Industry Updates
Supporting our people with the spirit of Chowa
We sat down with three members of our team to understand how we support a culture of ‘balance’ and ‘harmony’.
As a Japanese company operating in Europe, we have inherited a magnitude of expertise from our cutting-edge technologies, to our internal business culture.
Central to our business culture is the spirit of ‘Chowa’, a Japanese philosophy based on ‘harmony’ and ‘balance’. The essence of Chowa runs through every aspect of our company, from how we collaborate with our business partners, innovate our products, and most importantly support our people.
To understand how Chowa relates to our business, we sat down with three members of our team – Kate Wingate, HR Advisor, and Rosanna Caines, HR Assistant – who provide support to our company as part of an MHI Group shared service. As well as David Suppa, an Account Manager from our sales department who manages several of our European markets.
As with any concept, how we interpret it is essential to how we embody it. Therefore, we asked our colleagues what Chowa means to them and how they integrate it into their roles.
Kate, “Awareness – People are a central part of our business and particularly in the current COVID-19 environment with increased risks to our physical and mental health we need to be aware of the pressures our teams are under and work with our staff and management to create a harmonious environment.
David says, “Satisfaction – Satisfying our diverse stakeholder network, from our customers and business partners to our internal network at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group. It’s important that our actions achieve the right balance and meet if not exceed expectations.”
Rosanna comments, “Compassion – We fundamentally respect the lives of our people, both on a professional and personal level. Companies ultimately benefit from creating a harmonious environment with compassion and empathy as their people feel more committed and motivated to complete their work.”
Pictured left to right: Rosanna Caines, David Suppa, and Kate Wingate.
Collaboration is key here at MHIAE, from building a highly collaborative workforce to supporting our distributors with our expert team of Account Managers. The spirit of Chowa is woven throughout all of our business processes.
Rosanna, “We recruit people who embody the spirit of Chowa, and we actively look for people who can make a great fit into our company as we are looking for teams that work exceptionally well together.”
David, “As an Account Manager, it is important to find the right balance to meet everyone’s needs. In sales, we have to readily adapt and adjust to different perspectives and expectations.
Managing the diversity of needs is not always an easy job – especially in international and intercultural teams. However, by working with our internal pre-sales team and MHI Group, we can actively listen and provide the relevant market insights to improve our product offering.”
To foster a harmonious internal culture we have an open-door policy, and many of our senior leaders including our Managing Director operate with flexible and transparent communication. Our open-door policy remains intact even with many of our colleagues working at home.
Rosanna, “Our Managing Director Ryoichi Kariya has an open-door policy, and we have an open-plan office to support this collaborative culture”. This open approach helps our people work well together and appreciate each other. We have a widespread understanding that every role is important from our Managing Director to our entry-level staff.
There is no small job here at MHIAE, every person matters. So it’s important that we maintain this spirit of Chowa across our business motivate our employees.”
If you are interested in working for us, please visit our career page here, or follow us on LinkedIn to keep up-to-date with the latest news.
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