Monosasu Radio is a radio show where Monosasu members talk to guests. Since April, the show has been held online, with members watching over the conversation with the listener, Nozomi Nakajima.
Our first guest this time is from outside the company, online facilitator Masayuki Aoki, also known as Marky.
Recently, Aoki has been acting as a facilitator and moderator at various Monosus meetings.
We had a chance to talk to Aoki about what kind of person he is, someone who is always readily available at various meetings.
I'll tell you a little bit about what happened on the day.
Nakajima- Mr. Aoki, how is life on Awaji Island?
Aoki- Today, I went to a nearby hot spring. I hadn't been in for a while, so I was happy.
- I'm jealous of your hot springs. For the past month or so, you've been participating in various Monosus meetings under a system we've named "Aoki Hodai."
- I've been working so as not to get too involved in one company. I was thinking about why I was working so hard on Monosus, and I remembered that when I was in the third grade of elementary school, I was typing my own code and making games.
- That was quite a while ago.
- Yes. Everyone around me was playing the Famicom, but my parents didn't let me play games. There was a rule that it was okay to play games that I made myself. It was interesting to be able to use a computer and make my own games. I think that if I had continued working with computers, I might have ended up doing the kind of work that everyone at Monosus is doing now.
- So you didn't proceed to the stage of inputting the code.
- When Windows came out, computers became uninteresting. It was great that everyone was able to do it intuitively, but I didn't feel like it was something I wanted to get into.
- So I set out on the path to becoming a facilitator.
- I happened to be present at a study tour I took part in in 1995 where someone was working as a facilitator. It seemed like a very interesting job, and it seemed like there were no people in Japan doing it full-time. So I thought I'd like to do it, and I became a facilitator in my second year of university.
- If someone had done it first, would you have not done it?
- I don't think I would have done it. I still think that if someone better than me comes along, I'll quit. There's a lot of young talent coming out these days, so maybe it's time for me to quit.
- You've been calling yourself a facilitator for 25 years now, so do you feel like you've been doing it steadily?
- Yes, I've been a facilitator for 25 years because I don't know what else I'm good at. But I feel like I haven't evolved at all. After I finish my work, I write a facilitator notebook and reflect on it. But I still can't get 100 points. There are a lot of things that are out of my reach.
- When do you feel like things are going well?
- At the beginning, I had to work hard to get things going, but in the second half, things started to work even when I was gone. They were taking the wheel themselves, rowing the boat themselves. At those times, I felt good.
- I know this is a little late to ask, but what kind of person is a facilitator?
- I specialize in meetings. In other genres, there are facilitators who create a song with the people gathered, and facilitators who specialize in urban development. What they have in common is that the people there are able to participate very much. I think it's a job where you can feel that the time and place are your own.
- It feels like it becomes our own before we even speak about it or discuss it.
- Yes. That's right.
- Currently, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, all meetings at Monosus are being held online. Have you been facilitating online events for a while?
- I had never done it before. Actually, I thought it would be impossible to do it online. It would be like throwing a stone into a dark well, telling people on the other side of the screen who I don't know if they're nodding.
- It sometimes feels like you can't see the reaction.
- But I realized I had no choice but to live with the situation, so I essentially went out of business as a meeting facilitator and started calling myself an online facilitator. When I found myself forced to do it, I realized there was a lot of potential.
- Is that a possibility?
- The other day, we had an online retreat. We had a bonfire together and went for a walk. We each prepared our own curry, so it tasted different. We were able to spend time together. I realized that I had just assumed that I couldn't do it. You discover a lot of things.
- Is there anything that's difficult to do online?
- I guess I don't have enough experience yet. Online, we can cover our sense of sight and hearing. But I think that things like smell, touch, and taste are still unexplored. I once saw a friend crying on the other side of the screen. I felt frustrated and lonely because I couldn't go and pat him on the shoulder.
- Thank you for sharing your important story.
- No no. It's been a great experience.
- At Monosus, we sometimes have one-on-one conversations, but I've also heard that we've had online meetings with up to 20 people.
- That was fun, but I was exhausted.
- All the members who attended agreed that it was great.
- I'll do my best, but I think we'll know if it was a good thing or not by how the business goes after this. It looked good at the time, but I don't think it's a good time for the company. I think we'll know in about six months.
- I think there are a lot of people these days who feel like they can't hold meetings well. If you want to be a good facilitator, what should you do?
- Please introduce yourself. At that moment you become a facilitator.
- If you call yourself a facilitator.
- Right. And then, when A says something important, you just ask B and C what they think. Right. Your job is to listen.
- Listening is my job.
- In many cases, people try to move the meeting forward by speaking up, wondering what they should propose to move things forward. Facilitators do the opposite, moving the meeting forward by listening. Both are important, though. By stepping back and creating space, you can create an environment where people can offer their opinions, and the meeting will naturally move forward smoothly.
Facilitators really have to trust people. With that in mind, I listened to many other stories.
By the way, Aoki's hobby is fishing. The reason he likes it is because he listens to people talk too much at work, so he makes time not to meet people.
Aoki-san, when you are able to visit Awaji Island, please tell us more over some delicious fish and a barbecue.
We also spoke to Mr. Aoki in a separate interview.
Tell us about your work! Online facilitator Masayuki Aoki (Part 1)
You can find out more about Aoki Hodai, our partner at Monosus, here.
Online facilitator unlimited use now available
NAKAJIMA Kimi
Freelance, living in Ryukazaki, Ibaraki. I first encountered Monosus through an interview with “Nihon Shigoto Hyakka” and am now involved in several things, a bit outside of Monosus.