Hankook & Company Group Chairman Cho Hyun-bum Emphasizes Employee-Led Problem-Solving at Junior Board Workshop

[Financial News] Hankook & Company Group said on the 14th that it held its third- and fourth-quarter Junior Board workshop on the 12th and 13th. The Junior Board brings together young employees to identify ways to improve organizational culture and work processes.
At the workshop, Chairman Cho Hyun-bum emphasized to the employees in attendance that organizational change begins with finding and solving problems themselves, rather than merely solving problems assigned from above. The Junior Board’s fifth cohort has 40 members this year, and Hanon Systems also joined the program this year.
The Junior Board is a talent development and innovation project launched in 2022. Employees with six years or less of service identify areas for improvement in company policies, organizational culture and work processes, and consider possible solutions. Their work proceeds through identifying issues, developing ideas, assessing feasibility and evaluating results.
The theme of the third- and fourth-quarter workshop was “Impact.” In a “conclave”-style intensive debate, employees discussed what conditions would be needed to put their earlier proposals into practice across the organization and what to monitor during implementation, refining the proposals into concrete action plans.
At a management Q&A session that followed, employees asked questions and executives answered them. Topics included Proactive Culture and the group’s strengths, experiences that have shaped its ways of working, and its philosophy on talent development. According to Hankook & Company Group, senior executives, including Chairman Cho, attended and urged employees to grow into “Proactive Leaders.”
Cho Hyun-bum said that employees’ awareness of problems and determination to act are essential for a bottom-up culture to deliver tangible results. “When employees do more than solve problems assigned from above and identify problems themselves, their willingness to solve them grows, and the likelihood that they will take action increases,” he said.
He added, “Rather than stopping at what you already know, you should explore unfamiliar areas with curiosity,” and, “Experiencing a range of fields and developing your own perspective are also essential capabilities for leaders who will shape the future.”
Cho also emphasized that the group should carry forward the traditions and strengths it has built over 85 years while continually modernizing to keep pace with the times. The organization can continue to develop only if a culture takes root in which employees identify problems on the ground, freely share their views and put solutions into practice.
Meanwhile, alongside the Junior Board, Hankook & Company Group runs the Proactive Concert, a communication project involving all employees, and the Proactive Award, which recognizes high-performing teams and employees. The group plans to incorporate voices from the workplace into management and work-related innovation.
[email protected] Kim Dong-chan Reporter