**1.1 Japanese contexts**

Japan's social systems very much focus on a rapidly aging society. The population started and kept declining after the peak of 2008, and the population pyramid is base-shaped [1], suggesting that fewer young generations need to support the retired. Building or rebuilding the community to accommodate the daily lives of the older adult whose kins do not live together or close to them is critical. We have a welldeveloped public system to provide older adults with welfare services for long-term care insurance. The problem is its sustainability because of the shrinking population, especially those who pay taxes. The national government pushes community inclusiveness providing community members with comprehensive care. Comprehensive

care is mutually exchanged among community members. All members can be a provider and benefiter of the care [2].

It is said that the Japanese values ties within close relationships such as family. We tend to have clear boundaries of "Uchi" (meaning insiders) and "Soto" (meaning outsiders). We appreciate family ties, of which the negative side is independence from the outsider [3]. This aspect makes the Japanese think being not independent is a shame and can cause social isolation when individuals in need do not live with or close to other family members. The family is nowadays nuclear, and generations within a family tend to live in separate locations. With this background, the need for public long-term care services is increasing [4], while the market for private eldercare services is also expanding.

On the other hand, Japanese culture is based on farming, in which mutual support was necessary to sustain the business, such as the management of water and land in the community [3]. Many neighborhood communities are used to or still have good supporting systems on such a base in the culture. Community members take care of each other on a daily base. However, such communities are aging and losing their support systems.

Regaining or gaining capacities for managing mutual support systems in the community is needed, considering the financial backgrounds and societal changes.

#### **1.2 Social work in the community**

The macro perspective comes down to social work practices. In Japan, social work is majorly driven by the public sector. "Social worker" in Japan is usually a nationally qualified social worker ("Shakaifukushishi" in Japanese) or mental health and welfare worker ("Seishinhokenfukushishi") [5]. However, qualifications are not always required. Social workers are also called different names depending on the workplace, such as "life counselor" ("Seikatsusoudainin") in the eldercare facilities and "medical social worker" ("Iryo" social worker) in hospitals.

#### **1.3 Fields of social workers in Japan**

Major employees of social workers in Japan are hospitals or clinics and private medical or welfare companies who contract with local governments to support the management of their long-term care welfare services as subsidiaries.

Social workers, with or without the public qualification, play roles in the delivery processes of long-term care welfare services provided in the community. Although the data is limited to those with the public qualification, about 40% of social workers work for the eldercare facilities, and 14% work for medical care facilities [6]. The data suggests that many social workers play important roles as life counselors in the more general term in Japan.

#### **1.4 What do Japanese social workers do?**

Life counselors provide consultation and support services to the older adults with disabilities, and their families. Those clients are users of eldercare homes, daycare services, and other long-term care welfare facilities. Specifically, they serve as the point of contact for the facility, receiving consultation from the users and their families, performing procedures for admission and discharge from the

*Communication Strategy for Organizational Leadership and Relationships: Liberating Structures DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105806*

facility, and communicating and coordinating with the relevant authorities. They are sometimes called "support counselors," and their job description is the same as that of life counselors.

I used to work with social workers in the community. Many are staff members of the companies contracted with the local government. Social workers are responsible for a particular serving area that is geographically determined. The zoning is based on middle schools, which are areas for individuals to live their daily lives.

In 2016, their job description was changed with the need to rebuild the community's capacities. Although the previous responsibilities included coordination of the services, and they were required to collaborate with other organizations to orchestrate resources to benefit insured clients efficiently and effectively, they now are responsible for facilitating community capacity building. It is a huge additional component that requires them to communicate more and better with professional and community organizations. The community usually has its organizational systems with small committees for child welfare, eldercare, security, natural disaster mitigation, etc. Older communities face the challenges of sustaining the system because fewer younger participate in activities, while newly developed communities face the challenges of building such systems. Those organizational systems are enhancers most times, but they can hinder (re)building community capacities. Hospitals and clinics, and private care providers for the medical and long-term care services in the community are important resources, and their participation in the community capacity building is critical. However, the hierarchy between medicine and welfare can be a hurdle toward the goal.

#### **1.5 Importance of organizational development in social work**

While I attended social workers' challenges in facilitating community capacity building, I realized that the internal capacity was also being developed. The whole process was new to the organization, and it was very important for social workers to share their experiences and lessons learned. The center's director for community comprehensive care services was keen on such needs among staff members. He invited me to such meetings of the sharing, and I occasionally supported meetings. Though it is anecdotal, those internal communication processes secured by the director's leadership enhanced the organizational development and social workers' performances in the community.

In the 2020 spring, the COVID-19 pandemic started challenging our resilience. For many organizations in social work in Japan and other countries, there must be very challenging moments.

When we are flexible and creative, we become resilient and even better under such supposedly bad situations. Organizational performances heavily depend on how well members communicate with each other, affecting flexibility. Being creative requires diversity. From the future perspective, the leader in social work should be even more concerned about the importance of internal communication processes with their quality of diversity.

This chapter focuses on internal and organizational communication processes and their relationship with the leadership in social work. The concept and tool I introduce will apply to the context across organizations. However, the effects of the enhanced organizational capacity with the base of internal communication processes will cascade to the serving community.
