你是否在为一家伟大的公司工作？对照本文就知道

    尽管如此，重视文化依然是一个很好的迹象。“最适合工作的公司”榜单记录了那些关心员工，并且在人性化管理方面取得重大进步的公司。但企业界的各位同仁还需要继续努力，还要去完成艰难的文化建设工作。

    第一步是进行“大扫除”，抛弃过时的旧思维模式。

    “多少”这个问题一直在困扰着企业、政治和我们的个人生活：我们可以将多少收入记入这个季度？可以承受多少债务？可以实现多大程度的增长？

    但在这样一个日新月异，联系日益密切的世界中，通过扩大生产、加大开支或增加销售已经无法保持竞争优势，因此，有关“多少”的问题已不合时宜。所以，我们不能条件反射般地询问“多少”，还应该有更深入地思考。不仅要问“我们可以为新午休室提供多大面积？”还要问“我们的公司有多透明？”或者“我们的决策过程有多公平？”如果你的公司真的是一个“适合”工作的地方，你便不能仅衡量“多少”，还要衡量“如何”创造出能够体现信任、合作、乐观与自由等人类深层价值的组织、社会、机构和公司。

    一家处在增长期的研究机构告诉我们，这件事现在变得越来越重要。

    科尔文在文章中提到沃顿商学院的一篇分析报告。该报告显示，在《财富》最适宜工作的公司榜单（1984年至2009年）中，许多上市公司每年的风险调整后收益率超出预期3.5%。我执掌的LRN公司对“如何”指标的研究显示，在拥有高度信任和价值导向文化的公司，93%的员工财务业绩优于竞争对手；而在低信任度的公司中，仅48%的员工有同样的表现。

    如今，许多机构已经开始指出工作环境与文化的重要性，比如四大会计事务所、科技巨头、顶级商学院、商业刊物，甚至还包括词典出版商。但承认好的工作场所的重要性相对简单。任何人都可以买一张乒乓球桌放在休息室里，或在周五运来一车啤酒。为公司建设合适的文化需要经过多年努力，因为你必须从头开始，自己去建设文化的每一个方面。致力于建设合适公司文化的领导者，最好做好吃苦头的准备：这并不是个容易的过程，也不是胆小者能够承担的任务。

    但我们可以并且必须深入思考。我们的集体思维与行为大多只涉及文化的表面；核心应该是员工与公司的文化。一个好的工作场所无法保证公司与客户、投资者、社区和环境建立良好的关系。好的工作/生活质量（这几乎所有人都想要的）也不见得能够带来高质量的员工-雇主关系。因此，我们必须提一些会令人不适的深层问题：我们的公司有多高的可信度？我们如何在公司内传播和灌输一种价值观？

    诸如《财富》“最适宜工作的公司”榜单这类努力让我们知道，除了收益、股东价值和市场份额，我们还有其他方式来衡量一家公司。既然我们已经开始从其他角度衡量公司，不妨直接触及核心问题。建设“合适的”公司文化需要我们承认和衡量“合适的”基础元素，例如：

    • 能激励员工和促进文化的组织目标；

    •能激励员工和提高员工行为的领导者；

    • 最人性化和最可持续的公司价值，即承认公司是一个更深层次的人类事业，需要员工和利益相关者通过健康持久的方式共同努力；

    • 可带来信任的行为；

    • 承认建设合适的文化需要经过一个漫长的过程，这个过程值得我们要求公司员工为之做出贡献、表达忠诚。

    使用一种带有目的性、战略性，并经过深思熟虑的方式管理文化，要求我们触动人类的本质，即从根本上持续促使我们每天早上从床上爬起来，引导我们过好每天生活的动力。建设或重建公司文化没有捷径。你不可能召开一次研讨会或张贴一张海报，便认为万事大吉。亚里士多德说过，人的优秀是一种习惯，而不是一次行为，这种说法同样适用于公司。最终的赢家必须开始培养和加强这些好习惯，因为大多数公司现在都知道如何创造好的工作场所。最好的公司之所以能够脱颖而出，是因为它们的领导者知道，一个好的工作场所与一个合适的工作场所是有区别的。（财富中文网）

    本文作者多弗•塞德曼为LRN公司首席执行官，该机构旨在帮助公司培养价值导向的文化与领导力，加强道德与合规工作。他还著有《成功企业的尺度》（HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything）一书。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    That said, any emphasis on culture is a promising sign. The “Best Companies to Work For” list chronicles companies that care about their people and have taken immense strides toward humanity. But those of us in the corporate world have far more progress – and difficult culture-building work – ahead of us.

