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The author talks about two conditions for the success of an organization: intelligence, in
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The author talks about two conditions for the success of an organization: intelligence, including strategy, marketing, finance and technology, health, including the least office politics and chaos, high morale, high efficiency and low turnover rate of excellent employees.
The difference between successful enterprises and mediocre or unsuccessful enterprises in the future development has little to do with their knowledge or intelligence, but is directly related to the health of enterprises.
Because most organizations only use their knowledge, experience and intellectual capital in fragments, while healthy organizations use almost all these resources.
In order to create a healthy organization, the author suggests following four principles, namely:
1, to build a cohesive leadership team.
2. Create organizational clarity
3. Repeatedly and fully convey the clarity of the organization.
4. Strengthen organizational clarity
Principle 1: Establish a cohesive leadership team.
To build a cohesive leadership team, we need to do the following five behaviors:?
Behavior 1: Building trust
The first step in the healthy operation of an organization is to build trust, which is familiar to most managers, but in fact, managers in the organization usually do not do well.
The trust needed to build an excellent team is called "trust based on weakness".
When the team members are completely accustomed to being frank and unreserved in front of each other, and can say "I screwed up", "I need help", "Your idea is better than mine", "I like that I can do it as well as I hate you" or even "I'm sorry" from the bottom of my heart.
Readers, I wonder if these conversations often appear in your organization. If you rarely hear it, ask yourself: Has this organization built trust based on weaknesses?
The theoretical core of trust based on weakness is that people are willing to give up pride and fear and sacrifice themselves for the common interests of the team.
How to build organizational trust?
First, let each other know more.
For example, when you go out, let everyone briefly introduce your life, where you were born, how many brothers and sisters you have, and where you rank. What is the most interesting and difficult challenge in childhood? These are very simple, but they can make us know each other's lives better and build the foundation of trust.
In addition to informal understanding of life, you can also conduct personality and behavior tests to let the other person know each other's personality and behavior, so that he can make appropriate behavior. This test includes MBTI, CD, etc.
When we don't know each other's personality and behavior, we usually make some fundamental attribution mistakes.
? What is a fundamental attribution error?
We usually attribute success to our own characteristics and failure to environmental factors. For example, when we do something, we will think that we are talented and good at discovering; When we fail, we think it is bad luck or influenced by others.
At the same time, we will attribute the success of others to environmental factors and the failure of others to our own characteristics. For example, if someone else does something, they will think that the other party is lucky and someone helps; If others fail, they will think that they are incompetent, which is not the material.
Readers, does that sound familiar?
However, the wrong gene attribution will seriously undermine the trust of the organization and make the organization lose its health. Therefore, understanding the personality and behavior of different people in an organization and explaining it based on seeking truth from facts will build the trust of the organization and improve the health of the organization.
Second, leaders take the lead.
The goal of building organizational trust is to make all members of the leadership team dare to admit their weaknesses and mistakes frankly in front of everyone, but this goal cannot be achieved if the team leader does not take the lead.
If the team leader is unwilling to admit his mistakes or weaknesses that are obvious to others, it is almost impossible for other members of the team to take this step.
Behavior 2: Control conflict
Conflict is not a bad thing for a team. In fact, fear of conflict is almost always a symptom of a problem.
Conflict here refers to an active and effective ideological conflict, that is, when discussing important issues and making key decisions, people are willing to express inconsistent opinions and even have inspiring debates when necessary.
Of course, the premise of active and effective conflict is trust! In an environment of mutual trust, conflict is only the pursuit of truth and the effort to find the best answer.
Conflict has two extremes.
At one end, there is no conflict, which is also called "apparent harmony", because its main feature is that people show false smiles and false consensus on almost any issue, at least on the surface.
At the other end, there are destructive conflicts, and people are always arguing.
When we move from "superficial harmony" to the other extreme, we will encounter more and more "constructive conflicts". Of course, after an "ideal conflict point", it will become a destructive conflict.
However, the "ideal conflict point" does not always exist and needs to be actively faced by the team.
The author mentioned three ways to increase conflicts.
