把企业文化转化为生产力

现代管理学之父彼得•德鲁克曾说过这样一句名言：“文化能把战略当午餐吃掉”（Culture eats strategy for lunch）。人们以往总觉得文化对于企业来说是婆婆妈妈的东西，但现在却不一样了。如果你身后没有一套明确的文化，你就无法有效执行你的战略。企业文化出了问题，公司就会出现裂痕——不光是士气下降，利润和绩效也会随之下降。这就是为什么文化必须成为任何企业转型的核心部分。

然而，作为领导者，我们常常不太懂得如何才能把企业文化转化为生产力。许多企业都有诚实、尊重、卓越等等听起来颇为“高大上”的文化价值，但如果这些价值没有反映到具体行为上，它们就会很快消失。如果领导者过分强调了某些属性，忽视了其它属性，就会出现所谓的“光环效应”。

比如，我们常常过分强调魄力而贬低谦卑，总是有人说，我们应该发挥领袖气质，展现强悍的作风，以显示我们的力量。但事实上，一个企业要想获得成功，就需要各种各样的领导品质。一种企业文化如果只认可和赞赏同一套领导品质，就会导致协作、创造和创新水平下降。如果我们只赞赏那些说话嗓门最大、挥手姿式最坚决的人，那我们就会忽略种类多样的其他才能。如果员工们觉得他们必须要抛弃自己的一些核心的行为方式才能成功，那么我们就不会取得最好的成绩。

让人们抛弃自我变成别人，永远都不会奏效。

我是从个人经验里学到这一点的。在我的职业生涯历程中，曾有几个经理人告诉我，要尽可能多地“大声说话”，在会议上要更“霸气”一些。他们说这是一个领导用来展示力量的手段，也是往上爬的途径。曾有一阵子，我也试着模仿这些行为，甚至试过为了强调一个观点而用拳头敲桌子。但这些方法都没有让我觉得好受，也完全不自然。在我内心深处，我更像是一个安静的领导者。

企业应该多花些力气培养那些安静的执行者。我曾与一些非常优秀、高效并且有影响力的所谓“内向型”人士共事过。他们可能不是在开会时第一个大声发言的人，也可能不会把某个大功劳揽在自己身上，但他们的影响力会一个一个、一小群一小群地感染周围的人。他们会把胜利归功于团队而不是自己。但他们自己却常常被忽视。

倘若领导者希望支持那些低调的人，那还是有很多办法的。比如，开会的时候我经常会停下来，问参会的人谁还没有发言，看看他们有没有想跟大家分享的看法。我还让员工知道我有一个开放性政策，如果他们不愿意在会上发表意见，也可以在会后跟我说。我鼓励人们用他们觉得最自然的方式跟我沟通，有些员工甚至选择通过文字沟通。

对于企业主来说，我们都想打造强大的企业，促进战略的有效执行。但企业能否成功，很大程度上取决于我们能否为企业培养文化价值。要做到这一点，首先要在团队里寻找那些被忽视的声音，确保这些声音能够被听到。构建团队时，要仔细确保你的团队代表了各种背景、经验和领导品质。然后你要营造出一种让大家能够放心地做真实的自己的环境，从而培养一种诚实的氛围。

扭转企业文化不可能一蹴而就，但它的回报却是非常巨大的，所花费的努力完全值得。所以，请从现在就开始为这段旅程做准备吧！（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

审校：任文科

Peter Drucker, founder of modern management, reportedly coined the phrase “culture eats strategy for lunch.” Culture use to be viewed as the “touchy-feely” side of business, but that’s no longer the case. If you don’t have a defined culture behind you, then you aren’t going to be effective at executing your strategy. When a culture is broken, the cracks show – morale is weakened, but so is profit and performance. That’s why culture has to be at the core of any business transformation.

Yet as leaders we often don’t get much insight into how to actually put culture into practice. A lot of companies have nice-sounding cultural values like integrity, respect and excellence, but if those values don’t map to specific behaviors, then they quickly get lost. Instead we see what’s called a “halo effect” where leaders tend to overvalue certain attributes and undervalue others.

For instance, oftentimes we overvalue assertiveness and undervalue humility. We’re told to channel charisma and show toughness as a sign of strength. But the truth is it takes all kinds of leadership attributes to make an organization successful. A culture that only recognizes and rewards the same set of attributes results in less collaboration, creativity, and innovation. If we only reward the loudest voices or the sharpest elbows, then we’re missing out on the full range of talent. If people think they have to abandon core behaviors to get ahead, then we’re not going to get the best results. Asking people to be someone they’re not never works.

I know this from experience. Over the course of my career, I’ve had managers tell me to “speak up” more and to “be more assertive” in meetings. I was told this is how to demonstrate my strength as a leader and that this was the path upwards. For a while, I tried to model these behaviors, and even tried banging my fist on the table to make a point. But I didn’t feel good about any of it, and it didn’t feel natural. At my core, I am more of a quiet leader.

Organizations should do more to nurture quiet performers. I’ve worked with some amazing, effective, and impactful people who identify as introverts. They may not be the first to speak up in a team meeting or openly take credit for a big win. Instead they influence through one-on-one’s and small groups. They credit the team over themselves. Yet, they are often overlooked.

The truth is there is a lot we can do as leaders to support quiet voices. I always try to take a pause and ask people at the table who haven’t yet spoken if they have something to share. I let people know I have an open-door policy so if they don’t want to share something in a meeting, they can share it with me afterwards. I encourage people to communicate in the way that is most natural to them, and sometimes that’s through their written word.

We all want to build strong organizations and drive effective strategies, but success hinges on nurturing our cultural values. One way to get started is to look out for underserved voices on your teams and help make sure they’re heard. Take care to build teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and leadership attributes. Then, make sure you are encouraging authenticity by creating an environment where people feel comfortable just being their true selves.

Cultural transformation doesn’t happen overnight, so be prepared for the journey – but the rewards are immense and totally worth it.