Empowered JAPAN Webinar Report

Empowered JAPAN Executive Steering Committee was established in 2018, “To realize a world where everyone canwork and learn, from anywhere, at anytime.” To promote the true value of workstyle innovation including telework, the committee
has been coordinating symposiums in both Tokyo and regional cities. And in collaboration with various local governments,
Microsoft, and partners, the committee has been serving as an advisor to provide telework training for both corporate andindividuals. In response to the spread of infection of corona virus (COVID-19) and the government announcement on February 25,
2020, which included the request to citizens to telework, the steering committee made the decision to launch a series of freewebinars starting from March 17, 2020, to provide practical information for individuals and organizations across the nation, totelework and/or practice online education.

Category：Mindset and Communication
Date：March, 23, 2020
Speaker：Eriko Ozaki
CEOShinsenryoku Inc.
Operates shared satellite office Trist

Established Shinsenryoku Inc. in Nagareyama
City, Chiba Prefecture.
Based in Nagareyama City, produces private

Three Important Communication Rules in Telework
In response to the declaration of emergency in early April, teleworking is being
considered in local governments and educational institutions. However, hurdles for
introducing teleworking and handling personal information are high, and it seems
various issues are becoming apparent. Amid the quarantine, Share Satellite Office"Trist," where tenants can bring their children to the office, is simultaneously
developing telework and online classes for children one step ahead. These
attempts are expected to be used by many companies including local
governments and educational institutions.
"Trist has been supporting companies and individuals who challenge to adopt
teleworking in various means, and we find that communication usually becomes anissue." (Ms. Ozaki) Based on the experience, she has reached three rules forteleworking.
Tools are for communication only. "If rules for communication are notestablished at the beginning, communication becomes an issue." (Ms. Ozaki)

programs for school children and has
established a business founding school
through cooperation with administration. Also
serves as a member of the Child and ChildRaising Council.
Opened the shared satellite office Trist in 2016.
Expanding based on the three pillars of"community," "education," and "office," theoffice reached maximum capacity in one year.
In April 2018, she opened her second base. Has
won awards including the Telework Promotion
Award and Work Story Award. Has beenfeatured in many TV programs on stations suchas NHK and Nippon TV, as well as in numerous
Japanese newspapers.
Also serves as Vice-Chairperson of the NPO
Kodikara Nippon.
Currently mother to two children aged 7 and 5.

According to Ms. Ozaki, most issues and conditions can be categorized into
seven symptoms. Most of the companies that Trist supports started having arejection reaction to the changes in communication. When some companies
experienced these symptoms after trying teleworking, "they felt teleworking was
not for them and often consulted us." (Ms. Ozaki)Empowered JAPAN Webinar Report
Next, Ms. Ozaki explained seven symptoms many companies experienced when adopting telework.
Chat exhaustion: Cannot keep up with chats that are continuously happening
Video conference allergy: Hesitate to communicate through video conferences
In-person deficiency: Telework is convenient, but miss in-person contact
Evaluation anxiety: What was evaluated at the office is no longer there
Tougher rules: Rules made for teleworking interfere with productivity and result in decrease
Forgetfulness of off-work: Since teleworking is flexible, teleworkers cannot separate on and off time
Whole view deficiency: Work operations become task-base and difficult to grasp as a whole①②③④⑤⑥⑦Ms. Ozaki confessed that these seven symptoms cannot be solved completely, but at least she reached three rulesthat help to ease these symptoms.
Rule 1: Set a time and date when you disconnect from online chatting, and remember your choice to disconnect Ms.
Ozaki uses an app called Teams and there is a function to extract information only you want to receive. She also said,"you can always set your presence status to [Do not disturb] and shut communication."
Rule 2: Do not hesitate to talk face-to-face and hear voices As teleworking progresses, people start contacting eachother by chatting, however, sometimes it creates communication contortion. It is important to "not hesitate to click [Meetnow] in a conversation. The participant can decide to accept or decline the video meeting." (Ms. Ozaki)
Rule 3: Report, contact, and consult as your task progresses Teleworkers tend to be evaluated based on the numberof tasks they have completed because it is hard to grasp how much work you have done when you are working at home.
If you do not share your work progress, it may lead to evaluation anxiety symptoms. Thus, it is important to report in ashared space. "It is easier to evaluate if the content of the work that has been completed is clear." (Ms. Ozaki) You needto get used to sharing tasks, but once you do, you will be able to manage tasks efficiently since the present task
management tool has a well-designed format, which allows the user to organize tasks just by entering deadlines,
assignments, documents, etc.

Furthermore, Ms. Ozaki explained three rules for remote learning for children, which can be useful to companies.
First, make a test format using 5W1H (who, what, where, when, why, how) because communicating in text format isdifficult and emotions cannot be read. Second, keep your status [Available] during a morning meeting, lunch break, andother break times, and create an environment where anyone can chat with you. Third, visualize the learning progress ofeach child.

Even companies can adopt these rules and try reducing communication loss. Creating an environment where everyone
can understand as if talking in person can be the secret of successful teleworking.
Finally, Ms. Ozaki mentioned the adoption of teleworking at local governments and said, "We hear that adopting
telework is difficult because of personal information. The local governments’ belief of not being able to entirely adopt
telework due to the handling of personal information is wrong. They can create model cases starting from divisions anddepartments which do not handle personal information." Important keys for successfully adopting telework are thatthe head of the local authority takes leadership, clarification of the responsibility for handling personal information, andhaving someone with strong IT skills.