打造卓越企業文化的十條法則

2015年11月，萬豪國際集團斥資122億美元收購了喜達屋酒店。當時，萬豪國際CEO蘇安勵給18萬名喜達屋員工寫了一封信，但這封公開信并沒有強調此次并購的商業效益，而是重點闡述了此舉的文化意義。萬豪國際曾18次入選《財富》最適宜工作的100家公司榜單。蘇安勵在信中寫道：“我們公司奉行以人為本的文化，將以一種透明的方式尊重每位員工。隨著合并工作的有序推進，諸位將體會到這種文化?！?/p>

上世紀90年代中期，互聯網剛剛出現時，許多人認為它只是一群不懂如何運營公司的年輕技術人員推動的風潮而已，很快就會塵埃落定?，F在我們知道，沒有提早接受互聯網的公司，只能在后面苦苦追趕。

卓越職場研究所見過各種各樣的高管，對于公司文化，他們或抵觸，或懷疑，或敞開懷抱，欣然接受。

不論領導者是抵觸還是接受公司文化，以下這10條策略都可以幫助他們打造和維護公司文化：

1、加強溝通

鑒于一些高管認為“文化”和“價值觀”是一種非常模糊的概念，團隊成員很有必要明確闡述文化的定義、特征，并說明文化與業績的關系。一家公司闡明的價值觀，是一套指導公司內部的決策與行為，創建可預測性和一致性的核心原則。文化是一種無處不在的信念和態度，它決定了一家公司的特點。在一家擁有卓越文化的公司中，員工信任領導者，對自己的工作有自豪感，喜歡與同事相處——這種文化服務于公司戰略。

2、賦予個人意義

對于抵觸文化的高管，可以詢問他或她自己的經歷?！澳阕鲞^的最好的工作是什么？”“你曾工作過的最佳工作場所是什么樣子？”“是什么讓它變得如此卓越？”如果對方回答說“我們并肩作戰”或者“不論付出什么代價，我們都會把任務完成”，你便可以說：“這就是文化。我們可以有意識地在我們公司內部創造這樣的文化?！?/p>

3、闡述文化的商業價值

喜歡用數據說話的人應該清楚，《財富》雜志“最適宜工作的100家公司”的上榜公司，其股票收益是總體指數的近兩倍。此外，卓越工作場所的主動離職率比其他公司低65%，這就大大減少了員工緩慢流失所造成的沉重成本（知識與生產力損失、招聘成本、新員工入職成本、培訓成本和其他費用等）。這只是個開始——事實上，文化有著強大的商業價值。通過確認你所在的公司那些將受惠于更高信任度的具體舉措和績效指標，你可以清楚地了解到這一點。

4、聯系公司的痛點

我們認為，許多嚴峻的商業挑戰都根源于信任的缺失。一個與錢有關的問題是：“更高水平的信任度如何減緩我們面臨的問題？”談論公司的痛點，比如困難重重的收購、曠日持久的項目、高成本、質量問題、糟糕的跨部門協作或者新策略執行不力等問題，是一個讓最高管理層真正關心公司文化建設的切入點。

5、建立社會認同

作家羅伯特?西奧迪尼介紹的許多策略，有助于闡述創建公司文化的理由?！吧鐣J同”是其中尤為強大的策略之一。參觀一家受人尊敬、擁有卓越且可感知的文化的公司，可以激勵你的領導進行類似的努力。

6、將文化建設變成個人的挑戰

想象你對CEO這樣說：“當我談論公司文化的時候，我其實談論的是，作為一個榜樣，你可以發揮多大的影響力?！睂EO言聽計從是一種很常見的現象，但根據我們的經驗，CEO們通常更愿意接受挑戰。問下面這個問題需要一定的勇氣：“你和其他領導者如何做好另一種你更愿意看到的行為的表率？”你必須沖破阻力，堅持下去。

7、展現個人魅力

不要低估注視著對方的眼睛說出心里話所蘊含的力量。領導力圖書作家賽斯?高汀聲稱，魅力并不是成為領導者的先決條件——你會因為成為領導者而綻放魅力。

8、繪制鼓舞人心的愿景

嘗試說服其他人的時候，為了自我保護，我們在做出承諾時往往會留有余地。不要這樣做。你要繪制一個強大的愿景。如果你相信這個愿景能夠實現，你就要大聲說出來，不要有任何限定、警告或貶低。

9、學會講故事

政治家迪普?奧尼爾說過：“一切政治都是地方政治?！惫疚幕彩侨绱?。找到真實的、接地氣的故事，描述強大、高度信任和戰略步調一致的文化所帶來的好處，并將這些故事與其他人分享。更具沖擊力的故事來自那些低信任度的公司文化，這鞋故事往往承載著真實的痛苦和損失。在低信任度文化中，員工的生產效率低下，士氣低落，而且還會將這種情緒帶回家中。所有這些故事都可以幫助最高領導層切實體會到文化的影響力。

