員工給管理顧問(wèn)提建議要講技巧
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????親愛(ài)的安妮：我在一家公司擔(dān)任一線管理人員。這家公司在過(guò)去五年經(jīng)歷了三次重組,。每次重組,，公司都會(huì)聘用管理顧問(wèn)團(tuán)隊(duì)，針對(duì)我們的問(wèn)題提出解決方案,。然而,，他們每次提供的建議在真正懂行的人（比如我們）看來(lái)，要么完全不可行,，要么就是再簡(jiǎn)單不過(guò)的方案,。為什么？因?yàn)樗麄儚膩?lái)不會(huì)征求我們的意見(jiàn),，或者他們干脆對(duì)員工們提供的建議視而不見(jiàn),。 ????如今，同樣的情況似乎又將再次上演,。這幫所謂的“專家”根本沒(méi)有實(shí)踐經(jīng)驗(yàn),，雖然他們確實(shí)投入了大量時(shí)間，但根據(jù)我的觀察，他們壓根沒(méi)有找到問(wèn)題的癥結(jié)所在,。我曾就此向老板提出意見(jiàn),，但他現(xiàn)在只聽(tīng)這些“專家”們的，根本不想聽(tīng)我的,。顧問(wèn)們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)這么做,？他們的做法似乎完全違反了常識(shí)。如果我站出來(lái),，是否值得,？或者我應(yīng)該（再次）保持沉默和合作？我想聽(tīng)聽(tīng)您的讀者都會(huì)有什么樣的意見(jiàn),?！獢痴紖^(qū)。 ????親愛(ài)的敵占區(qū)：你的困境其實(shí)非常普遍,。實(shí)際上,，凱倫?費(fèi)倫曾專門針對(duì)這個(gè)問(wèn)題寫過(guò)一本書(shū)。費(fèi)倫曾擔(dān)任過(guò)德勤會(huì)計(jì)師事務(wù)所（Deloitte & Touche）與雙子星顧問(wèn)公司（Gemini Consulting）的顧問(wèn),，還曾在兩家《財(cái)富》500強(qiáng)公司（Fortune 500）擔(dān)任過(guò)高管職位,，因此，對(duì)于你目前的狀況,，她對(duì)雙方的立場(chǎng)都有所了解,。她在自己的著作《對(duì)不起，我毀了你的公司——當(dāng)管理顧問(wèn)成為問(wèn)題》（I'm Sorry I Broke Your Company: When Management Consultants Are the Problem, Not the Solution）中引用了大量顧問(wèn)出錯(cuò)的生動(dòng)案例,，還詳細(xì)分析了 “一刀切”的解決途徑為何往往不起作用,。 ????費(fèi)倫說(shuō)：“顧問(wèn)有好有壞。好的顧問(wèn)結(jié)合了偵探工作,、咨詢服務(wù)和深入的行業(yè)知識(shí),。”而這些知識(shí)只能從經(jīng)驗(yàn)中獲得,。壞的顧問(wèn)呢,？“接受過(guò)高等教育的聰明的年輕人——我之所以知道，因?yàn)槲抑氨闶沁@樣——缺乏真正的專業(yè)知識(shí),，來(lái)到一家公司之后,，執(zhí)行的都是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的方法，完全是他們公司培訓(xùn)的那一套,?！甭?tīng)起來(lái)耳熟吧？ ????其次,，顧問(wèn)“在‘解決’問(wèn)題之前，找不到問(wèn)題的根本緣由，”費(fèi)倫說(shuō)道,?！岸@正是（一名好的顧問(wèn)）提供咨詢服務(wù)的必要之處。在許多面臨困境的公司,，人們彼此之間通常不會(huì)交流,，或者他們根本無(wú)法進(jìn)行恰當(dāng)?shù)臏贤ā,！?/p> ????最常見(jiàn)的結(jié)果是：顧問(wèn)收拾東西離開(kāi)之后,，“沒(méi)有人知道該做什么，因?yàn)檫m當(dāng)?shù)膯T工并沒(méi)有參與新策略的設(shè)計(jì),。結(jié)果,，唯一能夠把建議付諸實(shí)施的辦法就只能使聘請(qǐng)更多顧問(wèn)?！辟M(fèi)倫認(rèn)為,，有時(shí)候，這種“依賴關(guān)系循環(huán)”完全是人為造成的：“它會(huì)產(chǎn)生更多費(fèi)用,?！?/p> ????費(fèi)倫補(bǔ)充道，糟糕的顧問(wèn)經(jīng)常會(huì)忽略像你一樣的員工們的擔(dān)憂,，他們會(huì)說(shuō)員工根本不想改變,。她說(shuō)：“事實(shí)完全不是這樣。人們喜歡改變,。否則就不會(huì)有人去上大學(xué),、結(jié)婚生子、搬家或換工作了,。而被強(qiáng)迫進(jìn)行有問(wèn)題的變化,，才是人們所不喜歡的?！?/p> ????如果你希望這一次能夠避免發(fā)生同樣的情況,，就必須大聲說(shuō)出自己的觀點(diǎn)。費(fèi)倫說(shuō)：“通常情況下,，沒(méi)有人會(huì)嘗試提出與顧問(wèn)想法相悖的信息,，因?yàn)樗麄儠?huì)假設(shè)自己的觀點(diǎn)將被徹底否決?！比欢?，需要特別注意的是，發(fā)表意見(jiàn)的方式與意見(jiàn)本身同樣重要,。員工在嘗試影響顧問(wèn)時(shí),，通常會(huì)“以全盤否定顧問(wèn)當(dāng)前的工作作為討論的開(kāi)場(chǎng)白,，比如他們會(huì)說(shuō)：‘這種做法太蠢了，根本不可能奏效’等等,，”費(fèi)倫說(shuō),。“如果是這樣,，自然沒(méi)有人愿意聽(tīng)取你的意見(jiàn),。” |