First, explore conflict.
Exploring conflicts means that when you suspect potential conflicts, you can ask everyone to say their psychological thoughts.
By discovering and exposing potential and even subtle differences that have not yet surfaced, team leaders (and team members can do the same) can avoid destructive corridor complaints, which are inevitable when people are unwilling to participate in direct and active debates.
Second, the implementation of approval.
Implementing approval means that when people start trying to participate in conflicts, they need to get timely and positive feedback.
Leaders need to tell them that this is the right thing to do.
When someone reminds them in time when they show conflict that expressing different opinions is helping the team rather than hurting it, the pressure in their hearts disappears and the tension seems to disappear, so that they can concentrate on solving the immediate problems.
Third, establish clear expectations and guidelines.
Some rules can be made to encourage conflicts. For example:
If everyone keeps silent in the discussion, it will be understood that there are differences.
At the end of each discussion, let everyone in the team make a formal commitment to the decision to encourage them to participate in the discussion.
Of course, in order to make a real conflict happen, we must first build trust.
Behavior 3: Make a promise.
If there is no conflict, people will not have the opportunity to express their views, ask questions and understand the reasons behind them, and they will not actively make a commitment to a decision.
If the leadership team waits until an understanding is reached before taking action, their decision is often too late, and it is an irrelevant decision that everyone is dissatisfied with. This will lead to mediocrity and depression.
Therefore, excellent teams will avoid the trap of * * * knowledge, but they should "disagree but still go all out".
This requires team members to express their opinions openly and unreservedly before making decisions. People can support the ideas put forward by others as long as they have the opportunity to express their opinions, communicate fully and make commitments.
Otherwise, everyone will just smile and nod at the meeting. When they return to the office, they will stand by and look forward to the day when something happens, and then they can say, Look, something is wrong. I didn't like this attention from the beginning.
The only way to avoid negative damage is for the leader to ask team members to participate in the conflict and let them know that they will be responsible for any decision made by the team.
So at the end of the discussion, a cohesive team must spend a few minutes to ensure that everyone attending the meeting has a consistent understanding of the agreement and the commitments just made when they left, and take the time to clarify those things that are not particularly clear.
Because people often want to leave early at the end of a discussion or meeting, they are more likely to tolerate ambiguous decisions.
So, leaders need to consider taking some time to clarify everything and make specific commitments at this time, or at the end of the discussion or meeting? Or in practical work, wait until there are problems before improving?
Mature leaders will definitely make wise decisions!
Behavior 4: Take responsibility
If people doubt whether their colleagues really accept the decisions made by the team, they are often reluctant to correct their colleagues' behavior, which is why commitment is so important.
In other words, if people know that a decision has only received negative promises, they are less willing to correct their colleagues' behavior.
When team members know that their colleagues have made a real commitment, they dare to point out their problems face to face without fear of resistance or opposition. Mutual responsibility among colleagues is the most important and effective source of a healthy organization's sense of responsibility.
In addition to being responsible for each other among colleagues, it is particularly important for leaders to be responsible.
When leaders need to correct the behavior or performance of team members, but always act as passive Nuo Nuo and cringe, then others in the team will not play their due role.
In other words, if the leader is unwilling to point out a member's problems and may even let them get away with it, why do other team members do so?
Therefore, a leader should have courage, be good at accountability to team members, point out their problems, and then wait for their response. Of course, this may also be unpleasant.
But what is reflected behind this accountability is the concern of the leaders for them.
Many leaders who have problems with their responsibilities will try to convince themselves that their reluctance is due to their kindness, and they just don't want to upset their employees. However, if we look at their real motives, they have to admit that they actually don't want to upset themselves and can't be responsible for fundamentally selfish things.
It is not noble to conceal information that is helpful to the growth of employees. In the end, the employee's problems will affect his performance evaluation and even lead to his dismissal. It is unkind to fire an employee whose behavior is problematic but has not been corrected.
Therefore, leaders should take responsibility and point out the problems of employees in a timely and effective manner, whether they are problems in results or problems in behavior. The sooner it is discovered and solved, the sooner employees and teams can get healthy and sustainable development.
