本地和尚也能念好顾问这本经

    美国运通公司CEO肯•切诺特最初便是公司SPG团队的一员。他说：“我亲眼见证了策略规划团队的许多老同事被提拔到了不同的岗位，对公司的成功产生了不可估量的影响。公司取得的很多重大胜利背后都有策略规划人员的功劳。”

    拉布金加入美国运通的策略规划团队之前曾在一家咨询公司任职。他发现，一些大公司的员工在成为某个业务部门的负责人之前，有机会先选取几项业务来尝试，这种理念引起了他的兴趣。

    他说：“已经掌握的技能只是进入公司的敲门砖，但要想在美国运通这样的环境中取得成功，就必须掌握新技能。”

    美国运通于1977年成立SPG。拉布金的经历极具代表性。他在团队中工作了两年，逐渐在他希望参与的项目中掌握了一定的发言权。每个项目大约会持续三到六个月。

    在美国运通，员工加入策略规划团队的18个月内，大部分员工都会开始考虑自己属意的岗位。拉布金称，到18个月左右的时候，SPG的员工基本都有过与多个部门合作的机会，而且晋升的时机已经成熟。

    前往达美航空联合品牌部门是拉布金的最佳选择。达美航空与西北航空合并时，他借助了SPG的力量，来帮助公司应对各种可能出现的情况。

    为了避免内部顾问团队经常出现的问题，美国运通SPG团队有一个稳定的老同事网络。拉布金称，SPG团队与不同部门合作某个项目时，他们将被视为团队的一部分，而不是高高在上的太平洋警察，专管挑错。公司鼓励SPG员工一开始就要仔细考虑他们将来希望加入的部门。因此，前来找他们咨询的人员最终通常都会成为他们未来的同事。

    此外，美国运通还为SPG聘请了多位前管理顾问，以丰富团队的行业经验。

    切诺特表示：“这些管理顾问具有独特的视角。他们可以从宏观和微观的角度看待公司，也曾与公司多个业务部门有过合作，并且可以客观地审视我们的优势和劣势，还曾经与全球的资深经理人有过合作。他们即是旁观者，又是当事人；既是思考者，也是实践者。”

    译者：阿龙/汪皓

    "I've watched many alumni of the strategic planning group move throughout the organization and have enormous impact on our success," says Ken Chenault, CEO of American Express, who started his career at the company in SPG. "Behind many of our most impressive triumphs, you find people from strategic planning."

    Rabkin came to SPG after working at a consulting firm. He was lured by the idea of sampling several businesses in a major company before settling in as a leader of one of those businesses.

    "You're welcomed in for a set of skills you already had, but you develop new skills you need to succeed in this corporate environment," he says.

    Rabkin's experience in SPG is fairly typical of the group, which American Express created in 1977. He spent two years in the group, getting some say in which projects he wanted to work on. Each project lasted about three to six months.

    About 18 months into their time in strategic planning at American Express, most employees start thinking about where they want to go within the company. By that time, Rabkin says, SPG staffers typically have had a chance to work with several departments and are ready for a promotion.

    Moving to the Delta co-brand was a natural fit for Rabkin, and when the Delta-Northwest merger happened, he brought in SPG to help work through different scenarios.

    To avoid some of the pitfalls common among internal consulting groups, American Express's SPG group has a strong alumni network. And when SPG teams up with another division to work on a project, they are seen as part of the team and not cops telling other employees they are doing things wrong, Rabkin says. SPG staffers are encouraged from the start to think about where they want to land, so the people they are consulting for often end up being the people they work with in the future.

    American Express also hires many former management consultants to work at SPG, giving the group industry experience.

    "They are people who have benefited from an unusual vista," Chenault says. "They have seen the organization both from a distance and under a microscope, worked with a number of our business units, looked at our strengths and weaknesses with an objective eye, and worked with senior managers from around the world. They simultaneously wear the hats of insider and outsider, and thinker and doer."