很多領導者缺乏的一個基本素質(zhì)：同理心
Hal Gregersen
2018-08-22
Photograph by Robert Daly via Getty Images
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“同理心”（或曰“移情”）這個詞在很多時候承載著某種負面涵義。它太多愁善感、婆婆媽媽了，不配與“激勵”、“可行性”、“回報率”這種雞血滿滿的詞匯在商業(yè)詞典中并排出現(xiàn)。不過研究表明，現(xiàn)在我們有必要重新思考同理心在企業(yè)扮演的重要角色。 《哈佛商業(yè)評論》最近發(fā)表的一篇研究評估了企業(yè)領導者的同理心與企業(yè)績效之間的關系。研究人員采用“同情”和“原諒”作為主要指標，訪問了84家美國公司的員工，旨在調(diào)查這些企業(yè)CEO的性格。研究人員將企業(yè)的財務績效與員工對CEO性格的評價進行對比后發(fā)現(xiàn)，擁有較強同理心的CEO的績效表現(xiàn)，超過得分較低的CEO五倍。進一步的研究還表明，企業(yè)領導者的同理心與產(chǎn)品開發(fā)、市場營銷和管理績效水平的提升都有一定聯(lián)系。 顧名思義，“同理心”是指在人力所能及的范圍內(nèi)，盡量理解或分擔另一個人的感覺和情緒的能力。像任何其它技能一樣，同理心也是需要鍛煉的。為了更好地理解如何培養(yǎng)同理心，我采訪了麻省理工學院領導力中心的幾位領導者，以期了解他們是怎樣與各自的團隊和客戶建立聯(lián)系的。在培養(yǎng)同理心文化的過程中，這些領導者也獲得了很多高價值的回報。 為顧客騰出時間 你是否問過自己，你有多大比例的時間花在了公司一線上，也就是顧客直接體驗你的產(chǎn)品和服務的地方？如果答案是少于25%，那么你就有可能被更關心顧客喜好的競爭對手打敗——這是我在過去3年采訪完200余名全球最佳商業(yè)領袖之后獲取的心得。人際互動對于開發(fā)創(chuàng)新思路是非常重要的。不過奇怪的是，一個人在企業(yè)中的領導職位越高，他就越傾向于放棄與消費者交流——有的領導把這項任務委托給別人，有的甚至完全放棄了親自與消費者交流的機會。而最有效的領導則會優(yōu)先騰出與顧客進行私人交流的時間，因為這樣做對于創(chuàng)新來說非常重要。 凱拉什·斯瓦爾納曾任制藥公司高管，現(xiàn)任麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院研究員。他回憶起一個前老板在職務升遷后，是怎樣繼續(xù)保持他跟患者的關系的。作為一名執(zhí)業(yè)醫(yī)師，這位前老板仍然會在每周五坐診，然后在周一的會議上將他和患者交流的心得分享給斯瓦爾納和其他團隊成員。這種形式的個人交流不僅增加了團隊研發(fā)救命新藥的決心，也使他們更深入地了解到病人的感受。總之，不管你的公司是做醫(yī)療的，做貿(mào)易的，還是做零售的，領導者必須要騰出時間去了解自己的顧客。 主動提問 在過去30年研究領導力的過程中，我發(fā)現(xiàn)最高效和最有同理心的領導者，往往是最會提問的人。他們會問許多關于顧客、供應商、下級、競爭對手和同事的問題，而且這些問題往往具有催化劑作用。好的問題不僅能夠催生創(chuàng)新的解決方案，同時也是讓同理心在人群中傳遞的渠道。通過提問，領導可以深入了解究竟怎樣能讓團隊正常運轉(zhuǎn)，甚至能夠克服他們個人在領導力方面的不足。比如前駐阿富汗美軍司令斯坦利·麥克里斯特爾就曾對我表示，正是提問幫助他規(guī)避了性格內(nèi)向的缺點，使他能夠更好地與他的團隊進行溝通。 對一名領導來說，要想打造同理心文化和問題型文化，最簡單的方式就是率先垂范。比如你可以問你的團隊，怎樣做是有效的，怎樣做是無效的，以及為什么。你可以問他們這一天過得怎么樣，他們最喜歡什么樣的任務，他們最大的挑戰(zhàn)是什么。記得要在他們信任你、而不是害怕你的基礎上問問題，盡量真誠地了解他們的世界，不要妄加批評，也不要指手劃腳。盡量傾聽他們在說什么，留心他們在做什么，你至少會從中得到一些令人驚訝或意外的見解。 鼓勵提問 上面所說的提問并不是單向的（如果是的話，那最終將是一條死路）。領導者必須鼓勵其他人也經(jīng)常提問題。比如有一次，斯瓦爾納領導的團隊打算搬遷工作場所，在這個過程中，他打算暫時關掉公司的實驗室，并暫停所有試驗。為此，斯瓦爾納充分聽取了實驗室研究人員的意見。一名公司新招聘進來的員工質(zhì)疑了這個決定，問他知不知道暫停他的試驗會導致什么后果。因此，斯瓦爾納重新進行了安排，使試驗可以不受打擾地進行。如果他事先沒有鼓勵團隊成員踴躍發(fā)表意見，他可能就無法發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的錯誤，而這個錯誤可能導致企業(yè)損失大量資金，甚至可能會令他失去整個團隊的信任。 高高在上的領導們很容易陷入一種虛假的安全感。如果企業(yè)不鼓勵員工提尖銳的問題，那么他們就會習慣于報喜不報憂，使高層領導看不見基層真相。只有鼓勵員工多提一些重要問題，像催化劑一樣消彌那些不切實際的假設并促進變革，領導者才能更加情形地認識到企業(yè)面臨的風險與機遇。因此，領導者需要營造一個安全的環(huán)境，讓員工能夠敢于大膽發(fā)問，不必擔心被“穿小鞋”或“秋后算賬”。另外，你自己也要積極去回答員工的問題。你既可以在上班時設置固定的答問時間，也可以組織非正式的聚會來回答員工的疑問。充分回答員工的問題也表明了你具有同理心，從而會使員工對你產(chǎn)生信任感，而這也是極為重要的。 美國作家、短篇小說家安德魯·杜伯斯三世曾寫過一句名言：“寫作就是持續(xù)的移情行為。”相似的，我認為有效的領導也是持續(xù)的移情行為。企業(yè)只有通過精心培養(yǎng)重要的領導技能，才能建立更加創(chuàng)新、高產(chǎn)和敬業(yè)的文化。現(xiàn)在是我們把“同理心”帶回企業(yè)，并讓它發(fā)揮作用的時候了。（財富中文網(wǎng)） 本文作者Hal Gregersen是麻省理工學院領導力中心的常務理事，也是麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院領導力與創(chuàng)新學的講師，曾登上全球首個管理學思想家排行榜Thinkers50。他是《創(chuàng)新DNA：掌握顛覆性創(chuàng)新的五大技能》一書的作者，也是“4－24項目”的發(fā)起人。為了制作麻省理工學院領導力中心的系列節(jié)目，他采訪了許多創(chuàng)新型商業(yè)領袖，探索他們是如何解決全球最具挑戰(zhàn)性的問題的。 譯者：樸成奎 審校：任文科 |
