打造卓越企业文化的十条法则

2015年11月，万豪国际集团斥资122亿美元收购了喜达屋酒店。当时，万豪国际CEO苏安励给18万名喜达屋员工写了一封信，但这封公开信并没有强调此次并购的商业效益，而是重点阐述了此举的文化意义。万豪国际曾18次入选《财富》最适宜工作的100家公司榜单。苏安励在信中写道：“我们公司奉行以人为本的文化，将以一种透明的方式尊重每位员工。随着合并工作的有序推进，诸位将体会到这种文化。”

上世纪90年代中期，互联网刚刚出现时，许多人认为它只是一群不懂如何运营公司的年轻技术人员推动的风潮而已，很快就会尘埃落定。现在我们知道，没有提早接受互联网的公司，只能在后面苦苦追赶。

卓越职场研究所见过各种各样的高管，对于公司文化，他们或抵触，或怀疑，或敞开怀抱，欣然接受。

不论领导者是抵触还是接受公司文化，以下这10条策略都可以帮助他们打造和维护公司文化：

1、加强沟通

鉴于一些高管认为“文化”和“价值观”是一种非常模糊的概念，团队成员很有必要明确阐述文化的定义、特征，并说明文化与业绩的关系。一家公司阐明的价值观，是一套指导公司内部的决策与行为，创建可预测性和一致性的核心原则。文化是一种无处不在的信念和态度，它决定了一家公司的特点。在一家拥有卓越文化的公司中，员工信任领导者，对自己的工作有自豪感，喜欢与同事相处——这种文化服务于公司战略。

2、赋予个人意义

对于抵触文化的高管，可以询问他或她自己的经历。“你做过的最好的工作是什么？”“你曾工作过的最佳工作场所是什么样子？”“是什么让它变得如此卓越？”如果对方回答说“我们并肩作战”或者“不论付出什么代价，我们都会把任务完成”，你便可以说：“这就是文化。我们可以有意识地在我们公司内部创造这样的文化。”

3、阐述文化的商业价值

喜欢用数据说话的人应该清楚，《财富》杂志“最适宜工作的100家公司”的上榜公司，其股票收益是总体指数的近两倍。此外，卓越工作场所的主动离职率比其他公司低65%，这就大大减少了员工缓慢流失所造成的沉重成本（知识与生产力损失、招聘成本、新员工入职成本、培训成本和其他费用等）。这只是个开始——事实上，文化有着强大的商业价值。通过确认你所在的公司那些将受惠于更高信任度的具体举措和绩效指标，你可以清楚地了解到这一点。

4、联系公司的痛点

我们认为，许多严峻的商业挑战都根源于信任的缺失。一个与钱有关的问题是：“更高水平的信任度如何减缓我们面临的问题？”谈论公司的痛点，比如困难重重的收购、旷日持久的项目、高成本、质量问题、糟糕的跨部门协作或者新策略执行不力等问题，是一个让最高管理层真正关心公司文化建设的切入点。

5、建立社会认同

作家罗伯特•西奥迪尼介绍的许多策略，有助于阐述创建公司文化的理由。“社会认同”是其中尤为强大的策略之一。参观一家受人尊敬、拥有卓越且可感知的文化的公司，可以激励你的领导进行类似的努力。

6、将文化建设变成个人的挑战

想象你对CEO这样说：“当我谈论公司文化的时候，我其实谈论的是，作为一个榜样，你可以发挥多大的影响力。”对CEO言听计从是一种很常见的现象，但根据我们的经验，CEO们通常更愿意接受挑战。问下面这个问题需要一定的勇气：“你和其他领导者如何做好另一种你更愿意看到的行为的表率？”你必须冲破阻力，坚持下去。

7、展现个人魅力

不要低估注视着对方的眼睛说出心里话所蕴含的力量。领导力图书作家赛斯•高汀声称，魅力并不是成为领导者的先决条件——你会因为成为领导者而绽放魅力。

8、绘制鼓舞人心的愿景

尝试说服其他人的时候，为了自我保护，我们在做出承诺时往往会留有余地。不要这样做。你要绘制一个强大的愿景。如果你相信这个愿景能够实现，你就要大声说出来，不要有任何限定、警告或贬低。

9、学会讲故事

政治家迪普•奥尼尔说过：“一切政治都是地方政治。”公司文化也是如此。找到真实的、接地气的故事，描述强大、高度信任和战略步调一致的文化所带来的好处，并将这些故事与其他人分享。更具冲击力的故事来自那些低信任度的公司文化，这鞋故事往往承载着真实的痛苦和损失。在低信任度文化中，员工的生产效率低下，士气低落，而且还会将这种情绪带回家中。所有这些故事都可以帮助最高领导层切实体会到文化的影响力。

