如何激發(fā)員工的創(chuàng)造力？不懂這件事的高管太多了
Lisa Saraian
2017-07-02
|
透視MPW是一個(gè)在線社區(qū)，商界內(nèi)外的一些大咖會(huì)在此及時(shí)分享有關(guān)職場(chǎng)和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的問題。今天的問題是：如何促進(jìn)員工在工作中發(fā)揮創(chuàng)意？回答者為孟山都北美公司副總裁麗莎·薩法里安。 現(xiàn)在只要一聽見英國(guó)搖滾樂隊(duì)威豹樂隊(duì)的歌，我就忍不住想起一位非常聰明的科學(xué)家。 我來(lái)解釋下原因。幾年前，我希望在手下跨部門團(tuán)隊(duì)里培養(yǎng)創(chuàng)新與合作的氛圍。當(dāng)時(shí)我們面對(duì)所在行業(yè)和客戶的重大挑戰(zhàn)。因?yàn)槲覀冃枰业叫滤悸穳汛髽I(yè)務(wù)。 我選擇最基本的方面著手。具體來(lái)說我的高招就是：讓團(tuán)隊(duì)成員全坐在一起。 當(dāng)時(shí)我們團(tuán)隊(duì)分布在20個(gè)辦公樓里，都位于一個(gè)占地200英畝（合80.9萬(wàn)平米）的工業(yè)園。和現(xiàn)在不一樣，那時(shí)候公司還沒有視頻會(huì)議，也沒有Skype之類視頻通話軟件。我希望在公司內(nèi)打造一支能力最強(qiáng)也最有士氣的團(tuán)隊(duì)。用電郵和電話會(huì)議怎么能做到呢？ 所以，我讓團(tuán)隊(duì)成員挪地方。他們雖然沒有明說，但都委婉地表示反對(duì)，理由是得離開自己的團(tuán)隊(duì)，在新舊辦公室地點(diǎn)之間往返得花半天時(shí)間。 我對(duì)團(tuán)隊(duì)成員說值得搬。領(lǐng)導(dǎo)隊(duì)伍水平提升后，屬下團(tuán)隊(duì)也會(huì)迸發(fā)活力。搬到一處辦公室之后好點(diǎn)子會(huì)源源不斷，如有神助一般。 剛開始我深信自己是正確的，因?yàn)樵谝黄鸸ぷ鞔蠹夷苎杆偕钊胗懻摶蛘叻窒砟硞€(gè)看法，感覺肯定可以激發(fā)新的創(chuàng)意。但沒過幾周，我就發(fā)現(xiàn)可能不是所有人都像我一樣熱情。剛開始大家積極組織走廊會(huì)談，迅速做決定，談話氛圍也很輕松。但很快都變?yōu)殚]門會(huì)議，負(fù)責(zé)人跟自己團(tuán)隊(duì)開會(huì)時(shí)也大多另找地方。 根本問題是：人人都需要更多時(shí)間。平衡工作、旅游和個(gè)人承諾計(jì)劃的需求不是新鮮事，可我發(fā)現(xiàn)最嚴(yán)重的是團(tuán)隊(duì)凝聚力受到了影響。怎樣才能讓團(tuán)隊(duì)多聚在一起，形成必要的團(tuán)結(jié)精神并發(fā)揮創(chuàng)造性，但不要浪費(fèi)在無(wú)關(guān)的事情上面？ 關(guān)鍵在于，這種方法能讓我跟團(tuán)隊(duì)近，激發(fā)我的思路，但沒有什么刺激創(chuàng)意的方式是放之四海而皆準(zhǔn)的。不同的團(tuán)隊(duì)有不同的需求。我能做的就是趁團(tuán)隊(duì)成員有空的時(shí)候，幫他們彼此相處得更融洽，那樣一來(lái)，他們才愿意敢于在同事面前表現(xiàn)脆弱的一面，也愿意分享更多點(diǎn)子。 接下來(lái)幾次出差期間，不論是拜訪客戶還是參觀擴(kuò)建的場(chǎng)地，我們都盡力讓過程有趣一些。開始我們?nèi)コɡ璒K，然后去連鎖漢堡店In-N-Out吃了一頓公費(fèi)報(bào)銷的“豪華”晚餐。候機(jī)的時(shí)候，我們還玩了一個(gè)小游戲，猜一猜各位團(tuán)隊(duì)成員的小秘密。 也是在玩那個(gè)游戲時(shí)，我們才得知，團(tuán)隊(duì)里沉默寡言、心思細(xì)膩的科學(xué)家以前做職業(yè)棒球運(yùn)動(dòng)員的時(shí)候，進(jìn)場(chǎng)音樂會(huì)選威豹樂隊(duì)的“倒些糖給我”（Pour Some Sugar on Me）。 經(jīng)過幾次類似互動(dòng)，團(tuán)隊(duì)開展即興頭腦風(fēng)暴變得更為自然。之前我希望大家坐在一起其實(shí)就是為了鼓勵(lì)這種頭腦風(fēng)暴。很快團(tuán)隊(duì)一致認(rèn)為大家都需要多一些自由的私人時(shí)間，比如周五下午不開會(huì)，周末不發(fā)工作電郵等。 簡(jiǎn)單調(diào)整以后，我們團(tuán)隊(duì)成員更加投入，創(chuàng)新的想法更多了，對(duì)公司業(yè)務(wù)也有正面的影響。 其中的關(guān)鍵便是，承認(rèn)適合某個(gè)人的方法可能不會(huì)適用于所有人，但人人都能找到適合自己的方式。作為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，我們只需要讓下屬自己嘗試。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)） 譯者：Pessy 審校：夏林 |
The MPW Insiders Network is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for, “How do you give your employees time to be creative at work?” is written by Lisa Safarian, vice president of Monsanto North America. I no longer hear Def Leppard without picturing one of the smartest scientists I’ve ever met. Let me explain. A few years ago, I had an idea to foster creativity and collaboration on the cross-functional team I lead. We had major challenges facing our industry and customers, and I knew we would need to come up with new ways of thinking to strengthen our business. I was taking it back to basics. My brilliant