Over the past few weeks, our managing director Olivier van Beneden had the opportunity to spend time in Japan and meet with HR and leadership teams at a range of Japanese headquarters.
Here is his report:
1. Japanese headquarters are actively evolving, but the transformation is complex
One clear message from our discussions is that Japanese companies are not standing still. They are clearly moving toward a more global model. Many headquarters are actively trying to:
- Strengthen collaboration with overseas subsidiaries
- Increase the presence of non-Japanese employees at the HQ
- Develop global talent
However, in practice, the transformation remains challenging :
- Resistance or hesitation from business unit leaders
- Communication barriers
- Difficulty integrating different working styles
Interestingly, HR teams are often already aware of these needs and actively pushing for change, but they sometimes face difficulty convincing business leaders to move faster.
2. The real gap is execution, not awareness
Another striking observation is that the challenge is not a lack of understanding. Most managers are already aware of cultural differences and global expectations.
However, the difficulty lies in applying this knowledge in real situations. In other words, the gap we see today is less about “knowing” and more about “doing”, and doing it "safely".
3. The expatriation model is under increasing pressure
Across multiple companies, the traditional expatriation model is being questioned. We observed several common issues:
- Increasing difficulty in finding candidates willing to go abroad
- Lower motivation among younger employees
- Expatriates being underprepared for the reality of working overseas
- Limited support once they arrive in the host country
This raises important questions for the future:
- How to better prepare expatriates
- How to support them after arrival
- How to complement expatriation with other approaches to global talent development
4. A growing challenge: managing global teams from Japan
A significant shift is taking place in how Japanese managers operate. Increasingly, managers based at headquarters are required to:
- Manage international teams
- Collaborate with non-Japanese colleagues
- Take decisions in a global context
This creates new challenges around:
- Communication style
- decision-making processes
- leadership expectations
Many managers are highly competent technically, but have had limited exposure to these global leadership requirements, leading to frustrations in subsidiaries abroad.
5. From one-off training to continuous development
Finally, many organizations are rethinking their approach to learning and development. Traditional pre-departure training alone is often seen as insufficient:
- Japanese expatriates are too busy before leaving
- They lack the context to fully relate to the content
There is growing interest in:
- Supporting employees after they arrive in their new role
- Providing learning that is closer to real-life situations
- Developing capabilities over time, rather than through one-off interventions
What this means in practice
What we see today is that companies are at very different stages in this transformation. Some are still highly Japan-centric, while others operate in global or matrix structures. As a result, their needs differ significantly.
In our work with clients, this translates into a wide range of support measures and programmes, for example:
- Supporting Japanese expatriates before and after assignment
- Developing communication and management skills for HQ-based staff
- Helping HR design and implement global learning programs
- Facilitating collaboration between HQ and overseas teams
In other words, cross-cultural training is only one part of a broader effort to support global transformation at multiple levels.
Closing thought
What these conversations made very clear is that Japanese organizations are entering a new phase in their global development.
The questions are no longer: Why do we need to globalize?
But rather: How do we make it work in practice, at the different level: leaders, managers and individual contributors?
This is where the real challenge, and opportunity, lies.
If your organization faces similar challenges we would be happy to explain what support JCO can offer on a local, regional or global scale.