Empathy. To many, the word carries a negative connotation. It is too emotional and “touchy-feely” to take a rightful place in business vernacular alongside strong testosterone-laden words like incentivize, actionable, and ROI. But research suggests it’s time to rethink empathy’s critical role in business. A recent study published in Harvard Business Review assessed the link between empathic leaders and performance. Researchers surveyed employees from 84 U.S. companies about the character of their CEOs, using compassion and forgiveness as key indicators. Comparing the company’s financial performance against the employee’s judgment of the CEOs character, the researchers found that CEOs with a strong character outperformed their poorly-ranked peers by nearly 500%. Further researchconnects empathy with improved product development, marketing, and manager performance. By definition, empathy is the ability to understand or share another person’s experiences and emotions – as much as humanly possible. Like any skill, it requires practice. To better understand how to develop and cultivate empathy, I interviewed several leaders at the MIT Leadership Center about how they build connections with their teams and customers. Not surprisingly, what these leaders do to maintain an empathetic culture yields many high-value benefits. Make time for your customers Have you ever asked yourself how much of your time is spent on the edge of your organization where customers directly experience your products and services? If the answer is less than 25%, you are at risk to be blindsided by competitors who pay better attention to what customers really care about – at least that’s what I’ve learned interviewing 200 of the world’s best leaders during the past three years. Personal interaction is crucial to developing innovative ideas. Oddly though, the higher leaders rise in an organization, the easier it becomes to lose this critical consumer connection – either by delegating the task or just simply abandoning it. The most effective leaders prioritize personal customer connection time because it’s crucial to the innovation process. Kailash Swarna, a former pharmaceutical executive and now an MIT Sloan fellow, recently reflected on how one of his bosses maintained his connection to patients as his job responsibilities pulled him further away from the frontlines. A practicing physician, he would see patients in the clinic every Friday and then share the experiences with Swarna and his team in their Monday meetings. This type of personal connection not only strengthened the team’s resolve to create lifesaving medicines, but made them part of the patient experience. Whether in a doctor’s room, a tradeshow, a retail location, or other settings, leaders must carve out the time to get to know their customers. Ask questions During the past three decades of studying leadership, I’ve found that the most effective – and empathetic – leaders are the best questioners. They ask many catalytic questions of their customers, suppliers, direct reports, peers, and colleagues. Questions not only yield innovative solutions, but they are also the conduit through which empathy flows. Through questions, leaders can build a strong understanding of what makes their teams tick and even overcome their own personal leadership challenges. For instance, General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, told me questions are what help him cope with his introversion and connect with his team. The simplest way for a leader to build an empathetic and question-centric culture is to lead by example; ask your teams about what’s working, what’s not, and why. Ask about their day, their favorite tasks, their biggest challenges. Probe from a foundation of trust, not fear, seeking to honestly understand their world, not to blame or criticize. Work hard to pay attention to what they say and do so you can surface at least one surprising or unexpected insight from the encounter. Encourage questions Inquiry is not a one way street (and if it is, it’s ultimately a dead end). Leaders must encourage others to do the same. In one of his first leadership positions, Swarna led a team through a facility move expected to temporarily shut down the company’s labs and all ongoing experiments. During this time of change, Swarna made himself available to the researchers in the lab. One of the newest hires in the company challenged him about the consequences of shutting down his experiment. As a result, Swarna rearranged the move so the experiment could continue without interruption. If he hadn’t encouraged his team members to come forward, he may not have discovered the error until it cost the business money and maybe even the entire team’s trust. At the top of an organization, it’s easy for leaders to get lulled into a false sense of security. Employees who are discouraged from asking tough questionswill only report what is comfortable and positive, effectively blinding senior leaders to the unvarnished truth. Only by being open to catalytic questions (ones that dissolve false assumptions and accelerate change) can leaders gain an accurate perspective of the risks and opportunities lying ahead. Encourage employees to ask questions in a safe environment without fear of judgment or consequence. Make yourself available for questions. Maybe it’s by holding set office hours or hosting informal gatherings. Simply being fully present signals empathy and, in the end, builds mission critical trust. Andre Dubus III, an American author and short story writer, famously penned, “Writing is a sustained act of empathy.” Similarly, I believe that effective leadership is a sustained act of empathy. It is only through the close cultivation of this critical leadership skill that organizations can create a more innovative, more productive, and more engaged culture. It’s about time we bring “empathy” back into business and keep it there. Hal Gregersen is executive director of the MIT Leadership Center, a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a Thinkers50 globally ranked management thinker. He is the author of The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators and founder of The 4-24 Project. As part of the MIT Leadership Center Video Series, he sits down with innovative leaders to explore how they are solving the world’s most challenging problems. |
