Why Highly Efficient Leaders Fail

工作中對中高層領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的要求越來越高，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者執(zhí)行和完成任務(wù)的能力是成功的關(guān)鍵驅(qū)動因素。然而，這種能力最終卻可能變成領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者失敗的原因，給領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者個(gè)人及其團(tuán)隊(duì)和組織帶來意外的損失。

With?ever-increasing demands?at work for both mid-level and senior leaders, the ability to execute and get things done is a key driver of success. But it can ultimately become a leader’s downfall, resulting in unintended costs for the individual, as well as for their teams and organizations.

高度關(guān)注任務(wù)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者之所以高效，往往是犧牲了對人的關(guān)注。建立人際關(guān)系、鼓勵團(tuán)隊(duì)、培養(yǎng)其他員工和表達(dá)同理心等等這些事情可能被拋在一邊。高效領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者失去對人的關(guān)注，通常是出于一種狹隘的觀念，認(rèn)為更關(guān)注人的活動會拖慢速度，妨礙自己的執(zhí)行能力和最終取得成功的能力。

The high levels of efficiency that allow highly task-focused leaders to be so productive often come at the expense of a more people-based focus. Things like building relationships, inspiring a team, developing others, and showing empathy can fall by the wayside. Highly efficient leaders often lose their focus on people due to a limiting belief that more people-focused activities will slow them down and impede their ability to execute, and to ultimately be successful.

諷刺的是，強(qiáng)烈關(guān)注效率和完成任務(wù)（與丹尼爾·戈?duì)柭慕?jīng)典著作《富有成效的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力》中提到的標(biāo)桿式領(lǐng)導(dǎo)風(fēng)格一致）會適得其反，讓這些領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的總體效率下降，結(jié)果往往是對組織氣氛造成負(fù)面影響，導(dǎo)致團(tuán)隊(duì)成員職業(yè)倦怠。2017年的一項(xiàng)研究表明，職業(yè)倦怠是對員工敬業(yè)度的最大威脅因素，95%的人力資源領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者稱其為導(dǎo)致員工流失的關(guān)鍵要素。

The irony is that an intense focus on efficiency and getting things done (consistent with the pacesetting leadership style in Daniel Goleman’s classic?Leadership that Gets Results) makes these leaders less effective overall. The result is often a negative impact on organizational climate and burnout of team members. In a?2017 study by Kronos and Future Workplace, burnout was highlighted as the biggest threat to employee engagement, with 95% of HR leaders citing it as a key driver of employee turnover.

這樣的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者自己也可能要承擔(dān)高昂的代價(jià)，如晉升受阻，甚至被解雇——至于個(gè)人生活和人際關(guān)系受到的影響就更不用說了。

These leaders can also incur high costs themselves, such as having a promotion blocked, or even being fired — not to mention the costs to their personal lives and relationships.

舉個(gè)例子，我輔導(dǎo)的一位房地產(chǎn)投資公司副總裁薩拉，曾是一位明星員工，卻未能升為合伙人。她完成交易的高效率為她贏得了成功，卻導(dǎo)致初級員工士氣和投入度下降。她也沒有投入精力與原本可以支持她成為合伙人的其他人建立良好的關(guān)系。雖然完成交易是成為合伙人的重要因素，但公司明確表示，對于組織成功而言這并不是唯一的要素。

Consider Sarah, a Vice President at a real estate investment firm whom I coached, who was a star performer — until her promotion to partner was blocked. Her high levels of efficiency and productivity in closing deals had made her successful, but came at the expense of morale and engagement among the junior staff. She also had not invested in building relationships with others who could advocate for her partnership. While closing deals was an important factor in becoming a partner, her firm sent a clear message that this wasn’t the?only?factor that mattered to the organization’s success.

