Minami Family HR System Imprementation Report (1)

The “Minami Family HR System” introduced at New Year’s this year was the first HR system for families, and the response was unprecedented.

I am relieved to know that not only the Minami family but also all families with kids are concerned about child rearing so I plan to frequently post updates on the implementation and operation of the system as a reminder and to report back to you all.

So, here is the first part of the report.

[Current status]
∙ The system will be officially introduced in April, and now, we are in the process of rating children.
∙ Evaluating behavior up to the end of March against the requirements for behavior evaluation and determining the grade from April.
∙ The system is still rarely discussed in daily life (= 0% penetration)
∙ The results of the provisional grading showed that all three were graded A (the lowest tier).

In this situation, the first step is to permeate the expectations from the parents defined in the system.

[What we did]
We did the three activities as follows:
1. Discussed the behavioral evaluation of the three daughters with the parents, item by item, and tentatively rated them
2. We met with each of the daughters and explained each criteria, the good behaviors, the behaviors that needed improvement, and the tentative ratings as of the end of January.
3. Question and answer session

The session was already full of insights!

[What we learned]
∙ It is even more difficult to find “good behaviors” with children! Especially when they are still small, like first graders in elementary school, it is even harder to find them!
→It is really important to ask “good behavior” from children first. Of course, this can be used as input to ensure the fairness of the evaluation, and as a side effect, it will lead to a better understanding of the evaluation criteria.
∙ I tried to give the evaluation results as matter-of-factly as possible at work, but when I told the children in a matter-of-fact manner, my daughter bursted into tears because the grade was lower than she thought…
→However, when I told my child nonchalantly, my daughter started to cry… I told her that:
– it was natural for the evaluation to be low since it had only been a short time since the system was explained,
– I had seen and understood that she had such good points,
– and that it would be a chance for her to move up(= how to grow up) to a higher grade if she did this. As overall, a careful approach is essential.
∙ The next day, one of my daughters was helping her youngest sister by guiding her to get ready for school in the morning.
→I realized that unless each of these actions are recorded and reflected in the evaluation, children will stop believing in this system and as a result, parents’ expectations will not permeate the system.

It has only been a month since we started the program, but it is full of awareness, learning, and effectiveness.

I will report back next month!