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‘Organization management expert’ Koo Ki-wook, CEO of Coopersilitation Group Interview
“Smarter MZ employees… Leaders must change now”
“Kkondae with a reason-MZ conflict… Confrontation is not the best way”
“It is said that the MZ generation (millennials + Generation Z) hates dinner parties? It was the most important thing to have. There were many situations where I had no choice but to obey the demands of the organization because I was in an economically ‘weak’ position, but that’s not the case now.”
Kiwook Koo, CEO of the Cooperation Group, an ‘organizational management expert’, recently <한경닷컴>In an interview conducted with , “Recently, many companies are experiencing conflicts between departments,” and cited the drinking-out culture as a representative example. CEO Koo explained, “In a situation where there are more economic options than in the past, questions about dinner parties began to arise.
“Smarter MZ employees… Leaders must change now”
CEO Koo pointed out that with globalization and the development of information technology (IT), the desire to express one’s opinions has grown. It is said that comprehensive judgment has improved as the overall intellectual level has improved by acquiring information through various channels such as YouTube, podcasts, and media articles, including public education. He said, “In the past, top-down decision-making was made in which decisions were made from the top and executed from the bottom. This has changed,” he said. “Now the time has come for leaders to know how to ‘Facilitation.’
The dictionary meaning of ‘facilitation’ is ‘facilitate’, and it means an act that helps create synergy by actively communicating and cooperating between people.
Cooperation Group is an organization development consulting company established in 2012 for this purpose. Representative Koo, who was a public official in the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in the past, said that it was regrettable that it was difficult to elicit substantial ‘discussion’ at numerous meetings held by the ministry. He said, “The public service society did not really have a meeting. There was a concept of ‘governance’ because it was a way to speak as scheduled and pass the meeting materials, but it was not actually done.” I thought it would be nice to introduce it, but it was difficult to realize it inside unless the minister and vice minister stepped forward. I decided that it would be faster to create a success story from the outside, so I came out and started a business.”
CEO Koo received two master’s degrees in facilitation from the UK prior to starting his business.
“In the case of startups, communication is good when there are less than 20 people, but when the number of employees increases to 50 or more, most of them suffer from internal communication problems. Leaders try to create a system, but members start to make various demands. While leaders have a business vision for 10 to 20 years, employees focus on realistic conditions such as immediate treatment. “Internalization’ time is needed. Of course, going through this process does not completely solve the problem. Conflicts continue to arise, so it is necessary to nurture talents with such problem-solving skills and sometimes seek help from external experts.”
In 2015, the Cooperation Group was awarded the Gold Award at the Facilitation Achievement Award (FIA) hosted by the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). Over the past 10 years, more than 4,000 students have completed the comprehensive facilitation training developed by CEO Koo himself. An average of 20 training sessions are conducted annually.
“Kkondae-MZ conflict historical factors exist… Confrontation is not the best way”
Referring to the case of resolving conflicts between local merchants and street vendors in Cheonan in the past, CEO Koo said, “Local merchants wanted to get rid of the stalls, while the stalls insisted on guaranteeing the right to live. It is to listen to the arguments of both sides and try to understand the other side’s position with a positive attitude,” he pointed out.
He pointed out, “The role of facilitation is not to present a solution to the opposing sides, but to help them find a solution. This is where it differs from consulting.”
Cooperation Group’s success stories include △K Motors and S Electronics fostering internal facilitators and working with them to solve problems in silos (departmental selfishness) and improve systems △H Automobiles responded to changes in the market environment Cases in which the organizational structure was newly established through participation and discussion according to the guidelines △ A case in which a new product concept was established with the participation of members in a B food franchise company and led to product development was heard.
CEO Koo said, “Recently, as the voices of partners grew louder, a request for facilitation came from a large company. In the case of large companies, the culture of ‘relationship with the best’ with their partners is somewhat familiar, but these days, this culture is getting less and less effective in the field.” “The conversation in a ‘collaborative mood’ has become important to understand what the situation is, the best you can do, and how far you can help,” he explained.
He explained that the civil revolution that gave birth to modern democracy had an impact on the comparatively well-established facilitation in Western society. “On the other hand, in Korea, coercion has become commonplace through dynasties, Japanese colonial rule, and dictatorship. However, recently, As the awareness that this kind of culture is undesirable spreads in
“The dream of fostering 4.5 million facilitators in Korea…will help ‘happy world'”
The Facilitation Group, led by CEO Koo, has its own research and development model for diagnosis of reflective tissue. Through this, the total reflecting organization index can be confirmed. CEO Koo said, “An important criterion for determining whether an organization is alive is ‘reflection. The future of the organization will be determined by whether the process of finding the best answer is carried out well,” he emphasized. Conflicts continue to arise, so ‘coordination’ is always necessary.
Although the need for facilitation has recently emerged, he regretted that there was a lack of talent development programs. Although there are many excellent human resource development (HRD) courses in graduate schools, most of them focus on individual development, so organizational development programs are lacking. CEO Koo said, “The field experience is very important for organizational development capabilities, but educational institutions are research-oriented.” said.
Having written books such as 《Reflective Organization》, 《Democratic Decision Methodology》, 《Agile Organization》, he plans to publish a book that compiles his experiences and methodologies accumulated so far in May. He also plans to hold a commemorative special event to share special lectures and empirical cases by inviting world-renowned facilitation instructors. He said, “There were many reactions that the concept of facilitation was unfamiliar to me 10 years ago, but as I made successful cases and more people were interested, I think I was able to achieve education up to the 200th class.” I hope you know the presentation and use it.”
CEO Koo said, “In the case of recent problems such as low birth rate and youth unemployment, there is no issue belonging to only one ministry, and multiple ministries need to cooperate to establish policies. He added, “Ultimately, our ambition is to create a ‘happy world’ by fostering 4.5 million domestic facilitators.”
Reporter Jo Ara Hankyung.com rrang123@hankyung.com
Photo = Byun Seong-hyun, reporter at Hankyung.com byun84@hankyung.com