Nemawashi - Good Decision Making in a Disconnected World

Green Bonzai Tree by Quang Nguyen Vinh

The Japanese use the principles of nemawashi in their business lives; it's literal meaning is “to dig round the roots”.  It is a process of preparing a plant for transplant and without proper nemawashi for example, a bonsai tree might not thrive when transplanted.  In these unusual times when Covid-19 has separated and disconnected us, we might find this principle of nemawashi useful to refer to as we struggle to make decisions in a challenging environment.

This idea of ground preparation equates to processes that will improve your decision making based on consensus and help you to make the right choices.  Nemawashi is one of the Toyota Way principles, where building consensus is integral to their ethos of embracing conflict without settling for compromise. 

Basing decisions on a process of complete consensus achieved through nemawashi results in decisions that are strong, cohesive and have the support of everyone involved.  This means ensuring that before you make any decision you implement the following: 

• Proper prior consultation and consideration
• Collecting ideas, suggestions and reviews for possible solutions in a creative way
• Persuasive and collaborative discussion of problems and issues in order to reach agreement to realise potential solutions.   

The objective of nemawashi is to retain harmony and cohesiveness where opinions differ.  By doing this groundwork you can save valuable time that might be lost by implementing the wrong strategy.  Once decisions are reached, rapid implementation can occur and you can effectively hit the ground running.  Having true consensus also means less conflict and less likelihood that someone will want to sabotage the decisions made.  By involving everyone beforehand it also allows people to feel ownership of the eventual solutions, so you get buy-in and motivation. 

In a culture where we are now meeting remotely using different meeting media, we can create the time before we gather together to get this consensus.  Time has taken on a different dimension, patience is becoming something we are more used to, meetings have to be more considered in the way they are set up and conducted. All elements reflected in nemawashi.

So, how do you go about it? The process is one of persuasion and inclusion by conversation and discussion in smaller groups so as to avoid open conflicting opinions.  For example, if you have a particular proposal in mind, or perhaps an issue that needs a solution, then you would typically start your nemawashi by seeking out those key decision makers that would be useful or relevant.  You might choose to casually chat in a small online Zoom (or other) meeting, getting a small group together for an informal discussion, or set up some break-outs during a more structured meeting. The objective is to gauge the other party’s reactions and opinions – are they really enthused, are there some bits they don’t like, do they loathe the idea, do they have any suggestions for improvements? 

 Nemawashi is by its nature, a slow nurturing process. In the last few months of living in a Covid-19 world, we have learned to use time differently so we can embrace this slow, nurturing approach to get really good results.

To make it more powerful here are some questions that embody the idea of nemawashi that you can ask people to consider and bring to the discussion at your main meeting:

• What do I think of the proposal?
• How would I improve the proposal?
• If I make this decision how will I feel – better or worse?
• Do I think this is a fair decision to all involved?
• If I had to defend this decision in a court of law would I feel sure and confident?       

This will allow everyone to bring a clear idea of what decisions they might make and the potential effects of these decisions.  This will invite inclusion, and a sense of readiness to reach consensus without conflict.  The result will be a powerful decision and something sure to succeed, a clear knowledge of why a particular move will not work and some alternatives to take forward.