The Innovators of Motivation Engineering

Japan is facing a demographic decline, with the oldest population in the world declining further every year. This is creating staffing shortages and production bottlenecks, with Japan forecasted to confront a deficit of over eleven million workers by the year 2040. This creates dual challenges for Japanese companies, such as difficulty in hiring staff and a declining domestic market for the goods produced. How is this demographic challenge affecting the work of human resources enterprises like yourself, and to what extent must Japanese companies look overseas to secure new markets and talent?

If you play sports, I think you understand that having good skills alone won’t guarantee you win the game. You must have a very good team, and you have to define what a good team is all about. We support organizational development based on our core technology called "Motivation Engineering," which was the first to make such a definition a science.

Japan’s reputation as one of the safest countries globally, combined with its advanced infrastructure and increasing adoption of English in professional settings, aligns seamlessly with a strong corporate presence and domestic job market facing significant talent shortage. The favorable yen devaluation has also made living and working in Japan more affordable than ever. From the perspective of a professional considering moving to Japan, what do you believe is the added value of building a career here?

I think there are several points, but one of the things that Japan can be proud of in the world is quality. We have to learn how high quality is delivered, so it is important to have an idea about what kind of value leads to good quality. Thus, what you can learn in the Japanese market is what kind of mindset you should have or what you should be particular about to achieve this quality, so it’s not just about obtaining skills. You need teamwork to achieve good things, and you can learn here how collaboration and how management can contribute to the results. In short, the non-monetary rewards of working are meaningful.

You mentioned your concept of Motivation Engineering. One of the biggest issues in the workplace is finding ways to motivate employees, and according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, disengagement results in approximately USD 8.8 trillion in lost productivity annually, which equates to 9% of global GDP. Motivation Engineering is a proprietary method developed by linking motivation that integrates psychological theories with business practice to enhance employee engagement, organizational performance, and workplace satisfaction. It serves as the foundation of your company’s services, focusing on aligning individual motivations with organizational goals. Can you further explain your Motivation Engineering method, the techniques you use, and how it addresses the issues of disengagement of workers?

Our core technology "Motivation Engineering" is the foundation for all products and services of the Link and Motivation Group, and that is composed of two technologies. One is diagnostic technologies and the other is transformation technologies. Diagnostic technologies use our unique frameworks to identify customer problems, and the database on organizations and individuals that we have built up since our founding is one of the largest in Japan. Transformation technologies use our accumulated insights to resolve the problems we identify, and our ability to provide one-stop support for organizational and individual transformation is a distinctive feature. We support companies of various sizes and industries to improve their human resource capabilities and engagement through diagnosis and transformation.

Constituent Technologies of Motivation Engineering

After you do the evaluation, how do you improve organizations and employees actually to address these issues with Motivation Engineering?

There are three steps to that. The first step is to "Unfreeze", which means to promote mutual understanding rather than forcing a sudden change. Clarify differences in perceptions to eliminate trust issues. Even in politics, we often say the dialogue is important, so that is the "Unfreeze" step. The next step is "Change", so we identify mutual values to generate sympathy or empathy and promote change. The third step is to “Refreeze”, which promotes retention by creating rules and systematizing empathy.

The first step is the most important. It sometimes takes a very long time, but if the engagement level is high, it doesn’t take much effort. It’s a bit like a husband and wife. If they have a good relationship, when one asks for something from the other, he or she will happily do it, but if they do not have a good relationship, the result will be quite different.

How long can a customer expect to see results once they hire your services?

It depends on the current relationship or engagement level. If there is a cold environment or relationship, it will take longer to unfreeze. If the engagement level is numerically low, trying to take the next step will not work, so a step-by-step approach is more effective. We quantify this specifically through our diagnostics, so you can't go wrong with that step.

In October, you announced the establishment of foreign subsidiaries in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines to strengthen your international presence. What was the goal behind the expansion in these areas, and in the context of your Motivation Engineering method, how do you plan to adapt your approach to suit different work cultures in different countries?

Currently, our clients are mainly large Japanese companies with a lot of room for growth, but we believe that it will be essential to provide transformation support to overseas subsidiaries in the future. We have already started business partnerships for the Motivation Cloud series in Vietnam and Thailand, and have decided to establish subsidiaries in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines simultaneously in order to further increase our presence in the Asian region. The first step after entering the market will be to assess the engagement status of each company one by one, comparing it to Japanese companies. As more data becomes available for each country, we will be able to provide more accurate advice, as we will be able to determine the average level of engagement in each country.

As part of your consulting offerings for organizational development, you provide a dedicated diversity and inclusion consulting service emphasizing two distinct types of diversity: task-based diversity and democracy-type diversity. Task-based diversity focuses on the diversity of abilities, knowledge, and workplace experience. Democracy-type diversity emphasizes diversifying the workforce by promoting women in the workplace and supporting the recruitment of foreign workers in Japan. Why do you think diversity and inclusion are so important in the workplace, and how do your consulting services work to promote that?

There are two aspects. One is the need to understand values in order to unite people with different values in keeping the workforce. The other aspect is that it is important to develop new markets and new businesses. Different values are important because every person has different values related to their background or identity, and that’s where the demand lies.

As part of your HR development services, you specialize in a variety of training, including business performance, cultural thinking, and business etiquette. One of your notable training options for mid-career employees is your leadership training, where you define leadership as the act of influencing people towards a certain goal and leading them to achieve it. What makes a good leader in the workplace, and what are your skills in developing the next generation of leaders for companies both in Japan and abroad?

When people belong to an organization, there are four attractive factors regarding that belonging. The first one is the mission, which is the target the company is trying to achieve. The second is activity, or what they do. The third is the people in the organization. The fourth is the rewards for belonging, whether monetary or non-monetary.

