Monday, January 20, 2020 | The Japan Times | 5

Praise for success special(Sponsored content)

Foundation backs positive feedback at school, work
“People were born to be praised.” This is themessage that Kunio Hara, leader of the HoMe-I-Ku Foundation and the author of thebook, “Praise-based Management,” is sharing with the world.
Ho-Me-I-Ku, a play on the Japanesewords for “praise” and “raise,” is an education and training method Hara developed;
he teaches and demonstrates at educational institutions of all levels, as well ascompanies in various industries in Japanand abroad.
Hara started to use Ho-Me-I-Ku in consultations with enterprises in 2007, andaround 300 companies have implemented
it. In 2015, he established the Ho-Me-I-Ku
Foundation, aiming to make it more widespread in Japan and abroad to help people
nurture others effectively and carry out
charity activities.
In Japan, the method has also been
applied to many educational organizations.
“Currently, 16 kindergartens are practicing Ho-Me-I-Ku. Each kindergarten has its
own philosophy of how they want to educate children, so I had discussions with theteachers of each kindergarten to create astandard of its own,” Hara said.
In Osaka Prefecture, he delivered a lecture to about 150 teachers. “The method ofpraising changed not only the children, butalso their mothers and families,” was one
piece of positive feedback Hara received
and, “It helped prevent bullying,” wasanother.
“Many children may wonder why they
have to get along with each other when
they see adults not being friendly to eachother. So our foundation serves as themodel of good relationships based onpraise,” said Hara.
He aims to increase the profitability ofcompanies by improving communication,and create a profit circulation system thatwould allow part of the profit to be donatedto the next generation.

Vision and background

According to Hara, the major vision ofHo-Me-I-Ku is to “incorporate the methodin the education policy of the people onearth.”“I would like to teach the Ho-Me-I-Ku
method to people with jobs related tochild-rearing. Through Ho-Me-I-Ku, I would
like to nurture children who can contributeto society,” said Hara.
Hara was born into a Christian family

in Hyogo Prefecture, where many of hisancestors and family members have run
various businesses. “If you go to a church,
you will notice that what people say toeach other is basically words of praise andgoodness,” said Hara.
Ho-Me-I-Ku can also be read as HomeIku, a combination of the English word“home” and the Japanese word “iku,” whichmeans “to go.”“Together it means ‘to go home.’ It fits
perfectly with the message that my parents, Michihiko and Motoko, have passed
to me over the years; value your family,”Hara said. Good family relationships arealways the key to the healthy growth of‘Through Ho-Me-I-Ku,
I would like to nurturechildren who cancontribute to society.’children,” he added.
Hara strongly believes that it is the trustand confidence that his parents have hadfor him and their words of praise andencouragement that made him what he istoday.
His grandfather on his maternal side wasa scientist. “Everyone is valuable” was hisbelief. “He gave the credit he received for hisachievements to his subordinates to givethem an advantage in their careers,” Harasaid. “So the spirit of dedication runs in thefamily. I feel that I received the baton, andnow it is my turn.”

Negative to positive

However, Hara was the same as most new
recruits when he entered the workforce
after graduating from university. As a newsales representative, he was scolded every
day for the first two years about his manners and behavior.
The culture of being hard on newcomers continued in his second workplace.
After he became a top salesperson at thefirst company he worked for, he became aconsultant at a major consulting firm, but
was struggling to accomplish anything.
He thought that he needed to have a field inwhich he could be No. 1.
To experience something that other consultants had not experienced and to have a
specific area of expertise, he decided to diveinto an entirely different field — working

at a ramen shop. The owner and other staff
members scolded him while he got used
to the job. He did the same to his workers
when he became the manager of a branch.
“I had no doubt that being harsh was
the right way to train my staff, for the sakeof our customers and for the sales of theshop,” said Hara. However, scolding did
not do any good. His employees left one
after another, making him frustrated andupset. Then, one day, one of the workers
asked him who he thought the MVP of themonth was.
“I was stuck for an answer, because I
was always looking for faults. There was
no MVP from my perspective. But then, I
remembered that my parents raised mewith a lot of praise, which helped me nurture my self-esteem and allowed me to try
new things with confidence,” Hara said.
He started to praise his workers. “At amonthly meeting, I praised each person
for their specific action that lead to a salesincrease,” he said.
Hara also focused on the larger picture
instead of exclusively favoring an employee’s results or their process. He praised theprocess that led to the desired outcome.
As a result of this shift, sales improved andturnover decreased.

Creation and application

Hara tried to systematize the method ofpraising, convinced that this experience
could help many people. “We need to see
the virtues and we need to make the standard for praising. Praise five good points andscold once. Here, scolding means having anexpectation,” he said.
He explained why the standard is necessary and how it should be determined: “Ineducation, you need a policy about who
you want your students to be. In business,
you also need a policy to realize your mission and philosophy. To act in line with thepolicy, you need to set a certain standard tofollow.”
A standard is a collection of clearly
defined things on a checklist that one is
expected to fulfill to achieve the collective goal of the organization. It should bedesigned in a way that helps evaluate a person’s performance and clarify what exactly
is worth praising.
He went on to point out that the standards naturally vary depending on the typeof organization — whether it is an educational institute or a company — and thelevel of each person. For example, in thecase of a company, new recruits and board
members should have different standards
because their responsibilities and expectations differ.
“Also, each company should have a customized standard that matches its policy
and philosophy. Make sure that you praise
the actions that are in line with the standard to ensure the growth of the company,”
Hara said.