    The first step in this work is cleaning house and getting rid of the ghosts of old and outdated thinking.

    The words “how much” have always haunted business, politics and our personal lives: How much revenue can we squeeze into this quarter? How much debt can we tolerate? How much growth can we generate?

    But “how much” questions aren’t the right questions – not in an ever changing, increasingly interconnected world, and not in a business realm where competitive advantage cannot be sustained via out-producing, outspending or out-selling. Instead of reflexively asking “how much,” we should examine “how”. Not just “How much square footage can we afford for the new nap room?” but “How transparent is our company?” or “How fair is our decision making process?” If your company is really the “right” place to work, you don’t just measure “how much”, your measure “how” to create organizations, societies, institutions and businesses that mirror our deepest values: trust, collaboration, resiliency, and freedom.

    A growing body of research shows us that it is exactly the sort of work that is now more important than ever.

    In his article, Colvin points to a Wharton analysis showing that a portfolio of publicly listed organizations on Fortune’s Best Companies list (from 1984 until 2009) surpassed its expected rate of risk-adjusted return by 3.5 percent annually. My own firm LRN’s research into “How” metrics, indicates that 93% of employees at businesses with high-trust and values-based cultures observe financial performance greater than their competitors; only 48% of those at low-trust organizations observe the same.

    I appreciate that so many different entities—Big 4 accounting firms, tech giants, top B-schools, business publications and even dictionary publishers— are beginning to point to the importance of workplace environment and culture. But recognizing the importance of a great workplace is comparatively easy. Anyone can buy a Ping-Pong table for the break room or bring in a beer cart on Fridays. Building the right culture in your business takes years of hard work, because you have to build every facet of it for yourself— from the ground up. Leaders who commit to building the right culture better prepare to take their lumps: it isn’t easy, and it isn’t or the faint of heart.

    But we can, and need to, go deeper. Most of our collective thinking and doing has barely scratched culture’s surface; it focuses primarily on the relationship between employee and company. A great workplace does not guarantee that the company has great relationships with its customers, investors, communities or the environment. Nor does a high work/life quality (something nearly all of us would very much want) necessarily bring about a high-quality employee-employer relationship. For that, deep, uncomfortable questions need to be asked: how trustworthy is our company? How do we convey and instill a sense of values throughout our organization?

    Efforts like Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For” list have helped show us that we can measure organizations in ways that extend beyond revenue, shareholder value and market share. Now that we’re doing this, we might as well go all the way to the core. Building the “right” kind of organizational culture requires us to recognize and measure the “right” foundational elements, such as:

    • An organizational purpose that inspires employees and animates the culture;

    • Leaders who also inspire employees and elevate their behavior;

    • The most human and sustainable organizational values that recognize business as a deeply human endeavor and that call for employees and stakeholders to endeavor together in a healthy and long-standing way;

    • Behaviors that generate trust;

    • A recognition that building the right kind of culture requires a journey, one worthy of the dedication and loyalty we ask of the humans who work for our companies.

    Managing culture in an intentional, strategic and deliberate way requires us to get to the human core: that which fundamentally and enduringly gets us out of bed in the morning and guides us through our days and lives. There is no short cut for building or rebuilding a corporate culture. You can’t just hold a seminar or put up a poster and call the problem solved. What Aristotle said about an individual’s excellence – that it is not a single act, but a habit – applies to organizations as well. The ultimate winners will start developing and strengthening these habits because most companies now know how to make great workplaces. What distinguishes the best organizations from the rest of the pack, are leaders who understand the depth that separates a great place to work from the right place to work.

    Dov Seidman is the chief executive of LRN, a company that helps corporations develop values-based cultures and leadership, strengthen their ethics and compliance efforts. He is also the author of HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything.