“透視領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力”是一個(gè)在線社區(qū),最具思想和影響力的商界人物會(huì)在此回答關(guān)于職業(yè)發(fā)展和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的問(wèn)題。今天的問(wèn)題是“怎樣鼓勵(lì)公司內(nèi)部的創(chuàng)造性思維?”和大家分享心得的是Americas Trading Group首席執(zhí)行官Arthur Pinheiro Machado。 要想知道怎樣鼓勵(lì)創(chuàng)造性思維,必須先要了解大公司三個(gè)固有特點(diǎn): 維持現(xiàn)狀 雖然許多企業(yè)可能都會(huì)努力創(chuàng)新并提升活力,但大多數(shù)大公司基本上都是保守派,只想保持現(xiàn)有收入水平,維持現(xiàn)狀并避免影響到既有產(chǎn)品。大公司往往會(huì)通過(guò)設(shè)置指標(biāo)和梳理流程來(lái)提高效率,過(guò)程中慢慢變成官僚化的巨無(wú)霸。因此,大多數(shù)公司都奉行漸進(jìn)主義,現(xiàn)在還沒(méi)有以后也會(huì)變成漸進(jìn)主義,所有的新產(chǎn)品或新項(xiàng)目都緊密圍繞著旗艦產(chǎn)品或已有產(chǎn)品系列,主要目標(biāo)不是創(chuàng)新,而是提高組織和經(jīng)營(yíng)效率。 這實(shí)際上是我的個(gè)人經(jīng)歷。我曾在巴西一家頂尖證券經(jīng)紀(jì)公司擔(dān)任中臺(tái)部門負(fù)責(zé)人,工作覆蓋產(chǎn)品、渠道、項(xiàng)目和流程。巴西一家大銀行隨后以超過(guò)5億美元的價(jià)格收購(gòu)了這家公司。盡管這家公司曾是行業(yè)中最擅長(zhǎng)創(chuàng)新的成員之一,也曾是各種機(jī)構(gòu)的標(biāo)桿,但由于擔(dān)心收入規(guī)模下降,后來(lái)還是被改造成了一家循規(guī)蹈矩、缺乏活力的公司。 創(chuàng)造力受到限制 另一個(gè)經(jīng)常限制創(chuàng)造力的因素是中層管理人員的態(tài)度。理論上,中層管理者應(yīng)該像個(gè)過(guò)濾器,區(qū)分好主意和壞主意然后向上級(jí)匯報(bào)。理想情況下,他們應(yīng)該向高層推薦創(chuàng)新和新業(yè)務(wù),并保持自己所在部門的發(fā)展方向和公司的整體戰(zhàn)略一致。 可惜的是,實(shí)際情況并非如此。控制結(jié)構(gòu)和個(gè)人利益,再加上辦公室政治和做出保守決策的天然傾向作祟,管理者變得不敢冒險(xiǎn)。沒(méi)有人想革新,目標(biāo)都是穩(wěn)定發(fā)展。受系統(tǒng)結(jié)構(gòu)影響,管理者成了內(nèi)部沖突調(diào)解人,他們更關(guān)注日常問(wèn)題,不再想著打造新產(chǎn)品。 斷層始于最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 隨著公司里更多職位整合起來(lái),許多最高層管理者最終會(huì)脫離日常事務(wù)。他們不會(huì)從外界角度觀察公司,反而把思維局限于管理數(shù)字和業(yè)績(jī)。慢慢地,他們跟不上社會(huì)和文化的變化,逐漸成為局外人。除了管理人員匯報(bào)的情況,大多數(shù)管理者也都看不到別的東西,對(duì)日常經(jīng)營(yíng)活動(dòng)以及公司面臨的挑戰(zhàn)也可能失去掌控。 那么,我們?cè)鯓硬拍芘まD(zhuǎn)不良傾向并鼓勵(lì)創(chuàng)造性思維,又不影響效率呢? 挑戰(zhàn)現(xiàn)狀 燈泡不是通過(guò)改進(jìn)蠟燭發(fā)明出來(lái)的。雖然一家公司首先要維持現(xiàn)有系統(tǒng)并提高產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量,但這并非真正的創(chuàng)新。促進(jìn)創(chuàng)新意味著建立開(kāi)放的環(huán)境,以便大家可以挑戰(zhàn)、批評(píng)甚至放棄此前一直追捧的產(chǎn)品或做法。在Americas Trading Group,董事會(huì)每個(gè)月的會(huì)議都要處理一個(gè)具體的題目或問(wèn)題,比如“怎樣才能在市場(chǎng)中創(chuàng)造出有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)?”或者“下一代消費(fèi)者有哪些特征?” 取消等級(jí)制度 法國(guó)哲學(xué)家吉爾?德勒茲和費(fèi)力克斯?加塔里的“根莖”理論是從植物學(xué)借鑒而來(lái)的認(rèn)識(shí)論模型。模型中各個(gè)組成部分并未遵循原先設(shè)計(jì)的等級(jí)制度,也不是根裝結(jié)構(gòu)。每個(gè)枝節(jié)都是獨(dú)立的,而且自行決定發(fā)展路徑,這和決策由上而下影響個(gè)人的等級(jí)結(jié)構(gòu)不同。當(dāng)然,所有影響某個(gè)“根莖”的變化都有可能影響到整個(gè)體系,但根莖結(jié)構(gòu)基本上都是獨(dú)立的。 繼續(xù)分析下去,對(duì)兩個(gè)德語(yǔ)詞匯的語(yǔ)言學(xué)分析可以揭示出按指令執(zhí)行和獨(dú)立執(zhí)行的區(qū)別。任務(wù)(mission)在德語(yǔ)里有兩種譯法,分別是Befehl和Auftrag。前者的意思是發(fā)出詳細(xì)指令以便嚴(yán)格按要求執(zhí)行,后者則代表一種思路或精神以及獨(dú)立的執(zhí)行。創(chuàng)新型公司應(yīng)該具有根莖式的結(jié)構(gòu)和Auftrag精神。 打造新市場(chǎng) 保持創(chuàng)新精神的最佳途徑是積極管理,把開(kāi)發(fā)新市場(chǎng)作為首要任務(wù)。拒絕現(xiàn)狀之后,思想自然會(huì)變得開(kāi)明。必須警惕設(shè)置監(jiān)管或保護(hù)主義障礙的做法,因?yàn)檫@樣會(huì)限制創(chuàng)新。說(shuō)到底,如果不自己動(dòng)手淘汰產(chǎn)品,別人就會(huì)淘汰你。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:Charlie 審校:夏林 |
The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question: How do you encourage creative thinking within your organization? is written by Arthur Pinheiro Machado, CEO of Americas Trading Group. To understand how to encourage creative thinking, you must first understand three characteristics inherent to large companies: Retaining the status quo While many may strive for innovation and dynamism, most big companies are, ultimately,conservative. They become focused on keeping their current level of revenues, maintaining the status quo, and avoiding tampering with their own products. These companies tend to implement metrics and organize processes to become more efficient, which can turn them into bureaucratic mammoths. Therefore, most companies are — or will become — incrementalist, and any new product or project is a satellite orbiting around the company’s flagship product or family of products. The main goal, instead of innovation, becomes organization and operational efficiency. This was my own experience, in practical terms, from my time spent