RECRUIT 2022.03.31

What is AMP!, the educational program that develops the skills needed to survive in unpredictable times?

"AMP! (ASNOVA - Metamorphose - Program - !)" is an in-house educational program that allows ASNOVA employees to step out of the office, reaffirm their values through solving local issues, and undergo a major "transformation" toward even greater goals. What was the thinking behind the creation of this unique program? And why is "transformation" necessary? We asked Naomi Tanaka and Shunsuke Takeuchi from the General Affairs and Human Resources Department, who plan and manage AMP!, and Kazuto Kojima of Loftwork, who proposed the program, to look back on "AMP! 2021," which was held in July 2021, and about the future that this program aims for.

Text: Rumi Yoshizawa
Photo: Hajime Kato

INDEX

PROIFILE

Shunsuke Takeuchi: General Affairs and Human Resources Department. Joined ASNOVA in 2019. In charge of human resources and general affairs.
Naomi Tanaka: General Affairs and Human Resources Department. Joined ASNOVA in 2021. Responsible for human resources and general affairs as Senior Manager the General Affairs and Human Resources Department.
Kazuto Kojima (Hamo): Producer at Loftwork Inc. After studying architecture at a vocational school, he has been involved in a wide range of areas, including new brands, stores, product development, and PR plans, as a designer, director, and planner. He works individually as an art artist under the name "Harmonism," creating works that transcend genres through collaborations with fashion, plant research, and urban gardens. In 2018, he joined Loftwork, where he is responsible for a wide range of production work, including creating new businesses, creating co-creation spaces, and promoting local industries. Since 2020, he has been actively incorporating methods such as science fiction prototyping, proposing what companies and organizations should do going forward in a society with an uncertain future. As both a businessperson and an artist, he is interested in designing questions about the "future." His nickname is "Hamo-san."

From the left: Kazuto Kojima of Loftwork, Naomi Tanaka of ASNOVA's General Affairs and Human Resources Department, and Shunsuke Takeuchi

ASNOVA's unique educational programs to help you survive in the VUCA era

I heard that Mr. Tanaka just joined ASNOVA in April 2021.

Tanaka: I had a strong desire to be involved in head office functions, so I left the IT company where I had worked for 25 years since graduating. Until then, I had been involved in human resources and employee training for a long time, so I was looking for a place where I could put my experience to good use when ASNOVA contacted me. I thought they were doing some interesting things, so I joined the company.

AMP! was completely different from the concept of education I had been involved in until now. On the second day after joining the company, I met Mr. Kojima at an online meeting and heard about AMP!, but I had no idea what it was about. After the meeting, Takeuchi told me, "Actually, this is what we're doing," and I remember being surprised at how amazing it was.

Kojima: That reminds me. When I first proposed this, Takeuchi-san told me, "Kojima-san, I don't know what you're talking about" (laughs).

Takeuchi: Yes, I did (laughs). If I don't understand it, then other people probably don't either, so I told them that it would be difficult to figure out how to make it a reality.

In other words, Mr. Takeuchi, you have been involved in educational programs since before the AMP! project was launched.

Takeuchi: I started to get involved in the educational program around October 2020. We had developed it to a certain extent in-house, but we hit a dead end and decided to seek outside help.

We wanted to create an educational program that only ASNOVA could do, rather than the so-called e-learning or hierarchical training, and we held internal meetings for nearly half a year, but we couldn't find an answer and ultimately we ended up in a situation where nothing was moving forward.So we decided to consult with Loftwork, with whom we have worked on several projects, about the educational program.

What was the background to the project to create a new in-house educational program?

Takeuchi: Our CEO believes that a company is made up of people, meaning that employee growth is essential for a company to grow. More people will see employees growing and want to work at ASNOVA. To achieve this, we decided that we needed a system for employees to grow.

When we were thinking about the program, the representative repeatedly said, "If they were my child, I wouldn't spoil them," and "It is the duty of parents to help them acquire the skills to live." He also said, "Providing an opportunity for education means giving them the ability to overcome challenges."

