't people who have different opinions on my suggestion that we should come into the office two to three days a week get together and discuss it? However, if you can't participate, please delegate your decision to the 'meeting'." More than 10 people participated. In the end, we decided on "four days of office attendance per month," and that was announced at the general meeting. The document that the 'meeting' compiled summarizing the discussion process was also very good.

Sugimoto: How did Manabe view that process?

Manabe: I participated here and there, and there were some really good discussions going on. Even when emotional opinions were expressed, other participants would say, "Let's put aside personal feelings for now and talk about what we should do in terms of running the company."

In Tsuneichi Miyamoto's book "The Forgotten Japanese," there is a story about a type of discussion called "village meeting." In the past, mainly in villages in western Japan, when making decisions in the village, they would discuss it for days until everyone was satisfied. Everyone would say what they wanted to say, and in the end, a "listener/summarizer" would say, "Then I will take responsibility," or "Is this alright?" and the meeting would end. Probably, not everyone agreed 100%, but the village decision was considered to have been made.

In my New Year's email newsletter, in a greeting titled "The Resilience of 'Weakness'," I wrote about how, within the framework of capitalism, "small and weak entities" might be better able to survive. I grew up with the idea that you have to be strong. But I think that those who "steadily continue to improve at their own pace without overexerting themselves" are stronger, or rather, they are the ones who will survive. Through running my company, I am grappling with the question of "how to understand the true nature of 'weakness'." I am very interested in it.

I don't think "reaching a consensus" or "being satisfied" is about achieving a perfectly aligned, flawless state, like tapping stacked documents to make the corners perfectly match. Rather, it's about whether the people with each individual color can say, "This is good enough," when all the different colors blend and bleed together to create a single picture. If we apply the word "satisfaction" to that kind of image, perhaps discussions between people could become more lively—that's what I was thinking as I listened to Ms. Manabe's story and wrote this.

Next time, we'll be discussing "We co-build Community."