Japanese companies turn to “coaching services” to improve communication among staff
A seminar room in the coach A office.
The last two years have seen a sudden increase in demand for executive coaching in Japan. The training, which ranges from weekend group seminars to intensive one-on-one sessions, aims to increase overall work productivity by developing leadership and communications skills. One of the main focuses of coaching is teaching managers how to speak to their subordinates in a way that boosts harmony and cooperation in the workplace.
Leading coaching firm coach A Co. has vastly expanded their services, offering training courses for everyone from the upper executive level down to first-year employees and new recruits still in university. Meanwhile, coach A. Co. has also started training programs in English and opened offices in North America in order to train Japanese executives posted outside Japan. Another coaching provider, Coach21, has diversified its programs, starting a new four-month course in May in which busy executives undergo training via teleconferencing systems.
In the past, such training was often taken by individuals seeking to improve their skills in order to land a promotion or transfer to a better job. Recently, however, more and more companies are paying for coaching services, seeing them as an investment that will pay off in terms of higher work productivity. A long-term once-a-week course averages around 630,000 yen ($6,300), and prices are on the rise.
The Global Life Learning Center, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, has tested and certified 2,886 people to become coaching instructors, and it is likely that new training providers will enter this quickly expanding market.