The author also gives the method of team effectiveness practice here.
Of course, these are all based on trust.
First, let everyone write down what other team members have done to make the team better. In other words, write down the greatest strengths of everyone who has a positive impact on the team except yourself. Only in this way can we understand their behavior that is conducive to team development.
Second, let everyone write down what other team members did that might have a bad influence on the team.
Third, from the leader to the team members, let everyone talk about one advantage of leadership, and then let the leader respond in one sentence.
Fourth, talk about one aspect that this leader needs to improve. After everyone provided their own feedback, the leaders made a brief response to the feedback information, not refuting it, but responding.
Fifth, do the same thing for other members of the team.
Sixth, let everyone remember the direct, honest and useful feedback they just shared.
The whole process not only shared each other's information, but also made team members realize that being responsible for each other is a sustainable and fruitful activity, which can encourage them to continue this activity in the future.
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Behavior 5: Focus on results
The only criterion to measure an excellent team is whether it can achieve the predetermined goals.
Even if the team members care about each other, like cooperation, and the team atmosphere is thriving, as long as the team rarely or never achieves its goals, it cannot be regarded as an excellent team in the strict sense.
Different teams or organizations have different definitions of goals, depending on the reason why the organization exists. However, the goal of a cohesive team is shared by the whole team.
Only when everyone pays attention to the same thing and works in the same direction can the team achieve the maximum output.
This means that excellent teams should not only pay attention to their own situation, but also ask about other departments and try their best to help those departments that may face difficulties, because these difficulties may endanger the success of the whole organization.
Therefore, the executives in the organization must put the needs of the whole organization before those of their departments, in other words, shift the priorities of the team from individuals to the collective, and show real commitment to the collective, so that the team can gain a huge competitive advantage.
A cohesive team will not have such a picture: on a ship, the person sitting at the stern shouted to the person sitting at the bow: Hey, your end is sinking. However, I am indifferent.
This is a list. Ask the team if they can make the following statement.
1, team members trust each other and can truly face each other's mistakes and shortcomings frankly.
2. Team members often participate in active and unfiltered conflicts on important issues.
3. At the end of the team meeting, everyone reached a clear, positive and specific understanding.
4. Team members urge each other and take responsibility for their commitments and actions.
5. Leading teams put the collective interests and needs of larger organizations in front of their own departments.
Principle 2: Create organizational clarity
In order to improve the clarity of the organization, so that everyone can clearly understand the behavior of the organization, we need to understand six aspects. The answers to these questions need to consider the following three points.
First of all, the leadership should be cohesive. Without cohesion, it is impossible for a team to have a heated debate on these issues and reach a real agreement.
Second, when leaders answer these six questions, they often unconsciously fall into the mentality of marketing or slogan, trying to create eye-catching phrases or impressive sentences. This shows that the team may have lost its way and deviated from its real goal-to establish real organizational clarity and consistency.
Third, it takes time to answer these questions. To answer these six questions, it is important not to get the right answer, but to get an answer that is in the right direction and can be recognized by all team members.
Let me look at six key questions that must be answered to build a clear and healthy organization.
Question 1: Why do we exist?
In every organization, employees at all levels need to know that there are some noble and great things in what they do.
In order to find out the reasons for the existence of the organization, we might as well start from the following aspects.
What contribution have we made to the world?
Why are we doing this?
Why should we help organizations do more business?
Question 2: What should we do?
The answer to the question of how we should act is embodied in the core values of an organization, which should provide the ultimate guidance for the behavior of employees at all levels.
There are three steps to finding core values.
First, find employees who can reflect the best aspects of the organization. Make an in-depth analysis of them and see what makes them so highly respected by the leadership team. These characteristics form the initial source of potential core values.
Second, leaders must find those employees who are no longer suitable for the organization despite their brilliance. What are their characteristics that distract them and become a problem? The opposite of these annoying qualities is another source of core values.
Third, leaders need to objectively analyze themselves to see if they embody these values.
Question 3: What should we do?
The answer here is the specific business problems of the organization, and there is no need for gorgeous adjectives or adverbs. Just make it clear.
It should be pointed out that the business definition of an organization will change with time, but this change will only happen when the market changes and the basic activities of the organization need to make meaningful changes.
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Question 4: How can we succeed?
Answering this question is actually deciding the strategy of the organization. Determining an organization's strategy is actually determining the organization's success plan.
The best way for an organization to enhance its strategic practicability is to use three strategic anchors to guide every decision made by the organization and evaluate all decisions through them to ensure consistency.
Strategic anchor provides the background environment for all decisions, helping organizations to avoid making decisions that are purely pragmatic and opportunistic, which is not conducive to the successful planning of the organization.
How to determine the strategic anchor point?
You can extract the strategic anchor from all the real existence in the organization by reverse engineering.
First, list all the decisions and realities that make up the current situation of the organization, including everything except the reasons for existence, core values and business definitions.
Second, choose a model that can show the strategic direction and anchor of the organization.
Third, summarize the strategic anchor points.
In addition, the strategic anchor should also change with the change of competition pattern and market environment.
The author puts forward a concept called strategic persistence, which includes two dimensions, namely the entry threshold of a given market and the speed of innovation.
If the entry threshold is high, the innovation speed is slow, and the durability of the strategic anchor is high, there is no need to change the strategy frequently. Such as airlines.
If the entry threshold is low, the innovation speed is fast, and the durability of the strategic anchor is low, it is necessary to check and adjust the strategic anchor more frequently. Such as various online application software companies.
If the entry threshold is high and the innovation speed is fast, or the entry threshold is low and the innovation speed is slow, then the persistence of strategic anchors will be relatively average. For example, the former is similar to pharmaceutical companies, while the latter is similar to various small and medium-sized service companies.
Question 5: What is the most important thing at present?
If an organization wants to establish consistency and concentration, it must have only one primary task at a specific time, which can also be called "thematic goal".
The theme objectives include the following factors.
First, single. One thing is the most important, even if there are other goals worth considering.
Second, qualitative. Premature quantification will cause more restrictions on the goal and also limit people's ability to work together for the goal. The goal will be quantified later.
Third, temporary. The theme goal must be within a clear time period, and 3~ 12 months is appropriate.
Fourth, in the entire leadership * * *. When executives agree on a subject goal, they must work together to achieve it. Even from the nature of the goal, it belongs to the responsibility of one or two executives.
How to determine the theme goal?
First of all, we can try to answer: if only one thing is completed in the next few months, what will it be?
Second, decompose the target. Break down the theme goals into achievable goals. Usually it can be divided into 4~6 goals, which are qualitative and temporary and enjoyed by the leading team.
Finally, determine the standard operating objectives. That is, set clear quantitative indicators.
When a theme goal is about to be completed, the leadership team will begin to consider the next theme goal.
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Question 6: Who must do what?
When leaders return to their respective posts, they should clearly define their respective responsibilities. At the same time, clear the specific division of labor.
After answering the above six questions, it is compiled into a strategic white paper, which contains the following two points.
First, it must be short, two pages at most.
Second, members of the leading group should carry them with them and not be buried in filing cabinets.
This is a list. Ask the team if they can make the following statement.
1, leading team members to know the reasons for the existence of the team, to reach a * * * understanding on this issue, and to be enthusiastic about it.
2. The leadership team has defined and accepted a set of specific behavioral values.
Leaders have obviously reached a strategy that can help them define success and stand out from their competitors.
The leading team has a clear and realistic goal, and they will unite around this goal. They have a sense of collective belonging to this goal.
5. Leading team members know each other's roles and responsibilities. They are good at asking each other about their work.
6. The leading team briefly summarizes the elements of clear organization, and regularly quotes and reviews them.
Principle 3: repeatedly and fully convey the clarity of the organization.
All the above work is ready, so it is necessary to communicate repeatedly within the organization. Including top-down and bottom-up communication.
Top-down communication
A good leader thinks that his most important duty is to remind others.
