The worst part of decision-making is presenting to senior leaders or problem owners and receiving a lot of pushback and resistance. The negativity demoralizes you and reduces your credibility. An excellent technique to avoid this situation and to get your ideas accepted is the Japanese method of consensus-building known as nemawashi an informal process to reduce unnecessary friction before officially presenting your idea.
Nemawashi focuses on quietly laying the foundation for some proposed change or project by talking to the people concerned and gathering support and feedback before a formal announcement. It is considered an important element in any major change in the Japanese business environment before any formal steps are taken.
Nemawashi literally translates as "turning the roots", from ne (根, "root") and mawasu (回す, "to turn something, to put something around something else"). Its original meaning was literal: in preparation for transplanting a tree, one would carefully dig around a tree some time before transplanting and trim the roots to encourage the growth of smaller roots that will help the tree become established in its new location.
It can be deflating when you have worked hard to develop effective decisions and then encounter resistance from coworkers and executives. The benefit of nemawashi is that it prepares the team and leaders ahead of time to ensure the optimal decision is accepted. You can accomplish nemawashi through informal conversations (e.g., talks over coffee, lunch meetings, playing golf) in small groups or one-on-one. You can even send the proposal to coworkers separately to get their feedback in advance as you prepare for the face-to-face meeting with senior leaders.
These pre-meetings allow you to present the idea to stakeholders in a way that provides them with time to think about it. This also provides you with the opportunity to get a feel for how each person reacts to the proposed decision, from which you can develop ways to improve the idea or find additional people to discuss the idea. “Showing your cards” early takes more time than just presenting without this prework, but the additional time helps to ensure the team is on board and you have addressed everyone’s feedback, which in turn aids faster implementation because you will not have to go back and fix issues or struggle with unexpected complaints. Try using nemawashi to improve acceptance of your recommendations.