10、引用黃金法則

管理高層的日常工作經歷是與外界隔絕的。因此，他們很難接觸到低信任度文化每天帶來的挫敗感。以下這個問題有助于建立起同理心：“假設你是一位中層領導，希望做正確的事情，但卻因為辦公室政治和低信任度文化的其他后果而難以施展拳腳。這時你希望高層給你提供哪些幫助？”

堅持你對文化的信念。你每天都在取得進展，總有一天，有一件事，可能是不起眼的小事，會帶來巨大的變化。對你想要的東西不必謹小慎微。(財富中文網)

本文作者喬納森?貝克爾是卓越職場研究所的執行文化顧問。卓越職場研究所是一家全球研究與咨詢公司，與許多機構合作建立高度信任的職場文化，這家機構還是《財富》最適宜工作的100家公司榜單的聯合制作單位。

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

審校：任文科

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When it comes to company culture, we at Great Place to Work see senior executives either resisting culture, expressing skepticism toward it, opening up to it, or embracing it

These 10 strategies will help companies build and maintain corporate culture, regardless of how often leaders resist or embrace:

Sharpen the conversation

With executives who see “culture” and “values” as mushy, it is particularly critical for team members to speak with clear definitions, distinctions, and ties to business outcomes. A company’s stated values are the core principles that guide decision-making, behavior, and create predictability and consistency across the organization. Culture is the pervasive beliefs and attitudes that characterize a company. In a great company culture, employees trust leaders, have a sense of pride in their work, and enjoy their colleagues—and the culture serves the strategy.

Build personal meaning

Try asking a culture-resistant executive about his or her own experience. “What’s the best job you ever had?” “What’s the best place you ever worked?” “What made it so great?” Answers like, “We worked as a team,” or, “We got it done—whatever it took” are the opening to say, “That is culture. And that is what we can intentionally create in every part of our company.”

Make the business case for culture

Those who look to data for proof should know that companies on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list (a list we create) perform nearly two times better in stock returns compared to broader indices. And great workplaces have voluntary turnover rates that are as much as 65% lower than their peers, helping mitigate the hefty cost of chronic employee flight (lost knowledge and productivity, hiring, onboarding, training, and other costs). That is just the start—the business case for culture is strong. You can bring it home by identifying specific initiatives and performance indicators in your own organization that will be helped by greater trust.

Link to the pain points

We believe the root of many serious business challenges is the absence of trust in the culture. The money question is: “How might higher levels of trust mitigate the problems we’re seeing?” Talking about your company’s pain points—rocky acquisitions, time-consuming projects, high costs, quality issues, poor cross-functional alignment, or failure to execute new strategies—is a good way into the real concerns of top leaders.

Establish social proof

Author Robert Cialdini describes a number of strategies that could help make the case for culture. “Social proof” is particularly powerful. Visiting a respected company with a remarkable, palpable culture can inspire your leaders to dedicate themselves to similar efforts.

Make it a personal challenge

Imagine saying to your CEO, “When I talk about culture, I am talking about the enormous power you have as a role model here.” It’s normal to defer to CEOs, but in our experience, they welcome challenge. It takes courage to ask: “How could you and other leaders role model a different set of behaviors, more like what you want to see?” You will have to push through resistance, but stick with it.

Make the personal appeal

Never underestimate the power of looking someone in the eyes and speaking from the heart. Leadership author Seth Godin says you don’t need charisma to be a leader—you get charisma from being a leader.

Paint an inspiring picture

When you are trying to persuade others, it can be tempting to protect yourself by under-promising. Don’t. Paint a powerful picture. If you believe it’ll work, then state your vision without qualification, caveat, or diminishment.

Tell stories

“All politics is local,” said politician Tip O’Neill. It’s the same with culture. Find and share real, ground-level stories of what happens when the culture is strong, high-trust, and strategically aligned. More powerful are stories of the real suffering and damage low-trust cultures create. In a low-trust culture, people are unproductive and demoralized. Then they take that home. Stories help senior leaders feel it.

Invoke the golden rule

The day-to-day work experience of senior executives is insulated. They are protected from many of the routine frustrations of a low-trust culture. Build empathy by asking, “Imagine you were a mid-level leader trying to do the right thing, but were often stymied by politics and other consequences of a low-trust culture. What would you want senior executives to do to help you?”

Stick with your beliefs about culture. You aremaking progress and one day something, maybe something small, will catalyze big changes. Don’t be careful what you wish for.

Jonathan Becker is an executive culture consultant at Great Place to Work, a global research and consulting firm that works with organizations to build high-trust workplace cultures and produces the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.