Being able to see the organizational dynamics at each property and department, and getting clear insight into what needs to be done next

Business overview

Mr. Rei
Koko Global Hospitality Co., Ltd. is a company that mainly operates the “Kokotel” hotel brand in Thailand. I’m Rei (Rei Matsuda), the company’s CEO.

Ms. Nitikoon
As vice president, I oversee operations and other related departments.

Ms. Somsiri
I’m responsible for all human resources-related matters.

Behind the introduction of Motivation Cloud

Mr. Rei :
In our business, in which people play a central role, we recognize that employee engagement and organizational culture are extremely important and represent a source of competitive advantage. Since boosting engagement and reforming organizational culture are essential to competitiveness, we began considering the introduction of an engagement survey.

Ms. Nitikoon:
We were originally working with Asian Identity to reform our HR operations. They recommended that we use Motivation Cloud for engagement surveys, which led us to introduce the service. When I heard an overview of Motivation Cloud, I felt it was exactly what we needed.

Ms. Somsiri:
When starting something new, or when trying to resolve an existing issue, engagement can serve as a driving force. We introduced Motivation Cloud to boost engagement.

Mr. Rei:
To be honest, we didn’t really make any special effort to strengthening engagement even though we knew how important it is. Previously, we’d sometimes gather feedback from headquarter staff about the company and management, but these were limited to interviews with key members, unlike the surveys we now conduct for all our employees with Motivation Cloud.

Difficulties faced in introducing and operating Motivation Cloud

Mr. Rei:
One of the difficulties we faced in conducting the survey was getting as many employees as possible to answer honestly. We have employees with different nationalities and backgrounds working here. Out of the approximately 500 employees who work here, we’ve got many from Thailand as well as from Myanmar. Because of their backgrounds, we thought getting a 100% response rate would be a challenge, and we were concerned about how many employees would answer honestly.

But thanks to your advice on how to get respondents to answer honestly, we were able to collect some very useful data. Looking at the survey results, it was apparent that almost all the employees provided honest, sincere answers.

Ms. Somsiri:
As far as HR was concerned, the key point we took into consideration was ensuring that employees correctly understood which organization the term “team” referred to in the survey questions, and who their “supervisor” was. By providing employees with a detailed explanation in advance, we were able to conduct the survey with a certain degree of understanding.

In addition, by having the resident master (manager) of each hotel carefully explain to employees the significance of the survey, we were able to ensure that things went smoothly.

And we didn’t have any major problems with language, either. Thanks to the inclusion of additional languages, we were able to conduct the survey in English, Thai, Japanese, and Burmese, so our non-Japanese employees were also able to complete the survey.

The value of Motivation Cloud

Mr. Rei:
In the first survey, we saw significant differences in scores depending on the property or the department. It was very interesting for us to see how the organizational dynamics of each property and department were revealed. We were also surprised at how the scores clearly reflected the relationships within each team.

Ms. Nitikoon:
When I first saw the survey questions, they covered more items than I had expected. When a company conducts a survey, I think the questions are narrowed down based on what it is that the organization wants to know. The questions in the Motivation Cloud survey, however, are more wide-ranging and comprehensive, which is why we were surprised by how many insights the results revealed.

For example, we discovered there were items that HR placed almost no importance on that were in fact very important to employees. Thanks to the survey, we were able to get an accurate picture of the situation and ask ourselves where the real issues lie and what the employees want, which I believe played an outsized role in boosting engagement.

Ms. Somsiri:
This enabled us to understand what was important to our employees and identify new improvement and development points to focus on for organizational development. More than just a survey, Motivation Cloud is also a tool that offers insight into what we should do next and, as someone who works in HR, I find it a very reassuring tool to have.

Mr. Rei:
One of the challenges we face is boosting trust in our team leaders. While some teams have built good relationships between the team leader and team members, there were other properties where trust in the leaders was lacking. This was a concern we had from before we introduced Motivation Cloud, but the survey clearly showed the level to which leaders were trusted, and revealed which leaders hadn’t earned trust. Looking ahead, I think it will be important for those leaders who haven’t gained the trust of their team members to implement an action plan to address the matter.

