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一位CEO的成功秘诀:尽可能减少开会

一位CEO的成功秘诀:尽可能减少开会

Amiah Talyor 2022-02-24
提高工作效率和健康发展的真正秘诀并不是每周四天工作制,而是零会议工作日。

别再想什么“每周四天工作制”了。关键在于“零会议工作日”。

至少Evernote的前首席执行官菲尔·利宾这样认为。利宾现任软件与视频通讯公司mmhmm的首席执行官以及开发人工智能产品的AllTurtles公司的联合创始人及首席执行官。

利宾最近在推特(Twitter)上写道:“提高工作效率和健康发展的真正秘诀并不是每周四天工作制,而是零会议工作日。”

到底什么是“零会议”?

这并非利宾首次表态反对开会。他于2004年创建的Evernote禁止召开视频会议。他在2020年5月创建了mmhmm,并将对于开会的排斥带到了这家公司,他在2021年夏季取消了大部分大型会议。利宾对会议的定义是同时与超过三个人进行讨论。

他告诉《财富》杂志:“如果与会人数达到20人,通常只有1个人在讲话,另外19个人在假装专心。如果尽可能多地取消会议,你可以说:‘我们20个人没有必要在同一时间上线。这有什么必要呢?我们为什么不利用科技手段,尽量进行异步通信?’这样一来,我们就能够避免被同步文化左右。”

关于所谓的“异步通信”,利宾提到他喜欢预先录制好视频分享给员工的习惯,让所有人可以随时按照自己的速度听视频的内容。例如,他表示,他曾经参加过长达四个小时的“无聊的”董事会会议,但现在高管会将5至10分钟预先录制的视频提前发送给董事会成员,董事会能够在方便的时候观看。mmhmm不鼓励召开集体会议。利宾称,自从他在该公司执行新政策以来,会议数量从2021年至今减少了超过80%。

但利宾的“零会议”理念一个关键组成部分是将大型集体会议与一对一交流区分开来。他完全支持后者。

利宾说:“在所有人看过预先录制的视频之后,如果我们有必要进行简单的交流,当然可以。”

mmhmm并没有彻底禁止集体会议。

利宾表示:“我们高度信任员工,如果有人认为开会是解决问题的最佳途径,他们可以自由安排召开会议。”

利宾指出,自从公司尽量减少开会以来,总体工作效率持续改善,员工工作节奏不断加快。

他说:“在这方面,我们还在摸索阶段,但到目前为止,与以前以会议为中心的文化相比,我们已经有更多收获,而且这种做法让人感觉更健康。”

全力支持远程办公

利宾指出,mmhmm从2020年5月开始全部改为远程办公,而且公司并没有实体办公室。但他更喜欢用“完全分布式办公”这种说法,因为这种说法更符合他的出发点。

他告诉《财富》杂志:“我们不喜欢‘远程’这种说法,因为它意味着我们远离了中心。而我们没有中心,所以我们是‘完全分布式办公’,我们的员工遍布美国的20多个州和10多个国家。”

所有人都居家办公或在他们自己选择的地方办公,没有任何员工需要前往办公室。利宾表示他之所以决定不设立一处实体总部,并不是为了省钱,相反他每月给员工发放800美元津贴,用于创建理想的工作空间,而不是将这笔钱用来支付办公室租金。

他认为,面对劳动力市场的现状,支持远程办公是留住员工的关键。

对于过去六个月创记录的离职人数,他说:“这并不是大辞职潮(Great Resignation)。而是人们选择离开糟糕的公司。为什么?因为他们没有自主权。他们被迫重新回到办公室。这破坏了他们的生活。”

《当代心理学》(Current Psychology)杂志近期发表的一篇论文称,新冠疫情期间,员工普遍出现了职业倦怠,他们渴望在工作中拥有更多的个人自主权。

支持“商旅休闲化”

