Japan’s government makes a digital move.
I’ve always looked to Japan as a country of culture, tradition, and technology. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Ricoh in Holland and Germany. The lessons of culture and leadership I’ve learned during these days—priceless.
Recently, I stumbled upon the news that in Japan, the government is phasing out fax machines, paper documents, and personal seals. Many may look puzzled as Japan is known throughout the world as a technology leader—inventor of the fax machine, cell phone aficionados, camera lovers. How come they held on to paper-based processes for such a long time?
Unlike most other countries, the Japanese use the Hanko, a personal seal, to authenticate documents. It is the equivalent of our signature. And just like we are slowly getting used to solutions like DocuSign, the Japanese are starting to adopt digital Hanko seals.
What’s so special about this news? The encouragement for change comes from the very top, in this case, the government.
What can we learn from this?
Takeaway 1: Just because we change the way we do things doesn’t mean we leave our culture behind. We’ve all been there. As office solutions providers, everyone is familiar with how tough change and change management can be. We introduce change, and change causes resistance and fear on many levels. FOMO—the famous acronym standing for “fear of missing out”—can be seen as the sum of all fears: fear of losing something as important as my job, fear of not being able to adopt to the new, fear of falling behind—you name it. When change comes, we must make sure we keep the company culture alive. Just because we change technology, we must never leave the glue, the culture that supports our teams working strong, behind.
Takeaway 2: Strong leadership comprises a vision, knowledge, and support for our teams. Leadership has to make their vision and strategy very clear when rolling out a significant change. They need to look at the weakest links in their teams and enact gradual changes that may lead to better results, rather than overwhelming them with an everything new approach. Team members will be their strongest allies when done right, and they may be the ones to get it right the “old way” if something fails in the “new way.” Make them part of your fallback plan; they can be your fax machine when the internet is down.
Takeaway 3: Not all old is terrible; not all new is good. When rolling out change, we typically only tend to look forward to what the business benefits of the new will be and frown upon the “old way.” Everything digital is undoubtedly an approach we all want to support, particularly in light of the current health challenge demanding physical distancing. I remember, back in the day, in the 70s and 80s, there were glass panels between the bank clerk and the customer; we threw them out, the glass panels that is, once we got a grip on security without thinking twice about what else they might be useful for. Now, we bring them back in, everywhere, as they are the perfect barrier to protect us from the germs we’re spreading. The same could be valid for selected processes; we might not want to keep them in place but at least protect the knowledge so we can go back to them, in case.
Conclusion
We’ve all been there—new boss, new rules. Out with the old, in with the new; out with the new, in with the old—it all depends. Sometimes, we resisted; sometimes, we adapted. Sometimes, we had to figure it out the hard way; sometimes, we had training. One thing is true throughout all the changes we’re going through—we can’t stand still. To make change work, we must start with ourselves.
So, let’s quickly go back to the beginning and the fax, or say paper-based, processes. Are they that good for our productivity? What paper-based parts of a process do I need to optimize my productivity? Is it really the wet ink signature? No. Is reading and annotating a contract on paper easier? Sometimes, yes.
Let’s use the empathic part of our brains, culture, and ambition to improve productivity to guide us through change.
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