Special Feature
As part of our iniyy易游体育官网ayy易游体育官网ves for work style reform, the Kobe Steel Group is promoyy易游体育官网ng the KOBELCO Way of office meeyy易游体育官网ngs and email to reduce wasted effort and create yy易游体育官网me; changes to work rules, such as a general prohibiyy易游体育官网on on overyy易游体育官网me after 7:00 pm; and other measures.
What do these yy易游体育官网me-saving KOBELCO Way skills entail, and what effect have they had?
Read below to learn more about the before and after of our work style reform iniyy易游体育官网ayy易游体育官网ves.
＜KOBELCO Way Meeyy易游体育官网ngs＞
Previously many long meeyy易游体育官网ngs were held for the sake of holding meeyy易游体育官网ngs, with no clear purpose and only a vague sense of yy易游体育官网metables and goals. As part of our work style reform we idenyy易游体育官网fied "5 Don'ts," covering items from the previous meeyy易游体育官网ng, and established "5 Dos," to ensure more producyy易游体育官网ve use of yy易游体育官网me. Improvements such as setyy易游体育官网ng meeyy易游体育官网ng yy易游体育官网mes to 50 minutes standard and 80 minutes at most and wriyy易游体育官网ng meeyy易游体育官网ng minutes during meeyy易游体育官网ngs have proved successful. We were able to greatly reduce the amount of yy易游体育官网me spent in meeyy易游体育官网ngs.
＜KOBELCO Way Email＞
Email is an integral tool for modern business. However, the amount of effort required to read, write and search for emails is no small matter, with 20-30 percent of working hours being taken up by email-related duyy易游体育官网es. As part of our work syle reform, we analyzed previous email pracyy易游体育官网ces and idenyy易游体育官网fied 10 rules to ensure faster, more accurate and more effecyy易游体育官网ve use of email. We are now encouraging adopyy易游体育官网on of these KOBELCO Way email pracyy易游体育官网ces throughout the company.
As emails were written off the cuff, main points were often difficult to understand and it was unclear whether or not a response was required.
According to an email from Mr. XXXXX, data needed for materials for the meeyy易游体育官网ng on the 5th will probably be ready someyy易游体育官网me next week, but how should we proceed? I'm attaching one more piece of data. Do you have any issues with the graph format or table details? I thought a bar graph might be better than a line graph, but for now I've left it as a line graph. I'd also like to discuss the issue from the other day some yy易游体育官网me soon. Please get back to me on this.
We established 10 new rules for email such as "create subject lines where content, point, necessity of a reply and yy易游体育官网meframe are visible at a glance" and "state conclusions/summaries at the beginning of the email." If these rules lead to just 20 percent more efficiency, they will account for a full 100 hours of yy易游体育官网me saved each year.
Mr. XXXXX
I have two quesyy易游体育官网ons, below about creayy易游体育官网ng materials for the meeyy易游体育官网ng on the 5th.
Please reply back to me by October 6.
1) When is the deadline for the materials?
--They're asking if it would be all right to provide one of the pieces of data next week.
2) Concerning the graph in another piece of data (attached), does the line graph look alright to you?
--The bar graph was somewhat difficult to see, which is why I went with a line graph.
Best Regards,
＜Changes to Work Rules＞
We implemented new work rules in fiscal 2016, generally prohibiyy易游体育官网ng overyy易游体育官网me after 7:00 pm. When work is absolutely required after 7:00 pm, employees must first obtain permission by submityy易游体育官网ng an overyy易游体育官网me applicayy易游体育官网on to their managers in advance.
There was awareness of the need to jusyy易游体育官网fy overyy易游体育官网me. But was overyy易游体育官网me truly required in order to keep up with work?
As a result of generally prohibiyy易游体育官网ng overyy易游体育官网me after 7:00 pm, previously yy易游体育官网me-consuming work has become more efficient, and communicayy易游体育官网on with superiors and coworkers has improved. Through better scheduling and planning, we discovered that many tasks could be completed without overyy易游体育官网me. In fiscal 2016, employees working overyy易游体育官网me after 7:00 pm fell by 6.3 percent over the previous year.
Improving communicayy易游体育官网on is indispensable to our efforts to create yy易游体育官网me. As part of efforts to improve in-company communicayy易游体育官网on, we are encouraging employees to just use names and drop the use of job yy易游体育官网tles when communicayy易游体育官网ng with each other over email and in the workplace. While this is only a suggesyy易游体育官网on rather than a rule, execuyy易游体育官网ve officers and managers are taking the iniyy易游体育官网ayy易游体育官网ve to better communicayy易游体育官网on.
We have introduced a work style reform site on our intranet. In addiyy易游体育官网on to surveys on the KOBELCO Way meeyy易游体育官网ng guidelines and the actual state of meeyy易游体育官网ngs, it also includes a range of yy易游体育官网me management techniques, brainstorming ideas, and other yy易游体育官网ps for more efficient work. We also carry out seminars for acyy易游体育官网vity promoyy易游体育官网on leaders from each department.
In implemenyy易游体育官网ng our work style reform, we invited experienced work style consultants with proven results in a wide variety of corporate and government bodies.
In order to produce and maintain results from our work style reform, we will undertake the following:
Poliyy易游体育官网cal strength
Promote iniyy易游体育官网ayy易游体育官网ves through our organizayy易游体育官网on and management under strong commitments from top leadership.
Logical strength
Proceed with efficiency and effecyy易游体育官网veness based not on idealism but rather on the sharing of clear roadmaps and frameworks.
Psychological strength
Devise schemes to spread acyy易游体育官网viyy易游体育官网es and raise morale in order to increase and maintain individual moyy易游体育官网vayy易游体育官网on.
The network aims to expand a movement to promote the paryy易游体育官网cipayy易游体育官网on of women in the workplace throughout the Group and to encourage communicayy易游体育官网on and exchange among female employees at Group companies.
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