除了远程办公,利宾还是商旅休闲化的支持者。所谓商旅休闲化是指职场人士能够在海滩等风景秀丽的地方远程办公,这种趋势开始日益流行。

利宾表示,mmhmm的销售副总裁决定在夏威夷远程办公几周,因为他的家人在夏威夷,利宾完全支持他的决定。

利宾说:“去夏威夷吧。去度假还是去工作?我不关心。归根结底,评估员工只有一个标准,那就是他们是否发挥了应有的作用。”(财富中文网)

翻译:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

别再想什么“每周四天工作制”了。关键在于“零会议工作日”。

至少Evernote的前首席执行官菲尔·利宾这样认为。利宾现任软件与视频通讯公司mmhmm的首席执行官以及开发人工智能产品的AllTurtles公司的联合创始人及首席执行官。

利宾最近在推特(Twitter)上写道:“提高工作效率和健康发展的真正秘诀并不是每周四天工作制,而是零会议工作日。”

到底什么是“零会议”?

这并非利宾首次表态反对开会。他于2004年创建的Evernote禁止召开视频会议。他在2020年5月创建了mmhmm,并将对于开会的排斥带到了这家公司,他在2021年夏季取消了大部分大型会议。利宾对会议的定义是同时与超过三个人进行讨论。

他告诉《财富》杂志:“如果与会人数达到20人,通常只有1个人在讲话,另外19个人在假装专心。如果尽可能多地取消会议,你可以说:‘我们20个人没有必要在同一时间上线。这有什么必要呢?我们为什么不利用科技手段,尽量进行异步通信?’这样一来,我们就能够避免被同步文化左右。”

关于所谓的“异步通信”,利宾提到他喜欢预先录制好视频分享给员工的习惯,让所有人可以随时按照自己的速度听视频的内容。例如,他表示,他曾经参加过长达四个小时的“无聊的”董事会会议,但现在高管会将5至10分钟预先录制的视频提前发送给董事会成员,董事会能够在方便的时候观看。mmhmm不鼓励召开集体会议。利宾称,自从他在该公司执行新政策以来,会议数量从2021年至今减少了超过80%。

但利宾的“零会议”理念一个关键组成部分是将大型集体会议与一对一交流区分开来。他完全支持后者。

利宾说:“在所有人看过预先录制的视频之后,如果我们有必要进行简单的交流,当然可以。”

mmhmm并没有彻底禁止集体会议。

利宾表示:“我们高度信任员工,如果有人认为开会是解决问题的最佳途径,他们可以自由安排召开会议。”

利宾指出,自从公司尽量减少开会以来,总体工作效率持续改善,员工工作节奏不断加快。

他说:“在这方面,我们还在摸索阶段,但到目前为止,与以前以会议为中心的文化相比,我们已经有更多收获,而且这种做法让人感觉更健康。”

全力支持远程办公

利宾指出,mmhmm从2020年5月开始全部改为远程办公,而且公司并没有实体办公室。但他更喜欢用“完全分布式办公”这种说法,因为这种说法更符合他的出发点。

他告诉《财富》杂志:“我们不喜欢‘远程’这种说法,因为它意味着我们远离了中心。而我们没有中心,所以我们是‘完全分布式办公’,我们的员工遍布美国的20多个州和10多个国家。”

所有人都居家办公或在他们自己选择的地方办公,没有任何员工需要前往办公室。利宾表示他之所以决定不设立一处实体总部,并不是为了省钱,相反他每月给员工发放800美元津贴,用于创建理想的工作空间,而不是将这笔钱用来支付办公室租金。

他认为,面对劳动力市场的现状,支持远程办公是留住员工的关键。

对于过去六个月创记录的离职人数,他说:“这并不是大辞职潮(Great Resignation)。而是人们选择离开糟糕的公司。为什么?因为他们没有自主权。他们被迫重新回到办公室。这破坏了他们的生活。”

《当代心理学》(Current Psychology)杂志近期发表的一篇论文称,新冠疫情期间,员工普遍出现了职业倦怠,他们渴望在工作中拥有更多的个人自主权。

支持“商旅休闲化”

除了远程办公,利宾还是商旅休闲化的支持者。所谓商旅休闲化是指职场人士能够在海滩等风景秀丽的地方远程办公,这种趋势开始日益流行。

利宾表示,mmhmm的销售副总裁决定在夏威夷远程办公几周,因为他的家人在夏威夷,利宾完全支持他的决定。

利宾说:“去夏威夷吧。去度假还是去工作?我不关心。归根结底,评估员工只有一个标准,那就是他们是否发挥了应有的作用。”(财富中文网)

翻译:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

Forget about four-day workweeks. It’s all about “zero meeting days.”

