首席文化官異軍突起

????任何一本管理指南都會談到公司文化的重要性?？梢哉f公司的所作所為，不管是成功還是失誤，背后都有文化的影子。就如我們最近在金融行業所見到的情形，再健全的公司文化如果出現小小裂縫，都可能導致嚴重錯誤。

????然而公司文化總是在演變，所以定義公司文化、確保它保持在合適的方向上就成為一個重大的挑戰。咨詢公司怡安翰威特（Aon Hewitt）的高級副總裁肯?歐勒指出，越來越多的公司在尋找應對的方法?！拔覀兊目蛻糁匦聦徱暺髽I文化，在經濟危機中及危機過后，它的重要性得到首席執行官層面的關注?！睔W勒說，很多公司發現“來自宏觀經濟的壓力造成了企業文化的紊亂，無法在未來支撐公司業績的提升，”所以他們現在試圖找到防止企業文化失控的方法。

????在最高領導層安排專人負責這項事務就是其中一個方法。最廣為人知的例子莫過于谷歌（Google）了，人力資源總監史黛西?沙利文在2006年就增添了“首席文化官”的頭銜。隨著公司演變成為一個跨國龐然大物，如何保護谷歌生氣勃勃的開源文化核心的關鍵成分就成了她的工作職責之一。

????不過作為創新和寬松工作環境的代表，谷歌擁有專門的企業文化守護者不足為奇。但其它更為傳統的公司，甚至金融行業的公司都聘用了文化官員。北澤西社區銀行（North Jersey Community Bank, NJCB）最近委派了瑪麗亞?金德爾曼擔任首席文化官。為此，首席執行官弗蘭克?索倫蒂諾還在董事會遇到了反對，他覺得那只是因為難以精確地說明這一職位。金德爾曼指出，現在情況已經大為改觀，首席文化官成為了公司的制勝法寶，很快也會成為業界常態?！笆欠衩考毅y行都需要在管理團隊增加一個企業文化守護者？”她問道，答案是：“毫無疑問?！?/p>

????咨詢公司博斯（Booz & Company）的資深合伙人喬恩?卡岑巴赫指出，僅僅設立這個職位是遠遠不夠的。實際上，他認為管理層過分注重說教、而不是付諸行動就是企業文化變質的主要途徑之一。換句話說，不要只是鼓吹效率和客戶服務，而是要做出運營調整來推進效率、提升服務，比如：獎勵優異的服務，合理化的技術改造等。

????卡岑巴赫認為：首先，首席文化官需要了解內部商業環境改變的方式，這種改變通常很緩慢。歐勒告訴我們，多數公司只是在預期將出現重大變革，比如一系列并購行動時，才會設立高級職位來管理企業文化。但最具威脅的潛藏改變很少在危急時刻發生。

????“不良的企業文化鼓勵不當行為、抑制適當的戰略轉變，但它的出現往往緩慢而不易覺察。它往往歷時數年，經常在公司業績良好時就已經發生，”約翰?科特和詹姆斯?赫斯克特在1992年出版的《公司文化和業績》（Corporate Culture and Performance）一書中如是說?！斑@種文化一旦出現就難以改變，因為相關人等往往對此視而不見，而公司的現存權力結構也有賴于它的支持?！?/p>

????因此，首席文化官要想展開卓有成效地工作，就必須得到最高管理層的全力支持。他/她的意見首席執行官要能傾聽，同時也要貼近普通員工，因為他們的一舉一動時時刻刻都在體現和定義公司文化。咨詢師梅爾?勞來自咨詢公司美世的德爾塔分部（Mercer's Delta division），她指出，首席執行官往往會有種錯覺，以為公司文化可以自上而下地控制。她還說，文化確實會改變，而“你要么放任自流，任由其自己改變，要么影響其改變的方式?！惫蛡蚴紫幕僦皇切袆拥拈_始。

????對金德爾曼來說，首席文化官的職位意味著她要負責一系列事務，比如：她會派人假扮銀行顧客，確保營業所的員工不是例行公事，而是真正去了解客戶。那是NJCB文化的關鍵理念。她解釋說：“百年以來，銀行服務對我們來說就意味著了解每一個從大門走進來的人?！?/p>

????客戶服務確實是文化的組成部分，但公司文化也幾乎涵蓋了公司的所有活動。金德爾曼就堅稱自己的工作與人力資源總監截然不同?！拔业穆氊熅褪谴_保公司交給客戶的每一份文件都風格一致，確保公司的流程高效而流暢，所有這些都與文化有關?！?/p>