Tanaka: In today's world, it is essential to have the ability to survive in the so-called VUCA era. I believe that the true benefit a company can provide is not to simply improve employee benefits and treatment, but to support employees' voluntary learning.

In addition, in the 2021 medium-term management plan, we are currently working on strengthening our existing businesses and diversifying our business, and developing human resources to take on new businesses and services is important to promote these two goals. Therefore, as part of the review of our personnel system, AMP! is being positioned in the education field.

Through AMP!, I learned that "failure" is not failure

What kind of program did Loftwork propose for this AMP!?

Kojima: ASNOVA had already implemented a program to acquire general knowledge and skills. However, the fact that it was still necessary meant that there was a demand for an impactful training program, and another point was that there was a need for human resources who could realize and execute the future vision that the CEO had in mind.

In this VUCA era, the future is uncertain with only the business skills and leadership we have had up until now. We need highly skilled design talent, that is, people who can independently identify ideas and values, formulate hypotheses, and lead others. This requires not only leadership and business skills, but also the power of design and art. The art part is identifying what the question is and formulating your own hypotheses. The power of design is being able to communicate this to others. And it is leadership and business skills that give it its final form.

From there, we worked with the director to flesh out the program. A dialogue would take place between people with issues in a certain area, the ASNOVA team, and the creators, discovering the problem, formulating a hypothesis, and making a proposal. We proposed that this process could be used to acquire the power of design and art that we explained earlier.

Takeuchi: We can understand this explanation because it has been done before, but at the time, to be honest, I had no idea how the power of design and art could relate to business, so I couldn't understand Kojima's proposal.

Tanaka: So Takeuchi and I said, "Let's just give it a go" (lol).

Kojima: That's what makes everyone at ASNOVA so great. "New" means that it contains value that doesn't exist yet. At first glance, people who come up with ideas tend to be more creative, but I actually think that people who can say, "I don't know why, but it's good" are much more creative. I think the ability to say, "I don't know why, but it's good" is probably something that everyone should acquire in the future.

Mr. Takeuchi, was there anything that made an impression on you while participating in this program?

Takeuchi: What made the biggest impression on me was realizing that there's a difference between people who create things and people who work in an organization. Many people who belong to organizations aren't good at going from zero to one. The moment 0 becomes 1, they can't let go of that 1. I thought it was really interesting that creators have a different way of thinking about going from zero to one than people in organizations, and that not only can that 1 become 2 or 3, but they can also choose to throw it away and go back to 0 in the same way.

Another thing I found amazing was that the business people who have issues usually think up all kinds of ideas, so they respond to the designers' suggestions with "I've tried it before, but it didn't work," or "I think it probably won't work," but the designers don't care and insist, "You won't know until you try it." When they actually try it, it certainly ends in failure, but that failure reveals something different.

I thought this was a way of thinking that I, an office worker, don't have. But I also think that the people who will support ASNOVA from now on will be people who can put things into practice like these businesspeople and designers. I felt that this is how new things are born.

Kojima: It's true, failure isn't failure. It's just a verification, and finding the one pattern that fits perfectly out of 100 possibilities. 99 patterns are failures, but without them you can't find the one pattern. If you think carefully about why this failure happened and how it can be connected, and connect paths in various directions, I think you can create an environment where zero to one can emerge with explosive force.

Is there anything you would like to achieve at the next AMP! or anything you would like to improve for the next time?

Takeuchi: This time, AMP! was centered on solving the problems that the theme owners were facing, so it ended up being something that didn't concern the participants. In fact, four people from ASNOVA participated this time, but none of them have been working on the problems with the theme owners on an ongoing basis.

If this had been a topic that required serious thought and solving of problems that ASNOVA faces, either within its own problems or the problems facing scaffolding industry, I think they would have been able to take more initiative, thinking, "This could be the seed for a business someday," or "This could be beneficial for ASNOVA someday."

