Hokkai-Gakuen University Sugawara Hideyuki Laboratory and KENT PLANNING LLC Sign Agreement

Hokkai-Gakuen University’s Sugawara Hideyuki Laboratory and KENT PLANNING LLC, a company engaged in real estate investment consulting and property leasing, represented by Takeshi Okada, have signed an agreement on the development of next-generation global leaders. The agreement aims to combine theoretical research at the university with practical knowledge from business, in order to cultivate self-directed talent required in global environments. Under the agreement, the parties will promote the joint development and implementation of global leadership development programs, provide practical programs where university students and corporate personnel learn together, introduce educational methods centered on questioning, dialogue, and reflection, conduct joint research on leadership and human resource development, and visualize and communicate educational outcomes to society. A key feature of this initiative is the shift from education that teaches to education that helps participants notice, think, decide, and act on their own. Through a coaching-based approach that the Sugawara Laboratory has developed over many years, the program emphasizes each participant’s process of awareness, thinking, decision-making, and action. It aims to encourage a shift from waiting for instructions to proactive behavior, build organizations with high psychological safety, and improve decision-making based on diverse values. In recent years, as labor shortages and employee turnover have become increasingly serious issues for companies, the importance of non-cognitive abilities, such as the ability to think, decide, and act independently, has grown alongside knowledge. At the same time, a gap remains between university education and corporate workplaces, and practical leadership development systems have not yet been fully established. Against this background, the agreement seeks to build a new model of human resource development through collaboration between education and practice. As the foundation of this initiative, the parties have continuously held monthly Youth Juku and President Juku sessions at 4PLA, formerly 4-chome Plaza. Past lecturers have included Masayuki Nojiri, president of Donguri; Kenichi Kambayashi, former president of Sapporo Marui Mitsukoshi; Osamu Kato, deputy mayor of Sapporo; and Koji Abe, president of Sapporo Dome. Through these efforts, they have built a practical learning venue with a cumulative total of 1,120 participants. Going forward, the parties plan to implement the program in corporate training and university education based on the agreement, systematize the results as research, and share them domestically and internationally.