Translated from 日本語 • View original Hello! This is Koshiba, a human resources officer who made my first overseas business trip at this age.
Last May, the United States went to Silicon Valley. Why HR? You may be wondering, but I participated in an inspection tour called "HR Innovation Program - How to Corporate HR Strategy Learned from Silicon Valley".
The tour was to visit companies in Silicon Valley in order, and the people who work at the company were able to talk about organizational and personnel initiatives.
The organizer is Pasona NA. There are tours where you can see companies such as Google, but there are not many opportunities to hear the stories of the workers, so I was very looking forward to participating.
Set goals with Goalous before you leave
Before leaving Japan, I set goals with my company's communication-based goal achievement tool "Goalous". I didn't want it to end with just participating. When you set a goal and share an overview, comments are immediately received.
I was curious about architecture, so I received requests to take pictures and bring back pamphlets from each company. I was grateful to receive comments from a different perspective on organizational development and recruitment, which is the human resources brain. Thanks to setting a goal, I said, "I'm going to collect a lot of information that I can share with everyone! I was able to leave with a sense of mission.
Initiatives by Company
I have spent three days visiting such a company.
DocuSign, LinkedIn, WeWork, Slack, and many more. The atmosphere of the office varies depending on the company, and I was able to feel the color of that company. While enjoying the difference with my eyes, I took pictures everywhere I went.
I was interested in the efforts of all the companies, but I couldn't write them all, so I summarized my impressions of the whole thing.
Valuing the mission and vision Every company said that employees sympathize with the values and missions provided by the company, so they feel meaningful to work for their company.
Of course, Global New York is our headquarters, so we sometimes have meetings from 6 a.m., but in such cases, we go home early to make adjustments, and we are careful about evaluations and systems so that we don't become the West Coast where our headquarters is located.
Coaching is a trend in Silicon Valley At DocuSign, we are training managers and leaders to provide constructive feedback, and in addition to the 12-week training we have been doing, we have heard that a new training called "Work your Life" will be launched, and that 360-degree assessments between managers will be introduced.
People are flowing throughout Silicon Valley Even after graduating from the company, there seemed to be active movements beyond the framework of the company, such as sharing information with each other and creating opportunities for investment. For example, Google had a community of former Google employees called Xoogler, and SAP was working to support outstanding startups outside of SAP called SAP.io. I got the impression that a system was created in which people grow throughout Silicon Valley.
Switching between English ⇔ Japanese is frustrating
Of course, all presentations for company visits are in English. There was a simultaneous interpreter, so it was possible to listen to Japanese with earphones on. In my case, I listened to English with one ear and Japanese with the other. People who can listen and speak like a native can easily ask questions and have interactive conversations even during presentations. However, there was a time lag in my English ⇔ Japanese in my head and I was one tempo late, so I couldn't speak as much as I wanted. I was keenly aware once again that the difference in words is quite huge.
Interaction between participants
There were about 25 participants in total, most of whom were Japanese. Since the destination is Silicon Valley, I thought there were many IT companies, but surprisingly not, there were manufacturers and real estate. Many of them were working in the United States, but there were also participants from Japan, like me. Of course, the presentations of the companies I visited were educational, but the interaction between the participants was also interesting, as I was able to hear stories that I would not normally hear and deepen my thoughts.
Presentation at a casual seminar after returning to Japan
ISAO has a "casual seminar" where you give a presentation on your favorite theme during lunchtime. After returning to Japan, I held a casual seminar for everyone in the company.
The events of the three days, and each one was rich, so it was difficult to summarize it in one hour. I can't talk about everything, so I mainly focused on DocuSign, which has interesting raw and realistic stories, and only briefly introduced the rest.
Creating Connections with Startups
When participating in the inspection, I personally had two goals. One is to talk to the presenter, take a photo, and upload it to Goalous. I was able to clear this one safely. When I explained Goalous, everyone said, "It looks interesting!" and took pictures with excitement.
The second is to create connections between ISAO members other than myself and the companies we visit. I was able to clear the second one. I was able to have a meeting with two startup companies that are making services called Clealy and gnowbe after returning to Japan.
We set up a Skype meeting with Clealy and exchanged information around each other's services.
gnobe had the opportunity to have CEO So-Young in Japan, so we asked ISAO to visit us at that time.
In addition, we are currently approaching a company called beaconforce to see if we can have a meeting as well.
During this visit, I was able to listen to the stories of various companies and make new connections, which gave me a valuable experience. It was not a cheap cost, but I am grateful to ISAO for willingly sending me off, saying, "Don't go!"
If you are interested in such an environment that will generously invest in what you think is important**here**!