I don't know if you have ever met such a scene:
The phone rang in the office and a clerk answered the phone: "Who are you looking for? ..... You have the wrong number. " After 1 seconds, the telephone on the desk of the clerk next to him rang. It was originally for this clerk. The partner on the phone certainly couldn't have imagined that he called twice on a partition, and the two people sitting next to each other were so indifferent that they couldn't pass the phone.
In the whole office, except for the phone ringing, there is almost no voice communication between people every day. Everything is done by email or chat tools, and chatting between colleagues has become a "luxury".
Is this because everyone is working hard, being responsible for each other and communicating professionally? Of course not, the fact is that the team members are in a terrible silence.
You may have seen such a scene:
The superior explained the work to the subordinate, and the subordinate spit and gushed, while the subordinate looked up and said nothing, seemingly accepting everything the superior said. After a while, there was something wrong with the work. The superior went on the rampage and pointed at the subordinate's nose, but the subordinate remained "motionless as a mountain", regardless of whether he was responsible or not.
does this mean that subordinates have become mature and steady? No, it has become more silent.
However, many managers have not realized that their subordinates are becoming silent, and even enjoy the feeling of being their own voice in the organization, and regard silence as obedience and submission ...
Second, employee silence stems from superiors
Enterprise organization is actually a social environment. If a person becomes dissatisfied, he can say anything, have no opinion on anything, and just silently do his own thing. This organization.
employees' silence is manifested in two aspects:
First, they are unwilling to express their views, have no opinions and have no objections to things, and everything seems acceptable;
Second, it shows a special "humility", not striving for challenging jobs and trying to "give others opportunities";
This reflects the backwardness of enterprise organization and management. If an enterprise wants to perform well, it can't ignore the increasingly important human factors. What state people work in the organization has a great influence on organizational performance.
in the fierce market competition, what enterprises need most is that employees can think and respond to the market changes and customers' needs sensitively and creatively, whether they are in front-line business departments or functional departments.
and this requires employees to dare to break the silence to speak out. A team with only the voice of managers is dangerous, which will make managers fall into the "smart trap": they think they are the smartest people in the organization.
those managers who think they are "the smartest" will create an atmosphere of silence for their employees.
Lao Hu knows two business owners. They are excellent, but they always complain that the team can't keep up with their own requirements and worry too much. After understanding, I found that it is precisely because of their Excellence that they regard themselves as the smartest people in the organization and inappropriately treat their subordinates, which leads to the team becoming more and more silent. The final result is that the boss is working alone, tired to death all day, and the team morale is depressed.
boss a: I worked hard by myself, and I am very good at learning. I am very strong. In his eyes, the employee is a collection of wrong questions, which needs him to cross and annotate all day. He often calls middle-level staff to the office and asks a question. Before the other party finishes, he will interrupt, and he will tell the other party that he wants to hit the wall in a negative way. Moreover, his energy is super strong, and he can keep talking until his subordinates are completely unable to focus. It is said that the most classic time, he dragged two middle-level people to a meeting, in the name of a meeting. In fact, he talked alone, criticizing while talking, and talked from two o'clock in the afternoon to one o'clock in the morning.
After two middle-level employees managed to "escape" from the boss's office, they were soaked to the skin and couldn't remember anything. All they could remember was "You are wrong", "Your thinking is ridiculous" and "You don't understand such a simple truth" ...
At first, employees would defend themselves or explain things, but basically they were interrupted by the boss after a few words.
For bosses who don't accept differences of opinion and hold negative opinions on everything, everyone has learned to shut up and just wear ears, and they are particularly afraid that the boss will "play" too well and keep talking.
Boss B is also very interesting. The company's performance is not bad, but it is difficult to break through the development. According to the manpower, the talents who were finally recruited were actually driven away by the boss. This boss is very dictatorial. He knows the wrong things clearly, and everyone has raised objections. He has to stick to it to save face, and finally he can't let people talk about it when he hits the south wall.
the most interesting thing is that the company needs to apply for an industry qualification. The boss gave it to his old classmates, and it took millions of dollars to get it. The technical director took the initiative to find a service organization, and only spent tens of thousands of dollars to get the qualification. This was originally a good thing. At the meeting, everyone expressed their appreciation after learning the news, but the boss found a reason to scold the technical director with a livid face.
