文章來(lái)源：《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》Mar 11th 2023 期 Business 欄目 Silver linings

Even people who love their jobs have a few gripes. Even people who excel at their work have their share of worries. The office environment makes it hard to concentrate; their colleagues are annoying beyond belief; their career path within the organisation is not obvious. There are aspects of the workplace, like “reply all” email threads and any kind of role-playing, which are completely beyond redemption. This column is here to administer the balm of consolation for some of work’s recurring irritations.

即使熱愛(ài)自己工作的人也會(huì)有一些抱怨。即使是工作出色的人也有自己的煩惱。辦公環(huán)境讓人難以集中注意力；他們的同事令人難以置信地討厭;他們?cè)诮M織中的職業(yè)發(fā)展道路并不明顯。工作場(chǎng)所的某些方面，比如“回復(fù)所有人”郵件鏈，以及任何類(lèi)型的角色扮演，都完全無(wú)可救藥。這篇專(zhuān)欄文章的目的是為一些工作中反復(fù)出現(xiàn)的煩惱提供安慰。

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Start with a pervasive problem: being interrupted. You have muted notifications on Slack and cleared your calendar; the Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 is playing; your fingers are poised above the keyboard and a thought of world-altering profundity is gradually taking shape in your mind. Then there is a knock at the door, and a colleague asks if you have a minute to discuss the air-conditioning. By the time they have gone, so has that momentous thought and any sense of well-being.

從一個(gè)普遍存在的問(wèn)題開(kāi)始:被打斷。你在Slack上設(shè)置了靜音通知，清空了日歷; 巴赫第一大提琴組曲的前奏曲正在演奏;你的手指穩(wěn)穩(wěn)地放在鍵盤(pán)上，一個(gè)改變世界的深刻想法正在你的腦海中逐漸成形。然后有人敲門(mén)，一位同事問(wèn)你是否有時(shí)間討論一下空調(diào)的問(wèn)題。當(dāng)他們離開(kāi)的時(shí)候，那個(gè)重要的想法和任何幸福感也都消失了。

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Context-switching of this sort is more than simply annoying. A survey conducted in 2021 found that it takes people nine and a half minutes to resume a focused state of mind after switching between apps. But there is a bright side to being interrupted. A paper by Harshad Puranik of the University of Illinois Chicago and his co-authors asked a sample of employees in America to record how often they were distracted by colleagues and to report their sense of belonging to their organisations. They found that being interrupted involves a social interaction with colleagues that can strengthen a worker’s feelings of connection. The next time a knock comes, remind yourself that at least you are not lonely.

這種“上下文切換”不僅僅令人惱火。2021年進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，在切換應(yīng)用程序后，人們需要9分半鐘才能恢復(fù)注意力集中的狀態(tài)。但被打斷也有好的一面。伊利諾伊大學(xué)芝加哥分校的哈沙德?普蘭尼克和他的共同作者在一篇論文中詢(xún)問(wèn)了一批美國(guó)員工，記錄了他們被同事打擾的頻率，并報(bào)告他們對(duì)所在組織的歸屬感。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，因與同事之間的社交互動(dòng)而被打斷，可以加強(qiáng)員工的聯(lián)系感。下次有人敲門(mén)的時(shí)候，提醒自己至少你不孤單。

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What about some of the characters who make office life so teeth-grinding? Every company has its share of toadies who specialise in managing up: flattering the bosses and claiming more credit than is their due. Unctuousness is undoubtedly irritating. But it, too, can sometimes have wider benefits.

那些讓辦公室生活變得讓人咬牙切齒的角色呢? 每個(gè)公司都有專(zhuān)門(mén)的阿諛?lè)畛姓?，他們?zhuān)攻向上管理: 奉承老板，聲稱(chēng)的貢獻(xiàn)比他們實(shí)際做得更多。油腔滑調(diào)無(wú)疑令人惱火。但它有時(shí)也能帶來(lái)更廣泛的好處。

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Recent research by Wei Cai of Columbia Business School and her co-authors found that teams performed better when they had some crawlers among them. People who got better assessments from their superiors than from their peers in performance-review processes were designated as “upward influencers” in the study. Too many characters of this sort is bad: at some point, team members will expend more effort competing for recognition than getting actual work done. But because these personality types are prepared to invest more time communicating with their managers, the presence of a handful of them ensures that a team does not become invisible to the bosses. A few suck-ups can be good for everyone.

