NEWS

On Thursday, January 16, an event entitled "IDGs – Transforming Organizations", consisting of a lecture and a workshop, was held with approximately 30 participants, including APU students and members of the public with diverse backgrounds. Inner Development Goals (IDGs) refer to growth objectives for internal skills. As achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 is becoming increasingly challenging, the idea that human inner growth is essential for solving social issues has gained attention in recent years. Several global corporations and universities have been researching and implementing IDGs. This event was organized as part of the PARKS Change Maker Forum, featuring psychological consultant and CEO of Eternities Inc., Ms. Naoko Uchida, who led both the lecture and workshop.

During the lecture, Ms. Uchida explained the importance of inner growth through IDG initiatives for individuals, organizations, and society as a whole. She introduced Professor Emeritus Robert Kegan from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a scientific advisor for the IDGs, and his theory of adult development. Based on this, she categorized the quantitative expansion of knowledge and qualitative skill improvement as horizontal growth, while defining the expansion of personal capacity and organizational transformation as vertical growth. She emphasized that inner development plays a crucial role in fostering vertical growth and stressed the importance of vertical growth in cultivating adaptability for an uncertain future, highlighting the necessity of inner development for individuals to develop this skill.

In the second half of the event, participants were divided into small, diverse groups of four persons for a dialogue-based workshop on the topic of “Overcoming Challenges Through Diverse Perspectives.” Ms. Uchida emphasized that psychological safety is essential for organizational growth and suggested that group discussions should focus on creating equal opportunities for speaking and practicing social sensitivity by reading others' emotions. The workshop also included an exercise called the "Strengths Interview," which is part of the IDG framework’s five categories. Participants identified their own strengths and then interviewed each other to discover their strengths from others’ perspectives. This provided a valuable opportunity for students to discuss their strengths with people from diverse backgrounds.

Over the course of the hour-long discussion, participants’ expressions became more animated, and they even proposed ways to apply their newly discovered strengths in the future. This highlighted the power and importance of dialogue. Ms. Uchida concluded the session with and encouraging message for the participants: "Leverage your strengths while complementing your weaknesses with others' strengths. Diversity fosters innovation." By fostering self-awareness and teamwork, she inspired the participants to embrace new possibilities for the future.