在我這里咨詢轉(zhuǎn)職的詹姆斯，曾是一家國際專業(yè)服務(wù)公司的合伙人。他為自己的客戶提供了卓越的洞見和成果，具備深厚的專業(yè)知識，許多人都覺得他很優(yōu)秀。然而，他對自己團(tuán)隊(duì)的極端要求和不切實(shí)際的期望，導(dǎo)致員工敬業(yè)度分?jǐn)?shù)很低，有價(jià)值的員工紛紛流失，最終他被公司解雇。

James, a career-transition client of mine, was a partner at a global professional services firm. He delivered great insights and results for his clients, had deep domain expertise, and was considered to be brilliant by many. However, the extreme demands and unrealistic expectations he put on his team resulted in low engagement scores, turnover of valued staff and, ultimately, his dismissal.

優(yōu)秀的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者能平衡對任務(wù)的關(guān)注（完成任務(wù)）和對人的關(guān)注（鼓勵、培養(yǎng)和賦能他人）。高度關(guān)注任務(wù)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者追求結(jié)果時(shí)容易視野狹隘，沒有以廣闊的視角認(rèn)識到有時(shí)“慢即是快”。兩者兼顧的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者同樣會努力追求結(jié)果，但不會忘記更廣泛的組織需求。他們也能意識到，重要的不是高效——而是有效。

Great leaders are able to balance task-focus (getting things done) with people-focus (inspiring, developing, and empowering others).?Highly task-focused leaders tend to have tunnel vision in their drive for results, rather than applying a broader lens that recognizes the need to sometimes “go slow to go fast”. Leaders who balance task- and people-focus are equally driven and also strive for results, but they keep the broader organizational needs in mind. They also recognize that it’s not just about being efficient — it’s about being effective.

羅伯特·安德森（Robert Anderson）和威廉·亞當(dāng)斯（William Adams）的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，有效領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的最大特點(diǎn)就是優(yōu)秀的人際能力，而且他們最大的十個(gè)長處中有六項(xiàng)與人際交往能力有關(guān)，如傾聽、培養(yǎng)別人和賦權(quán)等。

In research conducted by Robert Anderson and William Adams for their book?Scaling Leadership, they identified that the number one differentiator of effective leaders is strong people skills, and that six out of ten of their biggest strengths related to people skills such as listening, developing others, and empowering their team members.

過度關(guān)注任務(wù)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者還更加被動，出于恐懼采取行動，時(shí)常表現(xiàn)出命令、控制或完美主義的行為，讓其他人疏遠(yuǎn)，且不會賦權(quán)團(tuán)隊(duì)成員。薩拉暗自擔(dān)心“如果我放開控制、賦權(quán)他人，他們會把事情搞砸，讓我丟臉”。詹姆斯則認(rèn)為“如果不這么嚴(yán)格，我就無法成功”。這種狹隘的思維方式讓這些領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者陷入高度關(guān)注任務(wù)、不關(guān)心員工的死循環(huán)，把雙倍精力投入自己最擅長的事——完成任務(wù)。

Overly task-focused leaders also tend to be more reactive, operating from a position of fear, and often displaying highly directive, controlling, or perfectionist behaviors that can alienate others and be disempowering to their teams. Sarah had an underlying fear that “If I let go of control and empower others, they’ll mess things up and I’ll look bad.” In James’ case, it was a belief that “If I don’t work this intensely, I won’t be successful.” These limiting mindsets kept these leaders in a “doom loop” of high task-focus and low people-focus, where they doubled-down on what they did best — getting things done.

如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己過度關(guān)注任務(wù)，可參考以下建議，調(diào)整自己的重心：

If you sense that you may be overly task-focused, here are some suggestions to re-set your priorities:

征求反饋

找到關(guān)鍵利益相關(guān)者，問他們覺得你在關(guān)注任務(wù)和關(guān)注人員方面的平衡把握得怎么樣。請他們用量化的方式表述：“總共有100分，你覺得我對任務(wù)和人員的關(guān)注各占多少分？”還可以問，“我該如何表示自己對人員的關(guān)注？”如果擔(dān)心同事無法直接對自己直言不諱，可以讓高管教練等第三方協(xié)助收集反饋。

Get feedback.?