In particular, regarding the third point of enhancing the attractiven factors among individuals within the organization, I believe that leadership is extremely important, as it contributes to improving employee retention rates.

Your company is now working with almost 2,000 Japanese companies of different sizes and industries. How are you able to tailor your solutions to meet the specific company needs across such a variety of organizations?

The company is the one that decides its business strategy, and we are more of a training provider. If we were talking about sports, we would be the trainers or coaches, so we listen to what they want to do and what they want to achieve, and we accommodate our solutions based on that. Based on the knowledge and database we have accumulated over the past 20 years since our founding, we realize customized support for our clients through a cycle of identifying issues through diagnosis, transformation of those issues, and disclosure of the results of the transformation.

The integration of advanced technologies is transforming HR and consulting services, playing a pivotal role in organizational restructuring. Key trends include the adoption of artificial intelligence to streamline processes and enhance efficiency, as well as leveraging data analytics to refine services and get deeper insight into employee dynamics. As part of your Motivation Engineering, your Motivation Cloud is a cloud-based platform to help organizations measure the engagement of their companies. Can you talk about the benefits Motivation Cloud brings to companies and some of the other ways you’re using technology to improve the services you offer?

We had been  providing consulting services for certain clients' apparent needs, but the number of consultants was limited, so we further broadened our offerings by introducing technology. If it is a small problem, clients can take action to improve it themselves with Motivation Cloud, and if it is a big problem, they can always come to us. It’s like being sick. For something like a simple cold, you can treat yourself, but for something more serious, you will go to see a doctor. In this analogy, of course, we are the doctor, and Motivation Cloud is something like a thermometer or a machine to test blood pressure.

Besides organizational and individual development, Link and Motivation provides a comprehensive range of recruitment services designed to align with organizational strategies and enhance the hiring process. These include recruitment strategy design, which focuses on crafting customized strategies that align with the company’s goals, and recruiter training services. What are your competitive advantages in providing recruitment services, and what benefits can you offer to companies seeking recruitment solutions or training from you?

One of our group company, OpenWork Inc. operates "OpenWork," an information platform for job hunting and career change that has one of the largest employee word-of-mouth and annual salary data in Japan, and has information on "employee reviews" based on actual work experience, including positive and negative word-of-mouth We have information on "employee reviews" based on actual work experience, including positive and negative word-of-mouth.

Our definition of a good company differs from what is often said. For example, many would talk about a good salary, the size of the company, whether it is a listed company, etc. That’s not our definition of a good company. We can see employee engagement in numerical values, so we can focus recruiting on what we call a good company. By doing that, recruited employees stay longer. The analogy is that even if you marry rich, it doesn’t mean that you will be happy.

What we do is apply science to relationships, so it’s not about company size or compensation or tangible things like that. It’s more about psychological fulfillment, like meaningful work and the quality of relationships. Having a good understanding of what aspects of the work are meaningful at each company is important, and we always see that it is more valuable, and that is our philosophy.

Link Interac Inc. is a subsidiary specializing in English education services in Japan, and the company plays a significant role in providing assistant language teachers (ALT) to public schools across the country. The company provides comprehensive training programs to prepare ALTs for their role and recruits English speakers both in Japan and overseas. How do your services support initiatives to enhance English proficiency nationwide, and what are your key strengths in ALT recruitment and placement?

Even if you score well on English tests, it doesn’t mean that you can communicate well with other people, so we are providing living English. We don’t think that we are teaching English; rather we are teaching cross-cultural communication, and by dispatching those English teachers nationwide, we believe we can raise interest in English and other countries abroad. Currently, we have the largest market share in the private sector.

Not only are you focused on providing services in Japan, but you are also looking to expand services internationally with your subsidiaries in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. What opportunities do you see in these countries, and are you looking to expand your international presence further?

We have a plan to expand to other countries. The reason we started to expand from Asia is that our clients already have a presence in those countries, and we want to provide more support to those existing clients.

Which other countries are targeting? Would you be looking to work  only with Japanese companies, or would you also look to diversify your client portfolio and find other foreign corporations?

We would like to start with the countries in which our current clients operate and eventually consider the U.S. and other countries. Our target clients will be mainly Japanese companies, but we would like to cover foreign companies as well when they are ready.

Your company is still quite young, having been founded in 2000, and your growth has been exponential, especially when you look at your turnover, which is now around JPY 33 billion. To what do you attribute the success of your company and your ability to reach such high sales in such a short period, and what are you targeting for the future?

Our target is unlimited, but we first want to have a very good base, so we want to excel in Japan and once everything is ready, we want to further expand internationally.

When the definition of a good company is judged not only by sales and profits, but also by the amount of the relationships and rewarding work,  I think our company will grow even bigger.

Partnerships play an important role in your industry, whether it’s collaborating with recruitment platforms or educational institutions for ALT placement services. Are you looking to expand your international partnership network to help you with your global goals? If yes, which partnerships would be most valuable for you, and which countries will you target?

There are two aspects to this. One is that we’re looking for partnerships with companies that can provide technology to help us achieve our plans. The other is partners related to our client development platform, especially those with a network in other countries.

Your company is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Let’s imagine that we will interview you again five years from now, on your 30th anniversary. What dreams and goals would you like to achieve over those next five years, and how would you like your company to be seen by the global market?

By 2030, I want to create a world where everybody can answer why they feel rewarded or motivated. What is their reason for doing that work? It could be money. It could be their team members or colleagues. It could be to improve technology. There are many answers, but I want every person to be able to answer what they feel rewarded for when they feel rewarded, and what makes them feel happy doing their work or working for their company.

And we want to be seen by the market as a company that has changed the definition of a good company.

For more information, please visit their website at: https://www.lmi.ne.jp/english/