From Japan to the world

In 2016, Hara traveled to Cambodia witha friend and saw children being born anddying young at a dump site. “I was shocked
to know that there are such children; I
decided to join a donation project to builda school in Cambodia,” he said. The opening ceremony for the school was held in
August 2017.
He had originally been interested inworking on a global stage since he spentsome of his time during college in Monte-Ho-Me-I-Ku Foundation leader Kunio Hara explains the praise-based management method at The Japan Times office in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Wardon Nov. 29. yoshiaki miura‘I remembered that myparents raised me witha lot of praise, which
helped me nurture myself-esteem and allowed
me to try new things
with confidence.’
bello, California, as an exchange student,
but this experience in Cambodia fueled hispassion to reach out to the world.
So far, the Ho-Me-I-Ku Foundation has
conducted lectures and workshops in morethan 10 countries and regions, including
Australia, China, India, Israel, Malaysia, Norway, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Statesand Vietnam.
He explained that it is important to learn
the background and the situation of eachcountry to customize the standard of HoMe-I-Ku in a suitable way. “Each country
is different, so the standard should also bedesigned differently.
For example, praise seems to be part ofthe educational process in Australia already,but self-affirmation should not be baseless,he said. “Singapore excels in diligence but
the suicide rate is high. China places importance on manner and order, but those whoare not good at it tend to hop between jobs.
I take these things into consideration when
I propose the standard for each country’scase.”
In November, Hara attended the World
Innovation Summit for Education 2019, anannual international conference dedicatedto education, in Qatar.
“It was such a fruitful experience to talkabout the future of education with educators from around the world,” he said.

Timeline of Kunio Hara’s
life accomplishments
1973: Born in the city of Ashiya,
Hyogo Prefecture.
1996: Graduated from the Osaka
Institute of Technology and began his
first job at Nihon Shokken Holdings
Co.
2001: Attained a job as a consultant
at Funai Consulting Inc.
2002: Worked at a ramen shop,where he came up with the idea of nurturing people through praising, which
served as the basis for Ho-Me-I-Ku.

2014: Launched the Ho-Me-I-Ku
Association, which focuses on Ho-MeI-Ku consultant training; held a seminar in India.
2015: Published his first book
“Praise-based Management” (Japaneseedition); English edition was publishedon U.S. Amazon.com Inc.
Established Ho-Me-I-Ku Foundation,
which aims to introduce Ho-Me-I-Ku
to 196 countries in the world and tocarry out charitable activities.

2007: Started to spread Ho-Me-I-Ku
practices to various industries in Japan.

2016: Traveled to Cambodia with afriend and witnessed children live very
short lives devoid of praise; held a seminar in India

2011: Established Spiral Up Co., a Japanese company specializing in management consulting and training in retail,restaurant and other service industries.

2017: Donated to a school construction project for an orphanage in Cambodia; lectured in Australia, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.

2012: Established Spiral Up International in L.A. and appeared on TV forthe first time on the major news program Hodo Station as a Ho-Me-I-Ku
consultant; held a seminar in L.A.

2018: Held a seminar in Taiwan andMalaysia.

2013: Held a seminar in China.

2019: Participated in World Innovation Summit for Education 2019, alarge-scale international conference on
education held in Qatar.

Future of Ho-Me-I-Ku

To realize Ho-Me-I-Ku’s vision of including
Ho-Me-I-Ku into global education policies,
Hara needs more peers and partners.
“Currently, people who learned
Ho-Me-I-Ku from me are promoting themethod in various places. To increase thenumber of such partners, we are enhancing
our e-learning programs, including streaming video content on YouTube,” Hara said.
He also plans to make a speech titled“People were born to be praised” at a TEDx
event next year to attract a more international audience.
“It is said that human beings have five
major concerns: work, money, human relationships, health and a sense of accomplishment,” Hara said. He suggests that if people
can solve many of the problems through
Ho-Me-I-Ku and maximize their potential
and work toward who and how they want
to help becoming their only concern, theworld would be a better and more interesting place.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we are constantly
discussing who to make donations toinstead of complaining about the currentsituation?” he said.
Top: Hara visits an orphanage in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in July 2018. Above: A group of businesspeople listen attentively to Hara during his lecture
held in Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture, on Feb. 21, 2018. spiral up co.

For more information on Ho-Me-I-Ku, visit
https://homeiku.com/.

PAGE: 5Top and above: Hara visits a kindergarten in Tokyo’s Higashi-Yamato in July 2018. spiral up co.