公司价值观失守的三大症状

    你最想改变企业的哪个方面？我在我的伦敦商学院（London Business School）选修课程上提出了这个问题。以下是50名学生分享的令人深感不满的三个方面：

    企业言行不一。我们都曾有个朋友找到一份新工作，但他后来却说：“跟我原来想的完全不一样。”我的学生们对此深有同感。他们认为，企业不遗余力地用动听的价值主张来吸引他们，但加入公司后却看不到这些价值的踪影。

    员工无权改变工作方式。我的学生们觉得，企业不准各个层级的员工改变旧的工作方式，提出新的工作方式。它扼杀了大公司的创新，助长了员工的流失。

    领导者不为他们的团队承担责任。大多数学生都听过领导者“把金字塔倒过来”的说法，但实际上，很少有在大公司里工作的人经历过这种事情。他们觉得，传统的管理架构仍然盛行，领导者被员工问责的事情鲜有发生。

    在为期一周的时间里，我们在作为特邀嘉宾的多位企业高管的帮助下，探讨了企业怎样才能改变这些令人不满之处。学生们发现了一个特别令人感兴趣的例子，也就是渣打银行（Standard Chartered Bank）对践行企业价值观的承诺。这家银行的社会和经济影响主管玛丽安•瓦尼基详细介绍了他们最成功的一个行动。

    这家总部位于英国的跨国银行将其品牌承诺确立为“一心做好，对客户始终如一”。

    渣打银行认为，想要真正践行其品牌承诺，就必须全面了解自身活动对业务所在国的影响。2010年，这家银行开创业内先河，在自己的重要市场加纳进行了社会经济影响综合性评估。结果令人震惊：这家银行通过纳税、创造就业、购买商品和服务等方式对加纳经济产生的直接影响贡献了大约5,500万美元的附加值。更好的是，主要通过企业和家庭使用其贷款而产生的间接和衍生影响更大，达到4亿美元，占加纳GDP的2.6%。

    这些发现有助于渣打银行了解自身对加纳经济的影响，同时向股东证明，这家银行真的在努力践行自己的品牌承诺。对于我的MBA课程来说，这家银行在衡量其影响方面所作出的努力是企业如何做到言行一致，并在此过程中建立责任制和展现价值观的好案例。

    结论显而易见：为了吸引和留住下一代人才，企业必须找到践行自身价值观的有效方法。这是特许人事与发展协会（CIPD）和管理创新交换网站（MIX）联合举办的“适应性优势”编程马拉松活动正试图解决的众多挑战之一。这个活动现在正在进行，来自全球各地的近1,000名人力资源从业者和思考者正努力提升所有机构的适应性。现在加入其中还不算太晚。（财富中文网）

    琳达•格拉顿是伦敦商学院的管理学教授，热点运动组织的创始人。

    译者：千牛絮

    What is it that you most want to change about corporations? That's the question I put to my elective program at London Business School, and here are three deep frustrations that the 50 students shared:

    Corporations don't do as they say. We've all had a friend start a new job and report back, "it's nothing like I thought it would be." This resonated strongly with my students, who felt that corporations go to great lengths to attract them with strong value propositions; but once they join, these values are nowhere to be seen.

    Employees aren't empowered to change the way things are done. My students felt that corporations don't give employees at all levels of the firm the ability to challenge the way things are done and propose new ways of working. This stifles innovation at big corporations and contributes to employee turnover.

    Leaders aren't accountable to their teams. While most students had heard of leaders "turning the pyramid upside down," few of those working in large corporations had experienced this in a practical sense. They felt that traditional management structures still prevail and that leaders are rarely held to account by their employees.

    Over the course of a week, and with the help of a series of guest executives, we explored how corporations are beginning to respond to these frustrations. One example students found particularly interesting was Standard Chartered Bank's commitment to living up to its corporate values. Marianne Mwaniki, head of social and economic impact at the bank, talked through one of their most successful initiatives.

    The UK-based multinational bank states its brand promise as being 'Here for good…sticking by clients and customers through good times and bad, and always trying to do the right thing.'

    To really live up to its brand promise, Standard Chartered felt it needed to fully understand the effect of its activities on the countries in which it operates. In 2010, it became the first in its industry to carry out a comprehensive socio-economic impact assessment in Ghana, one of its key markets. The results were astounding: the bank's direct impact on Ghana's economy through paying taxes, creating jobs, and buying goods and services contributed around $55 million of additional value. Better still, its indirect and induced impact, mainly through companies and households spending the money it lent them, dwarfed this, amounting to $400 million, or 2.6% of Ghana's GDP.

    These findings helped Standard Chartered understand its influence on Ghana's economy, and it showed stakeholders that the bank was truly striving to fulfill its brand promise. For my MBA class, the bank's desire to measure its impact was a great example of how companies can do as they say, building accountability and demonstrating their values in the process.

    The message is clear: to attract and retain the next generation of talented individuals, companies must develop effective ways of living their values. This is one of the many challenges theCIPD/MIX "Adaptability Advantage" hackathon is trying to address. The hackathon is now underway, with nearly 1,000 progressive HR practitioners and thinkers from around the world working to make all organizations more adaptable. It's not too late to join.

    Lynda Gratton is professor of management practice at London Business School and the founder of the Hot Spots Movement.