Executive Coaching to Support Japanese Executives Grow Business Globally

As a result of acquisitions of local companies and changes in the business of local subsidiaries are steadily expanding the scope of local business, half of the group's total employees today are non-Japanese based outside of Japan. This also drives the need for a larger cohort of Japanese expatriates who can lead local teams effectively and contribute to the business while also maintaining alignment with the global strategy. ​
While some Japanese companies separate their domestic and overseas operations and staff completely, Tokio Marine’s management saw an opportunity to create a strategic advantage for their business by committing to selecting and training the right person for the right job, regardless of nationality, gender, culture, or other factors – and with no distinction made between domestic and overseas operations.

Tokio Marine engaged us to provide executive coaching during Japanese expats’ first six months abroad to ensure expats established themselves as effective leaders from the start of their overseas assignments. Our coaches helped them adapt to the local teams and business environments without losing sight of their own authentic leadership styles and identities. Through the coaching engagements, Tokio Marine executives developed awareness and insights about how their local teams perceived them, learned how to think about where and why to adapt their leadership styles to fit local culture, built rapport with local team members, and adapted a wider range inclusive leadership strategies.

Japanese expats successfully adapted to their local business environments. In particular, executives reported that coaching helped them avoid the pitfall of pressuring the local teams to adapt a Japanese approach to doing business. Instead, they now extract the essential elements of the Japanese headquarters' way of doing things, think about how to adapt it for the local businesses they run, and lead accordingly.​