2 Japanese Concepts to Use in Your Job Development

In the 1970s and 1980s, Japan was championed as the home of innovative business models and progressive economic policies. And job development. These were the cornerstone that propelled the country’s spectacular post-World War II growth story.

But times changed. When the bubble burst Japan became more synonymous with a long-term slump, economic mismanagement, and huge government debt levels. After decades of unparalleled growth, Japan’s downturn took hold in the early 1990s.

The bursting of the country’s speculative asset price bubble had a massive structural impact on the economy.

But back to the corporate principles for a second. And this applies to banking and job development as well.

Japan brought us the ideas of “kaizen” (continuous process improvement) and “muda” (effective waste reduction).

We can learn a lot from different cultures. Both of these concepts can be used as ways in which to enhance your career, whether that’s elsewhere in Asia, or someone else in the world.

Kaizen

This is a concept adapted and adopted in more recent decades by Tony Robbins in Awaken the Giant Within and Tommy Baker in The 1% Rule. Essentially, it’s all about aligning the big picture with constant and consistent movements forwards.

They don’t have to be huge, career-defining moves. Dozens or hundreds or thousands of baby steps will suffice. It’s about keeping a forward momentum as your focus and taking consistent action to take you to the next level.

Imagine if you improved something by 1% every single day. Think about how much progress you could make within a year. You can apply this to anything. Your piano playing. Language learning. Job. Job development, even.

It’s about deliberate action. Measurable, targeted and incremental action.

There’s a saying: If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

Actually, that’s not quite the case.

In the world of banking, change is constant. Technology is altering your environment whether you like it or not. Kids are getting smarter and more technically-savvy. So, if all you’re doing is the same old, same old be prepared to be left behind. You need to find ways to move forward.

Muda

There’s something Marie Kondo-ish about this concept. It’s not so much about minimalism and order. It’s about reducing wastefulness. It’s about getting rid of futility. We see that in life and in work.

It was originally anchored to lean manufacturing principles focused on the optimal allocation of resources.

Fundamentally, it’s about removing those weeds that destroy value and prevent the flowers from blooming.

Does that ring true in your job development? Is this something you see around you at the bank? Take a look at your role.

What are you currently doing that isn’t adding value to your resume? Maybe you’re a Settlements Clerk doing a spreadsheet process that seemed to make sense back in the days of Windows 7 but quite frankly should be updated and replaced. Maybe you’re doing manual auditing processes that are in desperate need for automation.

Ok, it’s not always under your control. Banks are excellent at overlaying new processes onto legacy systems. They like short-term solutions to long-term problems. This can lead to clunky, time-consuming and wasteful situations.

Still, there’s nothing wrong in looking at what we do in a more critical light. Get some focus. You’ll realize that roles can often be streamlined in a way that cuts out the superfluous and archaic. Even in banking. Things change.

Remove these elements and replace them with value-enhancing actions. This is one way in which to improve your career development.