Kojima: When I participated in the retrospective, I had a question: "This is an ASNOVA program, right?" I think the conversation lacked excitement because there was no weapon of "who am I at ASNOVA and what are my thoughts?" and no independent dialogue was fostered. Next time, I would like to design it so that participants come with questions and hypotheses. As for how to create hypotheses, I think that even non-creators can have a sufficient dialogue as long as they understand ASNOVA's purpose and have a hypothesis that has been digested and broken down from their own perspective.

It will be a little bit more difficult, but next time we need to first create a foundation for dialogue. Then, I think people will be able to see it as something that concerns them personally.

Tanaka: Our CEO, Ueda, also said in the final presentation that he wished he had included more hypotheses, so this ties in with what we're talking about now.

If you are freed from the confines of normality, you will be able to exert incredible power.

If we were to plan a second event in the future, what kind of people would be good to have participate?

Tanaka: This was the first time, and it was positioned as a trial, so we did not have a public recruitment system, but rather had members selected by us in the General Affairs and HR department participate. However, for the second time, we would like to recruit more people regardless of gender or affiliation, and have people raise their hands voluntarily.

Also, while the first session was mainly attended by management level members, we would like to lower the level a little and invite younger members in their second or third year with the company to participate, so that it will be an educational program that can be put to use in the future.

Kojima: Indeed, if you consider the possibility of developing a new business within three years, someone in their third year or less might be best. When you consider breaking down and re-digesting the purpose, or breaking down and thinking about existing resources, I think it's easier for someone with less experience at the company to expand on flexible ideas.

Takeuchi: I think it would be good to expand the area and schedule for the second event. This time, the project involved physically gathering in Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture, so there were conditions that people could come to Sabae and have the time available. For example, if people working in the Kanto region and people working in the Kansai region could meet online to share ideas and deepen discussions, I think the possibilities would be even greater.

Also, because this was a short-term intensive program, it was difficult to continue working part-time while working on my regular job, so I think that by making it a program that can be matured over a period of one or two months, it will be easier to connect with designers and people who support us while also reducing the burden of working part-time. I would like to devise a way to make this project easier to participate in and continue.

Kojima: That's a great idea. If we hold the event online, the participation rate will increase and we can connect with other countries. Considering the time difference, Asia might be a good place to do it. It's not too far from Japan, has a similar culture, and looks similar. On the other hand, Asian countries are already more advanced in terms of technology, for example, and there is much more we can learn from Thailand and Taiwan in terms of sustainability.

One of the attractions of this AMP! program is that it changes your perspective by interacting with people who speak different languages and have different values. Getting to know people from Asia, who are both close and far away, sounds like it's going to be fun.

Takeuchi: I think the problem with office workers is that they get paid if they do the work they're given, so they tend to stop thinking. The AMP! program, which helps them realize this, is really interesting.

Kojima: I hope that through AMP!, participants can go crazy in a sense. I think that when they stop saying "this is normal," they will be able to demonstrate incredible power.

Takeuchi: Even within the company, we tend to use the term "Scaffolding Industry." On the other hand, I came from an industry that had nothing to do with scaffolding, so I just say, "I don't know anything about the scaffolding industry." This may be one of the reasons why we can't create new seeds.

Tanaka: In that sense, it's true that people who have been with the company for about three years are still new to the idea of settling down, so it might be a good idea to target them.

Kojima: When thinking about the direction, we tend to lean towards either "Let's do something new" or "Let's protect it." The AMP! program itself is for new people who join AMP!, but the people who can support their ideas are definitely the seniors who are shaping the current organization. I think that AMP! will always be able to create a state where the old and the new are mixed together.

Takeuchi: It would be interesting if the 6th generation of AMP! students were to help the 20th generation of AMP! students in the future. If the exchange of opinions such as "I used to think like that, but it was a bit naive," and "Based on my experience, I think this will work out well," starts to circulate within the company, I think it will become an incredible company.

Some people will fail in their business, so AMP! may be able to create a system in which their stories of failure can be passed on to the next AMP! member, allowing information to be shared and benefiting the company overall.

Kojima: That's great. If that happens, failure won't be a failure in the long run. I think that's wonderful.

"AMP!" Recording