idea: We were all going to sit by each other. We had been spread across 20 buildings on a 200-acre campus. And our company’s technology wasn’t what it is today—no videoconferencing or skyping. I wanted to create the most high-functioning, inspired team in the company. How could I do that over email or conference calls? So I asked them to move. They had the decency to quietly voice their protests. This takes me away from my own team, they said. I’ll spend half my day driving back and forth. It’s going to be worth it, I told them. Your team will be energized by how great our leadership team is going to be. The great ideas are just going to fly off of our floor, as if we’re generating them by magic. I loved it at first. I liked being able to quickly get a gut check or share a thought, and felt like it was absolutely spurring new ideas. But within a few weeks, I could tell not everyone shared my enthusiasm. What started out as a lot of productive hallway meetings, quick decisions, and relaxed dialogue soon devolved into closed doors or meetings in other locations as my team went to their teams. At the root of it: Everyone needed more time. Juggling the demands of the job, travel, and personal commitments isn’t a new phenomenon, but one that I could tell was impacting our cohesiveness. How could we spend more time together as a team to build the type of discourse and creative thinking we needed without taking time away from something else? Here’s the thing: While it worked for me to be close to the team, and helped my thinking, there is no one-size-fits-all creativity infusion. This was a diverse team with diverse needs. What I could do was find them time and help them be more comfortable with each other so they were willing to be a little vulnerable and go out on a limb and share some ideas. For our next few working trips, whether it was visiting with customers or touring a site expansion, we built in some fun. It started with karaoke, and then a swanky expense account dinner—at In-N-Out. Then, while waiting for a flight, a quick game of trivia with barely known facts about each team member. And that’s when we learned that the quiet, thoughtful scientist on our team would choose “Pour Some Sugar on Me” as his walk-up song were he a professional baseball player. A few of those types of interactions, and the casual impromptu brainstorms I’d envisioned when I decided we should all sit together, became more natural. Soon, as a team, we decided we wanted to help our teams find more time to spend in the ways they wanted, instituting simple ideas like meeting-free Friday afternoons and email-free weekends. With these simple moves, we’ve seen our engagement and creative thinking spike, and bring a positive impact to our business results as well. The key in all of this was acknowledging that what works for one may not work for everyone, but everyone can find what works for them. As leaders, we just need to let them. |