Subordinates will be "educated" by their superiors' style. Everyone knows that they can't do things that are detrimental to the boss's face, and don't make extra contributions to themselves. What the boss says is what it is.
In this organization, although people still have voice communication, their hearts have long been silent.
Of course, there are many good bosses, but we must realize that the style of superiors is one of the most important factors in creating an organizational atmosphere, and the fundamental reason why employees become silent is the superiors.
Third, three changes that managers need to make
You should know that employees' silence is a reasonable reflection of the status quo. On the one hand, it is useless to talk about things that they can't resist, but only silence; On the other hand, if your partner is deaf and can't hear anything, then simply save effort and choose silence.
khufu especially dislikes the concept of "manager", because it is easy to make irresistible arrangements for subordinates, and it is also easy to fail to listen to the voices of subordinates, which always makes people fall into the cognition of power, drive and pressure.
if you don't want to be the only voice in the organization, you need to make three changes.
change one, make your mind more open, instead of closing yourself;
The higher a person stands, the more open-minded he should be, the more he can listen to different voices and understand different positions.
As ray Dalio, the author of Principles, advocates "extreme openness", everyone in an organization has the right to fully express what he thinks. When managers give up the idea that they are the smartest person in the organization, you can find something valuable in other people's ideas.
not all people in an organization can copy the same thoughts and look at things from the same angle according to the requirements of managers. Looking at problems from multiple angles will make managers more inclusive. Employees will also find that when they put forward a proposal that others have not accepted, they will not be regarded as heterogeneous, but will attract everyone to continue to deepen and extend at a new point.
In many enterprises, due to the ideological limitations of managers, they just live in their own paradigms and don't accept any differences. Those subordinates who are active in thinking and good at innovation are regarded as heterogeneous and constantly leave, and finally what is left in the organization is the dead "same kind".
change two, try to talk to subordinates more than to guide them;
Managers should control their "desire to control" their subordinates, instead of always instructing them to do things, they should start talking with them first.
Conversation is equal and two-way. Subordinates don't have to worry that an immature idea will annoy their superiors, and they don't have to worry that their words are scattered and disorganized. They can fully express their views, because they will give each other enough time, listen patiently and give feedback, and gradually get to know each other's ideas.
It's not that managers should not guide their subordinates' work, which is naturally necessary, but for the vast majority of managers today, Khufu even suggested that they try to talk to their subordinates more, learn to talk, and talk like colleagues.
change three, try to ask for help from subordinates;
managers often have a misunderstanding, that is, they must show that they are omnipotent in front of their subordinates. If subordinates find out their anxiety, anxiety and lack of effective strategies, they will be humiliated.
In fact, managers in excellent enterprises always know how to "show weakness" to their subordinates at critical moments, and they will truthfully present their own problems. After all, no one is perfect.
Not only will it not lose face, but it will also make subordinates feel the value of their existence. Deep down, they are willing to share the pressure and contribute strategies for their superiors.
Even a very powerful manager will let his subordinates fully express themselves in a special way, which is "asking for help" in Lao Hu's view. For example, in Huawei, a group of cadres can actually list Ren Zhengfei's eight sins and ten sins of management together, and Ren Zhengfei really listens attentively and lets them list their own problems without scruple. How can such a team be silent? It will only be full of energy.
There is a saying in Dana Zohar's Quantum Leadership, when you feel that you don't need the help of others, you might as well enlarge the background where you stand to the universe, and you will find how small you are, just a speck of dust. Since you are so small, why not hug others?
remember, management is not a means, it is the manager's own practice first.
management is not the exclusive right of managers.
Learn management with people around you. Whether you are in a traditional "management position" or not, whether you want to be a manager or not, you should learn how to treat goals, teams, work items, emotions, communication, etc. Management is a course to make people better, not a means for superiors to subordinates.
Everyone should learn management, because it contains all the ways to deal with the situations you may encounter in the workplace.