My story about participating in the 10X Innovation Culture Program at Google

Hello, this is HOKA from the Human Resources Group. (I have also written an article in the past called Let's Create a Human Resources Group - Behind the Scenes of an Organization that Grew to 300 Employees in Three Years , so please take a look at that article as well.)

On March 28, 2024, just three days before the end of 2023, 40 members of KINTO Technologies' Development Support Division from Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo gathered at the Google office in Shibuya, Tokyo to participate in the 10X Innovation Culture Program. Here is a report on the event.

What is 10X Innovation Culture Program?

The 10X Innovation Culture Program is a leadership program designed to create an organizational environment that fosters innovation. It was launched by Google Japan in September 2023.
The program consists of three key elements: online training, assessment tools, and a solution packages.

1. Through the online training, participants learn about the "Think 10X" concept.
2. Assessment tools help participants understand their current position and identify issues.
3. The solution packages provide strategies to solve those issues.
   This program allows participants to naturally integrate innovative ideas and knowledge into their own organizations.

How it started

Awache from our DBRE, is one of the management team members of Corporate Culture and Innovation Subcommittee, at Jagu'e'r and has shown a strong interest in the 10X Innovation Culture Program. When the program was launched, Awatchi organized a project to gather some volunteers from within the company to experience a light version of the program at the Google office. I participated, and that's how it all began.
It was so enjoyable and I learned so much that when I shared it at the morning meeting the next day, everyone was enthusiastic about the idea. The manager suggested, "Let’s do this with the entire team!” and the division head immediately approved, saying, "If it's just for the Development Support Division, I can authorize it myself!" With this excitement, before we knew it, the event was quickly organized.
Even before getting approval from the president or vice president, we had already decided to go ahead with this plan. I appreciate our company’s culture and sense of speed.
From then on, we began a process of trial and error to see how we could conduct this on a large scale with over 40 people in the entire Development Support Division (lol).

The road to implementation

At first, we were thinking of conducting it just with our own team members, but that would make it difficult to expand to divisions other than the Development Support Division. To achieve the "10X Innovation Culture," we must fully understand it ourselves and be able to speak about it with confidence.
Therefore, this time we decided to hold a 10X Culture Program at a Google office run by Google employees. The goal was to learn how to run the program effectively and to train the "facilitators" who could conduct it within our company in the future.
When we carried out a survey within the Development Support Division to find members interested in becoming a facilitators, 17 members responded that they wanted to take on this role. Those from non-HR members were included, regardless of occupation or gender. (They participated in the 10X Culture Program with the intention of becoming facilitators.)
Once the overall lineup was decided, two people from Google, Awatchi, and HOKA took the lead in planning the content. Drawing on the experience I gained from taking the course in October 2023, we decided to watch the videos and complete the assessments in advance so we could concentrate more on the discussions.

• Preparatory meeting online
  • Watch 6 videos
  • Take an assessment
• 10X innovation culture program at Google office
  • Understanding trends in the Development Support Division from assessment results
  • Conduct two discussions

We held a preparatory meeting (March 20th)

Awatchi also started preparations for the first preparatory meeting. However,

• the assessment tool provided didn't work as expected!
  • Awatchi solved it with brute force.
• There were no assessments available in English!
  • So we requested an English translation from an in-house specialist.
• There were no English videos either!
  • So we used YouTube's translation tool.
    Various issues arose, and we received help from people both inside and outside the company. 24% of KINTO Technologies' employees are foreign nationals. This was a moment that made me realize once again the importance of being able to speak English.
    Awatchi acted as the facilitator for the preparatory meeting. We watched the 10X Innovation Culture Program videos one by one and then answered the assessments, repeating the process. At the end of the preparatory meeting, the results were shared on the spot via Looker Studio, an assessment tool. Participants were able to see trends within the Development Support Division overall and within each group, which made them more enthusiastic.

On the day (March 28th)

Finally, the day arrived on March 28th. A total of 40 people from Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya gathered at the Google office. The event was held at the Google office, which is usually hard to get into, so I felt like a total tourist (lol).

The facilitators on the day were Rika and Kota from Google.
At the opening, they explained what the "10X" in the 10X Innovation Culture Program stands for, using examples from Google.

Everyone listened attentively and took notes.
And finally, the discussion began. To make the most of the limited time available, participants were divided into groups of around five to discuss "intrinsic motivation" and "risk-taking," areas which had shown potential for improvement in the preparatory assessment results.

In the "intrinsic motivation" section, we discussed points such as "what is needed to approach daily work with passion" and "how can this be achieved within the company?" On the other hand, in the "risk-taking" section, participants exchanged opinions on topics such as "how to lower the psychological hurdles when taking on new challenges" and "how to create a culture that tolerates failure."
The facilitator's role here was to lead each group. In this culture session discussion, it was important to ensure everyone had a chance to speak and to keep the discussions broad without focusing too much on individual points.
The agreement for conducting the workshop, presented by Google, included the following points:

• Basic premises
  • See it as an opportunity to learn
  • Accept that mistakes are normal
• Notes
  • Be aware of the impact your words have on those around you
  • Interpret all opinions as being given in good faith.
  • Don't share what others have said outside the group
• Let's Enjoy Google Culture!
  • Let's call each other by nicknames

These were very important points for making group work smooth and lively.
Here is the actual discussion scene:

The session was very exciting from start to finish, and at the same time, we were able to learn about our own challenges and understand what we could do to improve them.
Here are the actual survey results.

We also received some nice comments from the two of the Google staffs!

• Rika

Thank you for your hard work! This excitement was only possible thanks to the advance preparations made by everyone here, so let me once again express my gratitude to you all! We were also energized by the enthusiastic participants at the workshop.💪 I believe that the way you are moving forward with cultural transformation at your company will influence other companies as well!

• Kota

Thank you very much for this valuable opportunity! I was overwhelmed by everyone's enthusiasm. I hope this will be the catalyst for KINTO's cultural development to move to the next stage. I'm rooting for you! We hope to develop further initiatives from here, so please continue to support us.😃

Epilogue

As it was the end of March, it coincided with the goal-setting period at KINTO Technologies. After participating in this program, we heard many people say things like, "That’s not 10X, is it?." This made me realize that each and every one of us has begun to think more seriously than ever before about what we want our organization to be.
We also decided to introduce Google’s famous "20% rule" in the Development Support Division. Previously, there was a hesitation to adopt this program due to the impression that "only Google can do this." However, experiencing this program firsthand changed our mindset to "maybe we can do it too."
Moreover, it has been decided that another event will be held by the Development Support Division, three months from now, at the end of June (which is coming up soon). This time we will run it ourselves. We are also preparing to introduce the program in other divisions.
The role of facilitators will be crucial.
How was it?
If you feel that your company culture has challenges or if you want to improve your company, I highly recommend checking out the 10X Innovation Culture Program. You will surely gain valuable insights.

Announcement

Google Cloud Next Tokyo '24 Speaker confirmed👏👏

On August 2, 2024, our company's Development Support Division General Manager, Kishi, and Awatchi, who is promoting 10X within the company, will be speaking at Google Cloud Next Tokyo '24 to introduce the 10X Innovation Culture Program’s experience workshop.
They will share our honest thoughts about how we felt through this experience, so please drop by if you have time.