The most reliable and effective way to make an organization move in the same direction is to ensure that the members of the leadership team can reach a clear agreement at the end of the meeting, and convey this information to their direct subordinates in time, so that the direct subordinates can convey the same information to their direct subordinates. This is the so-called "step-by-step communication".
There are three key points in step-by-step communication.
First, the consistency of information from one leader to another.
Second, the timeliness of communication.
Third, real-time communication.
In fact, most organizations can't really communicate with employees because they are not clear enough about key information and can't persevere.
It should be noted that the success of top-down communication begins with principle one (building a cohesive leadership team) and principle two (building organizational clarity). Without them, no amount of communication is useless.
Bottom-up and horizontal communication
Providing a bottom-up communication tool for employees is very important in any organization, however, it is not a panacea. This is because there is no consensus on key issues, and the leadership team lacks cohesion and cannot respond to employees' suggestions and demands.
In fact, when the feedback and suggestions provided by employees cannot be digested and utilized, asking employees to provide more feedback will only aggravate employees' frustration.
This is a list. Ask the team if they can make the following statement.
1. The leadership team has clearly conveyed the answers to the six questions of organizational clarity to all employees.
2, leading team members regularly remind their department staff about six aspects of organizational clarity.
3. At the end of the meeting, the leadership team reached a clear and specific decision on what information to convey to employees, and conveyed the information step by step in time after the meeting.
4. Employees can accurately express the reasons, values, strategic pillars and goals of the organization.
Principle 4: Strengthen organizational clarity.
In order to ensure that the answers to the six key questions are truly integrated into the organization, leaders must do their best to strengthen them structurally.
To do this, we must ensure that the personal human resources system (involving every procedure of people), from recruitment to personnel management, training and salary, aims to strengthen the answers to these questions.
The human resource system provides an organization with a structure that connects management, culture and management, even if the leader is not around to remind it.
At the same time, organizations should institutionalize their culture, not bureaucratize it. Bureaucracy will turn a useful personnel system into administrative intervention, such as tedious performance appraisal. The best performance management process aims to stimulate the right dialogue around the right topic.
This is a list. Ask the team if they can make the following statement.
1, organizations can simply ensure that newly hired employees are carefully selected according to the company's values.
2. New employees learn six elements of organizational clarity in induction training.
3. All managers of the organization use a simple, consistent and non-bureaucratic system to set goals and evaluate the performance of employees. This system is customized around the clear elements of the organization.
4. Employees who don't conform to the organizational values will be fired, and those who conform to the values but perform poorly will get the guidance and help they need to succeed.
5. The salary system is built around the values and goals of the organization.
In addition to the above four principles, the author of this book also puts forward several types of meetings.
First, report the meeting every day. The time is 5~ 10 minute. This kind of meeting has no agenda, does not solve problems, but only exchanges information.
Second, weekly tactical meetings. Time is 45~90 minutes. Evaluate all key tasks and execute this week's key tasks.
Third, special conferences. Time is 2~4 hours. Discuss important issues that have a long-term impact on the organization.
For a baseball player, training is very important, but playing on the court is more important. Similarly, it is important for leaders to hold meetings and discuss, but it is more important to actually deal with problems and dilemmas.
Fourth, go out for a quarterly summary meeting. The time is 1~2 days. Jump out of the business of the organization and look at the problem from a new angle.
This is a list. Ask the team if they can make the following statement.
1. Tactics and strategies are discussed at different meetings.
2. At the tactical meeting, the team will review the progress of the objectives before determining the agenda of the meeting. It is easy to rule out unimportant administrative topics.
3, in the monthly strategy meeting, spend enough time to discuss major issues, so as to clarify the problem, discuss and reach a resolution.
4. The team will hold an outing summary meeting every quarter to review the situation of the industry, organization and team.
The above is the department where the author sorted out the essence of this book, which is a bit much, but it is really used. Readers who are interested in team organization and management may wish to read this book carefully, which will be very enlightening. At the same time, I suggest reading it with another book by the author, Five Obstacles to Teamwork, which will be more impressive.