TOMODACHI NGO Leadership Program supported by J.P. Morgan Launches the Two Day HR Workshop

On September 25 – 26, 2014, TOMODACHI NGO Leadership Program supported by J.P.Morgan gathered leaders from various NGOs at the International House in Tokyo to participate in a two-day leadership workshop program. Organized by U.S.-based NGO Mercy Corps in partnership with Japan Platform, the program focused on providing both senior managers and team leaders the vital skills necessary to develop and sustain high-performing teams. 

For the first day of the workshop consisted of managerial and senior members from various NGOs.  The program kicked off with the new Secretary General of Japan Platform Nobuhisa Iida giving opening remarks.  It was followed by greetings from Naoko Aoki, Representative of the CSR Unit at J.P. Morgan, then Kaoru Utada, Program Manager at the TOMODACHI Initiative.

Kristin Hibler, Senior Director of Global Leadership Development from Mercy Corp, began the workshop by encouraging the participants to be open to new ideas that comes out of the session. It incorporated videos, brainstorming activities, and many discussions that explored the question; “As a leader, how do we build and sustain a strong team?”  Randy Martin, Director for Partnership in East Asia of Mercy Corp, added that “if the outcome is the same, you want a team that’s jazzed,” and emphasized the importance of keeping team members excited and “feel[ing] good about working.” The latter half of the workshop focused on developing essential coaching skills for leaders. Kristin Hibler stated that people are “more inclined to do things if it is their own idea” so the role of the manager is to “counter the natural tendency to judge” and rather, ask questions to lead the team members towards the right direction.

Hideho Kai from Save the Children stated that she appreciates this kind of management training because it is still a rare opportunity in Japan. Takehiro Hozumi from Association for Aid and Relief, Japan reflected back on the program and stated that it helped him realize once again the importance of having short term goals in order to reach the bigger goal, and that it made him look closely at the strengths and weaknesses of his own team.

On September 26, another group of team leaders from various NGOs throughout Japan gathered to discuss how to better create a high performing team. Yusuke Kato from Bridge for Fukushima stated, “I want to learn about leadership and apply to my work in Fukushima. I am eager to do something new and good in Fukushima, but in order to do so, I need to know more.”

This program will lead to a stronger, more vibrant and more active Japanese NGO community that is better prepared to work alongside international partners in conducting effective future relief and recovery activities. It will also bring forth substantial resources that would not otherwise be available to Japanese NGOs. The success can be gauged from the many participants who recognized the importance of leadership training, such as Satoko Shirai who helps a mother taking part in Japan Solar Energy Education Association. She said, “I noticed that Japanese NPOs are not strong enough compared to other NGOs around the world (the U.S. in particular). Resources for NGOs, such as funding and human resources, are limited in Japan. There has to be more leadership training like this workshop. We need to build the base, the manpower and human resources, in order to expand the NPOs in Japan. ”

• Read more about the TOMODACHI NGO Leadership Program supported by J.P.Morgan