At least according to Phil Libin, the former CEO of Evernote, current chief of mmhmm, a software and video communications company, and the cofounder and CEO of AllTurtles, a company that builds A.I. products.

“The real win for productivity and health isn’t the four-day workweek, it’s the zero-meeting workday,” Libin recently wrote on Twitter.

So what exactly is “zero meetings”?

This isn’t the first time that Libin has come out swinging against meetings. At Evernote, which Libin founded in 2004, video meetings were banned. And he has taken his overall distaste with him to mmhmm, which he founded in May 2020, by canceling most large meetings in the summer of 2021. Libin defines meetings as synchronous discussions with more than three people.

“If you have a meeting of 20 people, it's usually one person talking and 19 people pretending to pay attention,” Libin tells Fortune. “But if you get rid of as many meetings as possible, you say, ‘Well, the 20 of us don't have to be online at the exact same time talking. Why would we need to? Why don't we use technology to communicate as much as possible asynchronously?’ That way you free yourself from the tyranny of having a synchronous culture.”

By “asynchronously,” Libin is referring to his habit of sharing prerecorded videos with his staff that everyone can listen to at their own time and at their own speed. For example, Libin says, he used to have four-hour “boring” board meetings, but now executives send five- to 10-minute prerecorded videos to board members in advance that the board can watch when they’re ready. Group meetings are discouraged at mmhmm, and Libin says own meetings have dropped by over 80% since 2021, when he instituted the new policy.

But a key component of Libin’s “no meetings” philosophy is that he differentiates large group meetings from one-on-one conversations, which he fully endorses.

“If we need to have a brief conversation after everyone has already watched the recording, we can do that,” Libin told Fortune.

And group meetings at mmhmm aren’t banned outright.

“We obviously trust our employees, so if someone decides that a meeting is the best way to solve a problem, they’re free to schedule it,” Libin tells Fortune.

Since making the change to minimal meetings companywide, Libin reports that overall productivity has improved and that his employees are working faster.

“We’re still new to this but, so far we’ve accomplished a lot more than we would have with the previous meeting-centric culture, and it feels healthier,” Libin told Fortune.

All-in on remote work

Libin says that his workforce at mmhmm went fully remote in May 2020, and the company does not have a physical office. However, he prefers to use the term “fully distributed,” because it is more intentional.

“We don’t like the word ‘remote’ because it implies that we’re remote from something central. Since we have no center, we’re ‘fully distributed’ and have staff in over 20 states and a dozen countries,” Libin told Fortune.

Everyone works from home, or a place of their choosing, and no employee ever has to commute into the office. Libin says his decision not to have a physical headquarters was not the result of a desire to save money, and he gives his employees an $800 monthly stipend to create their own ideal work space instead of paying for a company office.

He believes that the ability to work remotely is key to employee retention with the current labor realities.

“This is not a Great Resignation,” Libin told Fortune, referring to the record number of people who have left their jobs over the past six months. “It’s just that people are leaving shitty places. And why are people leaving? Because they don't have autonomy. They're being forced to go back to the office. It's disrupting their lives.”

The pandemic has seen workers experience widespread burnout and the desire to have more personal autonomy in job roles, according to a recent study from Current Psychology.

Pro “bleisure”

Apart from remote work, Libin is also a fan of bleisure, a rising trend in which professionals work remotely from scenic destinations, like the beach.

Libin says that his VP of sales at mmhmm decided to work from Hawaii for a few weeks because he has family there, and that he fully supported that decision.

“Go be in Hawaii,” Libin said. “Are you on vacation? Are you working? I don't care. Ultimately, the only thing that you should evaluate employees on is whether or not they have the impact that they're supposed to have.”

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