新官上任，你如何避免失败
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至少有一半高管会在新工作中陷入困境。本文作者给出了三点避免陷入这一困境的建议：要诊断，不要谴责；要决断，不要推迟；要驾驭权力，不要放弃权力。 研究显示，至少有50%的高管在新工作开始后的18个月内会遭遇失败。 如何才能避免陷入这一困境？ 咨询公司Navalent的合伙人罗恩•卡鲁奇和埃里克•汉森也在寻找答案。为此，他们用了10年时间，采访了2,600名高管，其中大多数来自《财富》（Fortune）排行榜前1,000名的公司。 他们发现，高管跳槽到新公司后会面临许多障碍：67%的高管很难真正放下前一份岗位的工作。此外还有令人疲惫不堪的时间压榨：61%的高管表示，人们希望他们付出的时间超出了自己的承受范围。还有与身份不符的因素：60%的高管表示，其他人会认为他们掌握着无上的权力，而他们其实没有那么大的权力。 卡鲁奇与汉森根据他们的研究所著新书《崛起之路：卓越高管指南》（Rising to Power: The Journey of Exceptional Executives）将在本月出版。他们在书中给出了以下三条建议： 1. 要诊断，不要谴责 来到新公司后，高管们往往会想方设法弄清楚新公司的状况——而且往往控制不住自己的震惊。最糟糕的反应是说：“你们怎么能忍受这么久？”卡鲁奇建议：“主动寻求其他人的反馈，了解他们如何看待你和你的行为。找到适当方法，尊重元老级员工留下的传统。” 2. 要决断，不要推迟 卡鲁奇认为：“刚上任的领导者往往很难处理好跟员工的关系。”他表示，由于社交媒体赋予所有人的权利，如今，领导者得到的信任大不如前。要让员工感觉有价值，并感觉自己是决策过程的一部分，这一点非常重要，但问题在于：如今，决断力也变得更加关键。领导者应该做出有利于公司的艰难选择，而不是因为过于担心员工的感受而畏手畏脚。 3. 要驾驭权力，不要放弃权力。 新上任的高管，尤其是CEO，比以往更担心给人留下恣意妄为的印象——因为自以为是的炫耀权力和特权，在今天已经不合时宜。汉森表示：“不要放弃新得到的权力能够带来的好处。要学会驾驭它。” 对2,600名高管的谈话，显示出男性与女性领导者之间只存在细微的差别。女性老板感觉被孤立的情况少于男性，或许因为女性能够在角色转变的初期便建立起支持网络。但卡鲁奇也发现，女性领导者似乎并不像男性那么享受担任高管职务。 这样的结果对于《财富》杂志并不意外。相对于男性领导者，《财富》杂志评选出的“最具影响力商界女性”（顺便预告一下，《财富》杂志将于本周四公布2014年的榜单）倾向于横向看待自己的权力。对于处在职场巅峰的女性而言，权力跟爬得多高无关，它的意义在于，能够在一定范围内发挥自己的影响力，这要比下一份工作来得更加重要。（财富中文网） 翻译：刘进龙/汪皓 |
At least 50% executives fail within the first 18 months of taking a new job, research shows. How do you avoid the failure trap? This is the question that Ron Carucci and Eric Hansen, partners in a consultancy called Navalent, sought to answer by interviewing 2,600 executives—most of them at Fortune 1000 companies—over a 10-year span. The consultants discovered plenty of handicaps to success: 67% of executives struggle to let go of work they did in their previous job. There’s also that debilitating time suck: 61% said that people want more of their time than they have available. And the imposter factor: 60% of executives said that others ascribe more power to them than they believe they have. Here are three tips from Carucci and Hansen, whose new book based on the study, Rising to Power: The Journey of Exceptional Executives, is out this month: 1. Diagnose, don’t indict. Executives new to an organization often turn over rocks to discover what they’ve gotten themselves into—and fail to manage their shock. Saying “How have you people survived this long?” is the worst reaction. “Actively solicit feedback about how you and your actions are being perceived,” Carucci advises. “And find ways to honor the heritage of long-standing employees.” 2. Decide, don’t defer. “Leaders begin their role in the relational red,” says Carucci, noting that leaders in general are less trusted today than in the past before social media empowered everybody. Making employees feel valuable and part of decision-making is crucial, but here’s the hitch: Decisiveness is more critical than ever. Make tough choices for the good of the organization without getting handicapped by inordinate worry about how employees feel. 3. Embrace power, don’t abdicate. Newly promoted executives, especially CEOs, are ever more fearful about being viewed as indulgent—since brash displays of power and privilege are so not cool today. “Don’t abdicate the good you can do with your new power,” says Hansen. “Learn to harness it.” The interviews with the 2,600 executives revealed only slight differences between male and female leaders. Women bosses felt less isolated than men did, perhaps because women build support networks early on in their transitions. But female leaders also seemed to enjoy being executives less than the men did, Hansen and Carucci found.. This is not a surprise to Fortune. The Most Powerful Women in Business (Fortune’s 2014 rankings will be revealed this Thursday) tend to view power more horizontally than male leaders do. To women at the top, power is typically not so much about climbing the ladder; power is more about wielding influence across a spectrum that’s much bigger than the next job. |
