Kaoru Okada (岡田薫), Japanese living in France, is trilingual and tricultural Japanese English-French. After 30 years of experience as an operational leader in international organizations such as the United Nations or the World Bank, then within the multinational Renault-Nissan group, she has been coaching executives for almost four years and an expert in the issues of intercultural leadership.
Thank you to her for agreeing to answer my questions with ease!
What kind of companies do you work with?
I work with large international companies where the organization of work is most often matrix-based, i.e. where a manager must work with a direct local hierarchy (Japanese or French for example), under the remote supervision of a specific function or sector (the profession) located for example in the US. Often this manager also finds himself cooperating within a multi-local team (with peers from the Asia-Oceania or Asia-Korea-India region, etc.) From the outset, the themes of teams and leadership are very complex in these intercultural conditions. It is these companies, through the HR department, that call on me.
What are the main difficulties of intercultural management in Japan or elsewhere?
There are a lot of different scenarios, that’s the pleasure of my job, certainly complex, but fascinating.
However, we come across the classics: the lack of trust between the local teams, Japanese or French, and the leadership; the post-Covid deterioration in team motivation; repeated hiatuses and delays in the management of complex projects; the excessive complexity of these multiple matrixed reports in which Japanese managers often find it difficult to recognize themselves.
How does coaching take place with you?
In general, the HR department entrusts me with a high-potential manager, or a confirmed executive, to be coached individually, or senior leaders to be coached in groups. The dynamics are different, but the approach is the same.
A coach asks questions (a lot of questions even 😊) and supports a unique approach to the person in order to find the appropriate leadership solution(s).
For example, a leader in Japan may be reluctant to accept a promotion for several reasons: too much responsibility, lack of clarity, too much pressure at home, not enough role models to rely on on a daily basis in the company. , etc. my mission is to restore clarity to its present and future, then to reaffirm the meaning of its mission in professional and personal life. The ultimate goal is to achieve, through coaching, a win-win development for both the company and the person concerned.
The ultimate goal is to achieve, through coaching, a win-win development for both the company and the person concerned.
Is multiculturalism a viable practice in the long term? Isn’t this a risk for the company?
You’re right, why make it complicated when you live in a local environment? 😊
Most multinational companies have no choice but to operate in an increasingly globalized environment, hence the multiplication of challenges and potential problems to be aware of.
I prefer the concept of cross-cultural to that of multicultural. It may just be semantics, but I think that managerial relations at work always take place in the in-between (or in-between): so it’s cross-something, a cross-difficulty, a cross-risk.
The real risk is not multicultural or cross-cultural per se: it is not being aware of the problems of leadership or collective performance raised by these cross-cultural themes, and continue to act as if we could ignore them, because we have always ignored them, that none of this matters in relation to financial results, sales volume or brand position, for example. It is a serious mistake to believe or to make people believe, for example, that the problems are only revealed by the poor understanding of English, used as the working language.
You train leaders in English, Japanese and French, does going from one language to another and from one culture to another change your approach to management?
Nice question… eminently relevant since coaching responds very precisely to the personal approach of each leader or group of leaders to management. It is not up to me to impose my approach to management or to define it for my clients. I capture their ambitions through my questions — for me, a coach is someone who asks why, and “challenges”, if necessary, this why — by trying to ensure that everyone finds their management response. Often, it is to make the link between their own aspirations and the specific expectations of their companies or their professional circles.
The English language is used internationally by all nationalities whose mother tongue is not English, in Japan as in France, all sectors of activity combined. Yet English often projects Anglo-Saxon leadership norms and standards of which non-Anglo-Saxon managers should be acutely aware — especially if they wish to be favorably appreciated.
My role is to open eyes, to cross cultural barriers. I also made two videos with an English collaborator accessible on this subject, freely on my LinkedIn profile.
What would be the ideal intercultural team?
We talk more and more about diversity and inclusion, but an ideal multicultural or intercultural team must be a team that is perceived as fair by its members. For me that means respect all existing cultural codes, old and new : a common ground where each member of the team feels confident to express themselves, and to be really listened to, in substance and in form.
This respectful environment fair requires that everyone, including and especially the leader, suspend judgment : do not rush to judge, criticize, condemn. On the contrary, everyone should be open to what is unfamiliar to them, and be able to move, with ease, from possible mental discomfort to the state of mind of benevolent curiosity.
This quality of listening based on non-criticism — a fundamental attribute of an intercultural coach, at all times — is easier to say and to imagine than to operate in reality. Imagine an instinctive reaction in the heat of the moment, when a feeling of surprise, shock, even disgust suddenly appears and takes hold of your usual rational behavior while you are a leader… Very difficult in these cases to immediately switch to the state of mind of cultural benevolence!
What do you pay particular attention to when coaching a Franco-Japanese team?
I don’t have a preconceived position upstream based on the nationalities present, because the themes of leadership or team dynamics are really unique each time. That being said, a Franco-Japanese team often experiences intrinsic problems of effective communication, between direct and indirect expression for example; career advancement; or managing teams and projects. This is all in my area of expertise.
Current or upcoming projects?
I am currently contributing to a chapter on Intercultural skillsof a very forthcoming book (expected in 2022 or early 2023) atManagement Futures Consulting United Kingdom, where I practice as a coach and also as a member of the board of directors. I also plan to publish my own book, summarizing all my cross-cultural observations and experiences, especially between France and Japan, via the United States (where I lived for almost 8 years). This is my most expensive project, and I work on it with passion.
If these themes find an echo in you, dear Reader, do not hesitate to contact me. It will be a pleasure to hear from you on these various intercultural issues that are my specialty!
Thanks again to Mrs. Okada, you can find her videos and all the information on her work as a coach on LinkedIn ou on son website.
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