Ask key stakeholders how well they think you balance your task-focus versus your people-focus. Ask them to quantify it: “Out of 100 points, how would you rate my focus on tasks versus people?” You can also ask, “What could I do to demonstrate greater people focus that would be meaningful to the rest of the team?” If you’re concerned about your colleagues being candid with you directly, a third party such as an executive coach can collect this feedback for you.

找到以人為本的高效途徑

結(jié)合收到的反饋，尋找可以定期執(zhí)行的方法，比如定期與直接下屬進(jìn)行職業(yè)發(fā)展談話，在談話中摒除干擾，認(rèn)真關(guān)注對方，或者跟同事一起喝咖啡、了解對方在工作以外的一面。這些活動應(yīng)當(dāng)真誠、不強(qiáng)迫，最初可能會覺得有些尷尬，但不要放棄。建立更深厚的人際聯(lián)系，會讓人感到自己被重視，而不是一種達(dá)到目的的手段。

Identify high-value ways to focus on people.?

Incorporate the feedback you receive to identify some regular practices to implement, such as having periodic career development conversations with direct reports, eliminating distractions during these conversations so you can actually focus on the other person, or having coffee with a colleague to get to know each other beyond work. These efforts should be genuine and not forced, even if you feel a bit awkward initially. Building deeper personal connections can make others feel valued, and not like a means to an end.

進(jìn)行自我觀察和反省

要在自己失去耐心或太著急的時(shí)候及時(shí)意識到。這樣不僅能讓你更加關(guān)注當(dāng)下，還能改善自我覺察。問自己一些反思性的問題，理解自己的行為動機(jī)，比如“我想避免什么”“我為什么害怕慢下來”。

Engage in self-observation and reflection.?

Notice in real-time when you are being impatient or moving too fast. This provides an opportunity not only to be more present, but also to improve your self-awareness. Ask yourself reflective questions to help gain insights into what’s driving your behavior, such as “What am I trying to avoid?” or “What’s my fear in terms of slowing down?”

看清自己的狹隘之處

開展一些安全的試驗(yàn)，收集信息，證明驅(qū)使自己行為的觀念太過局限。比如可以跟擅長平衡的人交流，了解他們是如何做到的，以及把握這種平衡的益處。

De-bunk your limiting beliefs.?

Create some safe experiments to collect information that disproves the limiting beliefs that are driving your behavior. This might include talking to others who are good at balancing task- and people-focus to gain some insight into how they do it and how this balance has contributed to their success.

練習(xí)自我管理

建立對當(dāng)下的自我意識，讓你能夠停下來，選擇不同的方式。比如可以選擇不在周末發(fā)送一大堆關(guān)于重大項(xiàng)目的電子郵件，認(rèn)可某位同事的努力，以及花點(diǎn)時(shí)間教某位團(tuán)隊(duì)成員學(xué)會一些新東西。

Practice self-management.?

Building greater self-awareness in the moment provides an opportunity to pause and choose a different approach. This might mean choosing not to send a slew of emails about your big project over the weekend, pausing to acknowledge a colleague’s effort, or?taking the time to teach?a team member something new.

當(dāng)然，關(guān)注任務(wù)并取得成果，對于所有領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者、團(tuán)隊(duì)和組織的成功都至關(guān)重要，但如果未能與對人員的關(guān)注形成平衡，那么在每個(gè)層面的成功都會很有限。

To be sure, task-focus and achieving results are vital for any leader, team, or organization to succeed, but without a sufficient balance with people-focus, success will be limited at every level.

關(guān)鍵詞：領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力

瑞貝卡·朱克（Rebecca Zucker）|文

瑞貝卡·朱克是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力發(fā)展公司Next Step Partners的高管教練、創(chuàng)始合伙人。她的客戶包括亞馬遜、高樂氏（Clorox）、美富律師事務(wù)所（Morrison Foerster）、諾維斯特風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司（Norwest Venture Partners）、詹姆斯·歐文基金會（James Irvine Foundation）以及DocuSign和多寶箱（Dropbox）等高增長型科技公司。

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