MTI之神鬼谷一喵  翻译天堂  2016-09-27

Let Go of What Made Your Company Great

How can an organization both exploit and explore? Managers, consultants, and academics around the world have long wrestled with this question. Some have responded by developing a concept known as “ambidexterity,” an organizational capability of fulfilling both managerial imperatives at once. But simultaneously managing today’s business while creating tomorrow’s goes beyond being ambidextrous. There is a third, even more intractable problem: letting go of what made you great. 一个公司如何才能做到扩张、开拓并举？长久以来，这个问题在全世界的管理者，咨询者和学者们中嗡嗡作响。一些人提出了“二志并驱”这一概念，来回答这个问题，指的是一个公司能够同时处理必要的管理工作。但是，当处理今日事同时变成了更添明日事，这就与“二志并驱”初衷大相径庭了。这就出现了第三个，甚至更棘手的问题：忘记曾给公司带来辉煌的“当年勇”——壁虎断尾决策。

Managers exploiting current businesses develop mindsets based on what they have experienced in the past. Such mindsets become further embedded in systems, structures, processes, and cultures that are self-perpetuating. It’s hard for managers, especially those who excel in the current system, to explore new un-chartered terrain. And even harder for them to notice that many entrenched mindsets have lost relevance in changing circumstances that require exploring for new businesses. Bottom line: Before you can create, you must forget. 管理者们开拓今日战场时，其思维模式是根据他们过去的经历形成的。如此思维模式在未来深深根植于各种自身长期不变的体系、结构和流程中。对于管理者，尤其是在当前体系中游刃有余的管理者来说，探索新的领域显得尤为艰难。然而，当瞬息万变的局势要求开辟新的战场，发现那些已脱离形势，却根深蒂固的思维模式则更为艰难。

Based on my work with dozens of Fortune 500 companies and other organizations, I have found that “unlearning,” although indispensable, is extremely difficult. When the Willow Creek Association saw its once-popular nondenominational conferences and training decline in attendance and revenues, the organization made the difficult and painful but necessary decision to eliminate two-thirds of its 150-person workforce in order to rid itself of obsolete knowledge to prepare the organization for new sources of growth. A similarly difficult, but necessary, “letting go” challenge: GE’s decision to divest its once successful financial service businesses. 基于我在一打500强及各种公司工作的经历，我发现“忘却”，即使至关重要，却极其困难。当柳溪教会(全美知名教会，其“领导力峰会”致力于探讨圣经的领导力—译者注)发现其一度流行的宗教会议和培训的出席率及入账在减少时，该组织做了一个艰难但绝对必要的决定——缩减了150名劳动力中的2/3来使其摆脱自身已过时的知识，为组织寻求新的成长做准备。一个相似的艰难但必要的“壁虎断尾”决定：美国通用电气停止其一度十分成功的金融服务业务。

“Letting go” requires tough actions like the ones above to bring the organizational reflex circuitry out of auto-pilot. These decisions are among the hardest ones that executives have to make, but there are some proven ways to approach an organization’s forgetting challenge. The appropriate solution to employ depends on the magnitude of the challenge and how much of the organization is affected by the challenge: “壁虎断尾”要求果断的行动，一个掌控全局的人让公司的反射电路从自动轨上脱离下来。这些决策包含在执行官们不得不做的最艰难的决策中，然而，这里有些实践检验过的方法，可以处理公司的壁虎断尾挑战。合适方案的选取，取决于挑战的重量级，以及挑战对公司的影响力。

A big challenge for the entire organization

This is the most formidable forgetting challenge. The entire organization has to forget a lot of what made it successful in the past. For instance, in the early 1990s, the Mahindra Group faced a forgetting problem of nearly gargantuan dimensions: the end of the so-called “License Raj” system. Under License Raj, the Indian government licensed and tightly regulated domestic businesses while excluding foreign competitors. The License Raj was intended to allow Indian businesses to emerge and flourish under protected conditions, but it had the unintended effect of inducing inefficiency and complacency. As the system ended, the most urgent imperative for CEO Anand Mahindra was to shake the entire companyout of its complacency.