as head of the middle office —units covering products, channels, projects and processes — at one of Brazil’s largest brokerage firms, which was subsequently sold to a major Brazilian bank for more than $500 million. Although the firm was once one of Brazil’s most innovative players in its line of business and a benchmark for various institutions, it was transformed into a straight-laced business lacking vitality due to the fear of its volume revenues declining. Creativity is limited Another factor that tends to limit creativity is the attitude shown by middle managers. In theory, a middle manager is expected to act as a filter, separating good ideas from bad ones and reporting back to their superiors. Ideally, middle managers should be promoting innovation and new business to upper management while steering the direction of their own departments in line with the company’s overall strategy. Unfortunately, that is not what actually happens. Control structures and personal interests combine with office politics and a natural tendency toward conservative decision-making evolves, causing managers to avoid being risk-takers. Nobody wants to stir a revolution; the aim is steady evolution. Due to these systemic structures, managers become mediators for internal conflicts who are more focused on everyday concerns than creating new products. Disconnect starts at the top As companies consolidate more positions, many top managers will end up being detached from routine business. Instead of looking at their company from the outside, they narrow their thinking to management numbers and results alone. This can lead to a lack of understanding about ongoing social and cultural changes, leading them to gradually become out-of-touch. Most company executives don’t see beyond the facts submitted by managers, and they can lose their grip on the day-to-day operations and challenges of the business. So how can we fight against these tendencies and encourage creative thinking, without losing efficiency? Challenge the status quo Light bulbs were not invented by improving candles. While a company has to prioritize maintaining its systems and enhancing its products, this is not true innovation. Fostering innovation means creating an open environment in which people may challenge, criticize, and even destroy products or practices that have previously been praised. At ATG, all of our monthly board meetings deal with a specific topic or question, such as “How can we create a competitive product or service in our market?” or “What does the next generation look like for our markets?” Remove the hierarchy The rhizome is an epistemological model adapted from botany by French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guatari. In this model, the components do not necessarily follow a previously designed hierarchy and are not grounded in a root-like structure. Each branch is independent and free to decide how to grow, unlike a hierarchical structure in which decisions influence and affect people from the top down. Of course, any changes that affect a rhizome may interfere with the structure as a whole, but rhizome structures are almost autonomous. In a similar vein, a linguistic analysis of two German words reveals the difference between mandated vs. independent execution. There are two ways of translating the word ‘mission’ into German,Befehl and Auftrag. The former means issuing detailed orders to be fulfilled exactly as given. The latter imparts an overall idea or spirit and execution goes ahead independently. Innovative companies should be structured as rhizomes and embody the spirit of Auftrag. Shape new markets The best way to retain an innovative spirit is to have proactive management and prioritize developing new markets. A tendency to reject the status quo will always lead to more liberalism. One must be wary of attempts to create regulatory or protectionist barriers that restrict innovation. Ultimately, if you don’t make your own product obsolete, somebody else will. |