As a strong organization with shared values, we take on the challenge of solving unseen social issues

INDEX

• Why was it necessary to put values into words now?
• Towards values that are linked to employee behavior
• It is not something to be memorized, but rather a guide for daily behavior.

Why was it necessary to put values into words now?

-Why did you decide to establish values?

Ishizaki: Seventy years have passed since our founding, and both our employees and social issues have become significantly more diverse. It's precisely because of this that we felt a strong need for a shared set of values to achieve our vision and mission statement. Our six values were crafted and created by our management team. Our role was to embed our company's unique identity within them. Our goal is to identify social issues that change with the times and those of the future, and to solve them through services centered on infrastructure engineering. Solving complex and diverse challenges both in Japan and overseas requires not only civil engineering skills but also the combined efforts of diverse professionals. Sharing common values about "what is important to us as we move forward with our business" is crucial for each employee to fully utilize their abilities and maximize their performance. Our management team also shared this message: "Psychological safety is ensured when employees understand our values and believe they are part of a team that shares the same values. They can be fearless, speak up about their mistakes, discuss their true feelings, and learn from each other openly. Sharing common values is essential to creating an organization where each individual can perform at their best." (Takayuki Goto, Director/Board Member Executive Officer)

- Were your values quickly accepted by employees?

Ishizaki: When we first established our values, they were just "keywords," and I think employees just thought, "Well, those are obvious values..." But this was a reaction we had anticipated, and together with management we felt that a bottom-up, sustained effort was needed to ensure that the values, which are the compass set by management, would sink into employees' hearts and lead to action.

Towards values that are linked to employee behavior

How did you get your employees to take action?

Ishizaki: After the management team established the values, they set up a "Values Working Group (WG)" with one person participating from each business division and each regional Headquarters and branch office. They held repeated discussions on how to share the values and how to link them to concrete actions by employees. Incidentally, Motohashi-san, who was a representative member of Land Infrastructure Div. at the time, is now here as a member of Corporate Strategy & Planning Dept..

Motohashi: In the WG, we took on the challenge of translating the 12 keywords presented by management - "fairness and integrity, responsibility and contribution, passion and challenge, co-creation and collaboration, diversity and acceptance, and happiness and security" - into concrete words that would link to our actions. I was a little worried that defining these keywords would actually cause backlash, since everyone has their own values. However, as we continued to discuss the topic in the WG, I began to feel that each keyword is essential for us to carry out our own work, and that we should clarify them as shared values for all employees. Being involved in this process was a valuable experience for me as well.

--What specific discussions did you have?

Motohashi: We came up with a sentence to explain the specific actions each of the 12 keywords refers to. We focused on three points: "Is it appropriate as a standard of judgment?", "Does it represent PACIFIC CONSULTANTS?", and "Can it be communicated to all employees?". We therefore proposed a set format consisting of a declaration and a question to serve as a basis for daily decisions. For example, for the third value, "Passion and Challenge," we wrote:

We put into words the words used daily within the company and the tacit knowledge of "our company's norms" and "PACIFIC CONSULTANTS' identity," and created a form that allowed us to ask ourselves what makes PACIFIC CONSULTANTS unique.

Ishizaki: "Passion and Challenge" are words that many companies use as their guiding principles, but the expression "identifying unseen social issues" is unique to us and not found in other companies. Working group members believe that the attitude of quickly identifying undiscovered issues, devising solutions, and linking them to our vision of "Producing the Future" is what makes PACIFIC CONSULTANTS unique, and that this is something our employees always think about. Furthermore, "Face the essence without being bound by precedent" also expresses our self-discipline that we must not be a company that simply responds to customer requests. Even if a request is presented, going back to the essence and questioning whether it is the true answer leads to the value we offer. We have accumulated this process of turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge in all areas.

Motohashi: In addition to considering whether it was an appropriate standard for judgment and whether it was typical of PACIFIC CONSULTANTS, we also took care to avoid expressions like "engineers" and "technology company" in order to ensure it was conveyed to all employees. Our company is a technical services company related to social infrastructure, so technical ability is at the core, and it is true that we have many engineers, but everyone, including administrative and sales staff, works as professionals to create an organization. If we described ourselves as a "technology company," some people might think, "That's not me." With that in mind, when it comes to "co-creation and collaboration," we use the expression, "We believe in the power of multiplying expertise, and our entire group will work together to achieve this."

--It seems like you gained a lot from the WG discussions.

Motohashi: It was a big change. When I first heard about the 12 keywords, I took them lightly as ordinary and common, but I realized that each one has a deeper meaning and that each value has its own expression that is unique to PACIFIC CONSULTANTS. My understanding deepened, and it made sense to me once again, as I realized that this is what my company's "fairness and integrity" and "responsibility and contribution" mean. I was able to experience the process of the 12 keywords becoming my own values.

It is not something to be memorized, but rather a guide for daily behavior.

-What efforts are you making to raise awareness and spread awareness?

Ishizaki: The six values are not something to be framed and displayed, or recited at morning assemblies. What's important is that actions based on these values are actually born. That's why we've been working on a variety of initiatives since the values were established in 2024.

--Mr. Motohashi has been transferred to Corporate Strategy & Planning Dept., where he is now in charge of promoting the product.

Motohashi: Yes, I'm considering measures based on my own experience, which gradually became closer to our values through discussions in the working group. One example is the "checklist." The six values and 12 keywords are meaningless unless they serve as a guide for action. So, using "questions," we created the "Values Year-Looking Back Checklist." It asks questions for each value and allows participants to self-check. By reflecting on their own actions, they can also consider whether they are embodying those values. Incidentally, Headquarters was the first to use this checklist. He shared his own year-long review of the checklist during an "Organization and Human Resources Management Training" session attended by Director General General Manager of Regional Headquarters/Branch Office and branch managers, and encouraged leaders to use it. It is now being used by each headquarters, regional Headquarters, branch, Dept., and division. We also encourage employees to link their actions with their values by having them indicate which values they value when applying for the annual Pacific Award, an internal company recognition program. We believe that the important thing is not to have people memorize our values, but to provide a system that allows them to remember and be aware of them in their daily activities.

Ishizaki: In recent in-house training sessions, the employee in charge of the training has been introducing "the values I hold dear." During the opening remarks for each day's new employee training this spring, 10 Executive Officer took turns introducing "my values." I feel this also provides an opportunity for executives, superiors, and colleagues to get to know each other through their values. However, we also believe in never forcing our values on employees. That would be uncharacteristic of PACIFIC CONSULTANTS. We intend to continue to find ways to naturally foster awareness of our values and create opportunities for team sharing, such as by providing tools for team building and enhancing communication. What we aim to achieve through our values is to create an environment where each individual can maximize their abilities, thereby maximizing the power of the team and the entire company. To realize our mission statement, we must establish a foundation of shared values that will channel the diverse talents of our diverse workforce. We intend to continue our steady efforts to ensure that our six values become a living guide for our employees.