对于整个公司的巨大挑战

这是最棘手的壁虎断尾挑战。全公司必须忘记大量曾让他们辉煌的“当年勇”，例如，在上世纪九十年代，马恒达集团面临着一个几近全方位的壁虎断尾挑战：所谓“执照治理”系统的终结。在执照治理系统下，印第安政府派发许可并有力的规范了国内市场，同时规避了外国竞争者。执照治理意图在保护环境下，促使印第安商业的涌现和繁荣发展，但其同时产生了效率低下和自满的副作用。随着该系统的终结，首席执行官Anand Mahindra的当务之急便是将整个公司从自满的幻觉中撼醒。

To address a big forgetting challenge such as this, here are two techniques that work: 处理这种壁虎断尾任务，两种技巧十分奏效：

Do something big to catch yourcompany’s attention. A company’s past is often deeply rooted in its culture, comprising habitual processes, rituals, and belief systems. That’s why forgetting the past can require shocking the culture out of its torpor. Mahindra settled on a change that was bound to be difficult and controversial — an explosive mix of symbolism, cherished tradition, and employee entitlement: the annual Diwali bonus. These bonuses are extra compensation given to workers on the occasion of major Hindu festivals; they are entitlements not correlated with performance. When Mahindra stopped handing out the Diwali bonus, it had the impact of shooting a rocket through the company. “That was a major turning point,” Mahindra said in an interview I did with him for a new book, The Three Box Solution. “That is how we were able to make the entire organization begin to forget the past.” 做些大动作来引起公司的注意。一个公司的过去，常常深深根植在包括惯性流程、仪式和信仰体系的文化中。这就是为何“忘记当年勇”要求将公司文化从麻木中撼醒。Mahindra开始了一个注定艰难且饱受争议的挑战——兼具象征意义，传统文化意义的员工福利：每年的排灯节奖金(排灯节，类似新年，家家户户燃灯——译者注)。这些红利是在印度节日时，给工人们的格外补偿，与工作表现无关。当Mahindra停止发放排灯节奖金，效果简直像向公司投下了一颗原子弹。“这是关键的转折点”，在新书<The Three Box Solution >的采访上，Mahindra对我说，“这是我们做到让整个公司开始忘掉当年勇的原因。”

Create win-win incentives. Incentives are a powerful lever to convince people they need to forget the old ways. As United Rentals, the largest equipment rentals company, shifted its strategy to focus more on national customer accounts, it faced a huge forgetting challenge; branch managers needed to forget the fiefdom mentality. CEO Mike Kneeland changed the incentive system for branch managers. Instead of rewarding them on branch performance, their compensation would be based on regional performance. This encouraged a coordinated approach to serving national accounts. (Kneeland established a zero-tolerance policy for any failure to cooperate.) 创造双赢激励。激励是说服大家有必要忘记往日光荣的有力杠杆。如联合租赁，最大的设备租赁公司，将其战略专向更侧重于国内消费者，面临着巨大的壁虎断尾挑战；分支机构的管理者需要从心理上忘记封底概念。首席执行官Mike kneeland为了分支机构管理者改变了激励机制。较之不再根据分支机构表现进行奖励，他们的奖金将会依据地区表现发放。这促进了以合作方式更好的服务国内客户。（Kneeland建立了关于合作失败的零容忍政策。）

A big challenge for only part of the organization

Here, only part of the organization has to forget a lot, and IBM is a good example. By the 1990s, IBM had become the go-to provider of enterprise information technology — hardware, software, and systems integration — for large and midsized businesses. While these core businesses continued to generate cash flow, IBM struggled to find The Next Big Thing. The company could not eradicate the skills and processes that continued to power its core performance engine but, at the same time, it had to enable embryonic growth ideas to forget the orthodoxies of the core.

仅对公司的一个部门来说是大挑战

壁虎断尾只对公司的某个部门是个大挑战，IBM是个好例子。在上世纪九十年代，IBM成为了企业信息技术的供应商——硬件，软件和集成系统——应对大型和中型业务。当这些核心业务持续产生现金流，IBM艰难的发现了走到门前的大挑战。公司不能根除持续增强核心表现的那些技能和进程，但是，与此同时，它不得不允许萌芽期想法的成长以忘记核心的正统路子。

To solve this forgetting challenge, leaders can create a dedicated team and give them a fresh start. Ideas for nonlinear businesses should not be weighed down by core business rules or expectations. IBM’s Emerging Business Opportunities (EBO)process provides cover for experimental business units targeting embryonic markets. The EBO program set up startup-friendly structures as well as a separate set of practices in the areas of organization, leadership/management, resource allocation, strategy development, and performance measurement and motivation. The goal of EBO is not to affect the structures and processes that continue to be useful for the performance engine, but to create protective structures and alternative competencies that allow nonlinear innovations to flourish. 为了完成壁虎断尾挑战，领导者们可以组建一个全身心投入的队伍，并给他们一个崭新的开始。非线性业务的想法不应被核心业务的规则或期待扼杀。IBM的新兴商业机会（EBO）过程提供了实验的业务单位针对胚胎市场覆盖。EBO项目建立了友好开始的结构，同时设置了公司各部门，领导/管理，资源分配，策略发展，表现评估和机理等不同领域独立操作的机制。EBO的目标并不是影响依旧对公司表现有益的结构和流程，而是创造可以保护非线性改革并使之繁荣的结构和可替代能力。

A smaller challenge for the entire organization

This forgetting challenge is small, but it applies to the entire organization. The customers of United Rentals historically were concentrated in the construction industry — always vulnerable in a downturn. After the GreatRecession, the company’s strategy shifted to protect it against cyclicality. The construction sector continued to be important, but the entire organization had to forget its 100% dependency on this one industry.

对整个公司来说较小的挑战

这个壁虎断尾挑战很小，但应用于整个公司。美国通用租赁的顾客曾经集中在建筑业——总是容易不景气。在经济大萧条后，公司转变战略，保护其对抗资本主义市场周期性。建筑部门一直很重要，但整个公司需要忘记曾经把鸡蛋全放在建筑业这一个篮子里的历史。

A technique for this forgetting challenge is to practice portfolio reconfiguration. To protect against dips in the construction industry during economic downturns, United Rentals made targeted acquisitions to break into the specialty rentals business (consisting of unusual but essential items, such as heavy-duty pumps used by energy companies and safety equipment used to reinforce newly dug trenches), which were more recession-proof. 投资组合配置是壁虎断尾挑战的一个小技巧。为防止经济衰退期建筑业的不景气，联合租赁进行了定向收购，来开辟特殊租赁市场（包含不常用但重要的物品，如能源公司和安全设备使用的重型泵，以加强新挖的沟槽），这些显然“抗经济衰退”属性更强。

A smaller challenge for only part of the organization

Relatively speaking, this forgetting challenge presents the least difficulty for companies. Managers can act locally to change the behaviors, systems, or processes that are no longer as relevant to where the company is going in the future. However, leaders should monitor this situation — if only to ensure that this doesn’t grow into a larger problem.

仅对公司的一个部门来说是个小挑战

通常来说，这个壁虎断尾挑战展现了公司最新的困难。管理者们可以根据当地行为，系统或进程因地制宜，不再和公司未来发展挂钩。然而领导者们应当对这种局面进行监控——起码确保这样不会带来大麻烦。

By understanding yourcompany’s forgetting challenge in this way — how big is the challenge and how much of the organization is involved — you can develop targeted solutions like the ones above. Above all, don’t ignore this challenge as you try to innovate your way to a new model. You must have the courage to see the many ways in which the dominant logic of your legacy business can undermineyour future business — and help your organization letgo of what made it great. 但以这种方式——挑战的大小和公司卷入其中的程度——理解你的公司的壁虎断尾挑战，你可以如上述制定一个针对性的解决方法。毕竟，在你尝试改革时，不要忽视这个“挑战”。你必须有勇气去看到，你的传统商业中占主导地位的许多方法会破坏你未来的业务——并帮助你的公司忘掉“当年勇”。