One of the great things about introducing Motivation Cloud is that through regular surveys employees now have a common understanding that the company is making an effort to boost engagement and satisfaction. I feel that having this kind of common understanding provides us with a major advantage in fostering a positive organizational culture.

Ms. Nitikoon:
I feel that Motivation Cloud offers great value by providing an outlet for employees to express their views. Even if a company carries out various measures that it believes are for the sake of its employees, it’s a meaningless gesture if the measures don’t actually meet employees’ expectations. In this regard, Motivation Cloud doesn’t just provide insight into satisfaction but also expectations, which makes it possible to focus on what employees want and meet those expectations.

Mr. Rei:
The advantage that Motivation Cloud offers is that it’s not just a survey or a training program; it’s a comprehensive service that combines surveys and training.

Looking to the future, we feel it’s important to continue to monitor scores. Of course, it’s also meaningful to compare ourselves with other companies in Thailand or Japan, but we also need to compare our performance with our previous results. Having conducted the survey several times, we’ve seen that employees’ expectations are changing. We need to work to ensure we’re always on top of the situation, including these changes in expectations.

Initiatives targeting improvement

Ms. Nitikoon:
One of the things we learned from the survey was that employees wanted communication. Although management and leaders believed that communication was sufficient, in reality it wasn’t enough. Accordingly, we developed and carried out action plans to improve communication.

For example, we’ve made some changes to the the way we organize meetings. In the past, messages from management were delivered by Rei-san in town hall meetings and that was the end of it. But now, after we hold a town hall meeting, we hold a smaller meeting where Rei-san shares the message again to ensure deeper understanding.

Ms. Somsiri:
We provide the resident masters and property managers with feedback on the survey results. The resident masters and other managers communicate as a team, developing and carrying out improvement plans. I think it is a positive step to see each property deciding for itself what it wants to improve, and then drafting and carrying out its own action plan.

Many properties and departments had action plans that included training. Each property or department selects a topic on a weekly or monthly basis and conducts training for its members. The HR department also holds its own training every six months to supplement this training.

One of the action plans that HR drew up was to improve the corporate department. As the head of HR, I make it a point to hold monthly meetings with the heads of each department. I find out how things are going and their needs and provide support if necessary. The meetings I’ve had over the past six months have been very fruitful, so I hope to continue holding them in the future.

Mr. Rei:
As CEO, I’ve set two KPIs (key performance indicators) related to Motivation Cloud: the transmission of our corporate philosophy and building trust in management. The first thing I did to achieve these was revise our purpose and mission and communicate them to our employees. In a new animated video we created, I appear as a cartoon character and explain our purpose and mission in Thai. We thought this would be an effective way to communicate with our Thai employees. By aiming to achieve these two KPIs, we hope to raise our survey scores.

Ms. Somsiri:
After a team or department has prepared its action plan, they share it with other teams and departments, providing an opportunity to exchange views with one another. In the past, many teams didn’t actively communicate with other teams and therefore weren’t able to understand each other’s perspectives. But since we launched this initiative, we’ve seen greater mutual understanding between teams and departments, which has led to progress with action plans.

What we aim to achieve with Motivation Cloud

Mr. Rei:
We want to build an organizational culture in which employees respect each other and help each other to grow. We now have around 500 employees, but we will grow into a larger company with more employees. But regardless of how much our organization expands or how many properties we have, I want us to be a company where everyone shares common values, and we maintain a solid organizational culture. That’s the kind of future I want to achieve with Motivation Cloud.

Ms. Nitikoon:
Ideally, we will be a company where employees can grow while working with peace of mind. And I’d like us to be a company that listens to its employees and acts on what they have to say to bring about change.

Ms. Somsiri:
I want us to be a company that respects the views of each employee. No matter how big the company may grow, I want employees to feel that they can freely express themselves here.