10、引用黄金法则

管理高层的日常工作经历是与外界隔绝的。因此，他们很难接触到低信任度文化每天带来的挫败感。以下这个问题有助于建立起同理心：“假设你是一位中层领导，希望做正确的事情，但却因为办公室政治和低信任度文化的其他后果而难以施展拳脚。这时你希望高层给你提供哪些帮助？”

坚持你对文化的信念。你每天都在取得进展，总有一天，有一件事，可能是不起眼的小事，会带来巨大的变化。对你想要的东西不必谨小慎微。(财富中文网)

本文作者乔纳森•贝克尔是卓越职场研究所的执行文化顾问。卓越职场研究所是一家全球研究与咨询公司，与许多机构合作建立高度信任的职场文化，这家机构还是《财富》最适宜工作的100家公司榜单的联合制作单位。

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

审校：任文科

In the $12.2 billion merger between Marriott International and Starwood Hotels, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson sent a letter to all 180,000 Starwood associates that centered not on the business benefits of the merger, but on the cultural implications. “A big part of our people-first culture is treating people with respect and transparency,” wrote Sorenson, whose company has been on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list 18 times. “You’ll experience both as we work through this process.”

When the Internet emerged in the mid-1990s, many saw it as a fad, promoted by young techies who had no idea how to run a business. Now we know that businesses that didn’t embrace the Internet early on had to catch up later.

When it comes to company culture, we at Great Place to Work see senior executives either resisting culture, expressing skepticism toward it, opening up to it, or embracing it

These 10 strategies will help companies build and maintain corporate culture, regardless of how often leaders resist or embrace:

Sharpen the conversation

With executives who see “culture” and “values” as mushy, it is particularly critical for team members to speak with clear definitions, distinctions, and ties to business outcomes. A company’s stated values are the core principles that guide decision-making, behavior, and create predictability and consistency across the organization. Culture is the pervasive beliefs and attitudes that characterize a company. In a great company culture, employees trust leaders, have a sense of pride in their work, and enjoy their colleagues—and the culture serves the strategy.

Build personal meaning

Try asking a culture-resistant executive about his or her own experience. “What’s the best job you ever had?” “What’s the best place you ever worked?” “What made it so great?” Answers like, “We worked as a team,” or, “We got it done—whatever it took” are the opening to say, “That is culture. And that is what we can intentionally create in every part of our company.”

Make the business case for culture

Those who look to data for proof should know that companies on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list (a list we create) perform nearly two times better in stock returns compared to broader indices. And great workplaces have voluntary turnover rates that are as much as 65% lower than their peers, helping mitigate the hefty cost of chronic employee flight (lost knowledge and productivity, hiring, onboarding, training, and other costs). That is just the start—the business case for culture is strong. You can bring it home by identifying specific initiatives and performance indicators in your own organization that will be helped by greater trust.

Link to the pain points

We believe the root of many serious business challenges is the absence of trust in the culture. The money question is: “How might higher levels of trust mitigate the problems we’re seeing?” Talking about your company’s pain points—rocky acquisitions, time-consuming projects, high costs, quality issues, poor cross-functional alignment, or failure to execute new strategies—is a good way into the real concerns of top leaders.

Establish social proof

Author Robert Cialdini describes a number of strategies that could help make the case for culture. “Social proof” is particularly powerful. Visiting a respected company with a remarkable, palpable culture can inspire your leaders to dedicate themselves to similar efforts.

Make it a personal challenge

Imagine saying to your CEO, “When I talk about culture, I am talking about the enormous power you have as a role model here.” It’s normal to defer to CEOs, but in our experience, they welcome challenge. It takes courage to ask: “How could you and other leaders role model a different set of behaviors, more like what you want to see?” You will have to push through resistance, but stick with it.

Make the personal appeal

Never underestimate the power of looking someone in the eyes and speaking from the heart. Leadership author Seth Godin says you don’t need charisma to be a leader—you get charisma from being a leader.

Paint an inspiring picture

When you are trying to persuade others, it can be tempting to protect yourself by under-promising. Don’t. Paint a powerful picture. If you believe it’ll work, then state your vision without qualification, caveat, or diminishment.

Tell stories

“All politics is local,” said politician Tip O’Neill. It’s the same with culture. Find and share real, ground-level stories of what happens when the culture is strong, high-trust, and strategically aligned. More powerful are stories of the real suffering and damage low-trust cultures create. In a low-trust culture, people are unproductive and demoralized. Then they take that home. Stories help senior leaders feel it.

Invoke the golden rule

The day-to-day work experience of senior executives is insulated. They are protected from many of the routine frustrations of a low-trust culture. Build empathy by asking, “Imagine you were a mid-level leader trying to do the right thing, but were often stymied by politics and other consequences of a low-trust culture. What would you want senior executives to do to help you?”

Stick with your beliefs about culture. You aremaking progress and one day something, maybe something small, will catalyze big changes. Don’t be careful what you wish for.

Jonathan Becker is an executive culture consultant at Great Place to Work, a global research and consulting firm that works with organizations to build high-trust workplace cultures and produces the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.