哥倫比亞商學(xué)院的蔡偉及其共同作者最近的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)團(tuán)隊(duì)中有一些馬屁精時(shí)，團(tuán)隊(duì)的表現(xiàn)會(huì)更好。在這項(xiàng)研究中，那些在績(jī)效評(píng)估過(guò)程中從上級(jí)那里得到比同事更好評(píng)價(jià)的人被稱(chēng)為“向上影響者”。這種類(lèi)型的角色太多是不好的:在某種程度上，團(tuán)隊(duì)成員將花費(fèi)更多精力去爭(zhēng)奪認(rèn)可，而不是完成實(shí)際工作。但是，由于這些性格類(lèi)型的人愿意投入更多時(shí)間與他們的管理者溝通，少數(shù)人的存在確保了一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)不會(huì)被老板忽視。少量的馬屁對(duì)每個(gè)人都有好處。

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What of traits that workers find most irritating about themselves, the things that may be holding them back? Impostor syndrome, the belief some people have that they do not deserve to be in positions of influence, is usually thought of as being bad for individuals and organisations alike. But it can have an upside.

員工覺(jué)得最讓他們惱火的特質(zhì)是什么? 這些特質(zhì)可能會(huì)阻礙他們發(fā)展? 冒名頂替綜合癥，指一些人認(rèn)為自己不配擔(dān)任有影響力的職位，通常被認(rèn)為對(duì)個(gè)人和組織都不利。但這也有好處。

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Research by Basima Tewfik of the mit Sloan School of Management found that people who worry about being an impostor are regarded by others as having better interpersonal skills than those who are untroubled by self-doubt. It may be that a concern about lacking competence leads people to compensate by developing stronger relationships with others. In a world that increasingly prizes collaboration and soft skills, that is not to be sniffed at.

麻省理工學(xué)院斯隆管理學(xué)院的巴斯瑪?圖菲克的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在別人看來(lái)，那些擔(dān)心自己是冒牌貨的人比那些不受自我懷疑困擾的人具有更好的人際交往能力。這可能是因?yàn)閷?duì)能力不足的擔(dān)憂導(dǎo)致人們通過(guò)與他人建立更牢固的關(guān)系來(lái)彌補(bǔ)。在一個(gè)越來(lái)越重視合作和軟技能的世界里，這一點(diǎn)不容小覷。

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Weaknesses can turn into advantages in other ways, too. The idealised entrepreneur may drip with confidence and charisma, for example. But not everyone fits that mould. In a recent study, Lauren Howe and Jochen Menges of the University of Zurich asked participants in an investment game who had been asked about their own flaws to allocate funds to startups. They found that entrepreneurs who reveal a personal shortcoming, such as indecisiveness or insecurity, are more likely to attract funding from investors who share these same characteristics. Some weaknesses are not to be admitted: stupidity, say, or narcolepsy. But flaws can sometimes help people get ahead, not hinder them.

劣勢(shì)也可以在其他方面轉(zhuǎn)化為優(yōu)勢(shì)。例如，理想的企業(yè)家可能充滿(mǎn)自信和魅力。但并非每個(gè)人都符合這種模式。在最近的一項(xiàng)研究中，蘇黎世大學(xué)的勞倫?豪和約亨?孟格斯在一項(xiàng)投資游戲中要求參與者將資金分配給初創(chuàng)公司，這些參與者被問(wèn)及自己的缺點(diǎn)。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些顯露出優(yōu)柔寡斷或缺乏安全感等個(gè)人缺點(diǎn)的企業(yè)家，更有可能從擁有這些相同特征的投資者那里吸引到資金。有些弱點(diǎn)是不能承認(rèn)的，比如愚蠢或嗜睡癥。但缺點(diǎn)有時(shí)可以幫助人們?nèi)〉贸晒?，而不是阻礙他們。

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The problem with silver linings is that they are attached to clouds. You are still being interrupted all the time. You are still surrounded by annoying colleagues. Impostor syndrome still causes you unnecessary anxiety. Your weaknesses are still weaknesses. But there are bright sides to most things in office life, and they go beyond the payslip.

一線希望的問(wèn)題在于，烏云背后總有一線光明。你還是會(huì)一直被打擾。你仍然被討厭的同事包圍著。冒名頂替綜合癥仍然會(huì)給你帶來(lái)不必要的焦慮。你的弱點(diǎn)仍然是弱點(diǎn)。但辦公室生活中大多數(shù)事情都有光明的一面，而這些光明并不局限于工資單。