????但世界上不存在十全十美、或者糟糕透頂的企業文化，任命首席文化官也“不是簡單的好壞問題，”卡岑巴赫說?！暗@然會帶來很多有趣的挑戰?！敝辽?，公司開始對文化重新思考會讓人覺得曙光乍現。

????Read any management how-to, and it will talk about the sanctity of a company's culture. Culture, you could argue, drives everything a business does -- it's successes and its slip-ups. Cracks in an otherwise sound culture can lead to big, expensive mistakes, much of which we have recently seen in the financial industry.

????But a company's culture changes constantly, which makes it a challenge for companies trying to define it and make sure it's progressing the way they want. More and more, companies are trying to figure out how to do this, says Ken Oehler, a senior vice president at consulting firm Aon Hewitt. "There's been a resurgence from our clients, certainly an elevation of importance of culture to the CEO level during the recession and post recession." Many companies, Oehler says, are seeing that "macroeconomic pressures have created a dysfunctional culture, one that is not supporting business performance moving forward," and now, they are trying to figure out how keep their culture from spinning out of control.

????One way to do this is to bring someone into the C-Suite whose job it is to keep an eye on culture. The best-known example of this approach is Google (GOOG), which added "chief culture officer" to head of HR Stacy Sullivan's job title in 2006. Part of her job is to protect key parts of Google's scrappy, open-source cultural core as the company has evolved into a massive multinational.

????But Google is the poster child for innovation and foosball at work, it makes sense that they would have a culture-keeper. Yet other, more traditional companies, even in the financial industry, have hired culture chiefs as well. One example is North Jersey Community Bank (NJCB), which recently appointed Maria Gendelman as its chief culture officer. CEO Frank Sorrentino encountered resistance from his board when he argued for the position, he says, because the job description is a little tough to define. Though now, having a chief culture officer is a differentiator for the bank, and there's no reason it shouldn't be status quo, Gendelman says. "Could every bank utilize a protector of the culture as part of the team?" she asks. "Absolutely."

????The title certainly isn't enough, though, notes Jon Katzenbach, a senior partner at consulting firm Booz & Company. In fact, he adds, one of the main ways that a culture can sour is if management focuses too much on messaging and not enough on action. In other words, don't preach about efficiency and customer service, but instead make operational changes that allow those behaviors to thrive: Reward great service, streamline technology, etc.

????First, a chief culture officer needs to understand the way internal business environments change, which is slow, says Katzenbach. Most companies hire someone up top to monitor culture if they're expecting dramatic change, say, a series of mergers and acquisitions, Oehler says. But the most insidious changes rarely happen during times of crisis.

????"Cultures that encourage inappropriate behavior and inhibit change to more appropriate strategies tend to emerge slowly and quietly over a period of years, usually when firms are performing well," according to the book Corporate Culture and Performance by John Kotter and James Heskett, published in 1992. "Once these cultures exist, they can be enormously difficult to change because they are often invisible to the people involved, because they help support the existing power structure in the firm."

????To that end, an effective chief culture officer would need the full support of top management. He or she would need to have the CEO's ear without growing too distant from the rank-and-file employees that live, breathe, and define a company's culture with everything they do. CEOs often subscribe to the misguided idea that culture can be controlled from the top down, says Mel Lowe, a consultant with Mercer's Delta division. Culture will morph, she says, and "You can either let it happen or you can influence how it happens." Hiring a chief culture officer is one way to step to the plate.

????For Gendelman, that means she's in charge of a range of things -- soon she'll have people mystery-shopping at the bank, making sure employees at all branches aren't using a script and that they're inquiring into the lives of their customers. That's a key part of NJCB's culture. The idea, she says, is that "it's banking a hundred years ago where you knew everyone who walks through the door."

????And while customer service is part of the equation, culture includes just about everything a company does. Gendelman's job, she insists, is completely different from head of HR. "I'm there to make sure that every single piece of paper that we give to the customer all looks the same, that our processes are efficient and streamlined -- all of those things touch culture."

????But just as no culture is all good or all bad, appointing a chief culture officer is "neither a good idea nor a bad idea," says Katzenbach, "but certainly opens a whole interesting set of challenges." At the very least, it seems promising that companies are thinking about culture again at all.