????Dear Annie: I work as a first-line supervisor at a company that has been through three different restructurings in the past five years. Each time, a team of management consultants has been brought in to come up with solutions to our problems and, each time, they offer recommendations that are either unworkable or blindingly obvious to anyone who really knows the business (i.e., us). Why? Because they either don't ask us for our suggestions, or else they ignore the information employees give them. ????Now, it seems to be happening again. The current crop of "experts" is wet behind the ears, and they are certainly putting in long hours, but from what I can tell so far, they're concentrating on the wrong issues. I've complained to my boss about this, but he's drinking the Kool-Aid and doesn't want to hear it. Why do consultants operate this way, seemingly in defiance of common sense, and is it worth trying to influence the outcome, or should I just keep quiet and go along (again)? I'd love to hear what your readers think about this. – Invaded ????Dear Invaded: Your dilemma is far from unusual. In fact, Karen Phelan wrote a whole book about it. A former consultant with Deloitte & Touche and Gemini Consulting, Phelan has also held executive jobs at two Fortune 500 companies, so she's been on both sides of this situation. Her book, I'm Sorry I Broke Your Company: When Management Consultants Are the Problem, Not the Solution, is packed with vivid examples of consulting gigs gone wrong and examines in detail why one-size-fits-all problem solving so often falls short. ????"There are good consultants and bad consultants," Phelan says. "Good consulting is a combination of detective work, counseling, and in-depth industry knowledge." Such knowledge can really only come from experience. And the bad kind? "Bright, highly educated young kids -- and I know, because I was one -- who lack real expertise but who come in and impose a standard methodology they've been trained by their firms to use." Sound familiar? ????In the second instance, consultants don't "find the root causes of a problem before they 'solve' it," Phelan notes. "This is where the counseling aspect [of good consulting] comes in. In lots of companies that are struggling, people aren't talking to each other, or they're not having the right conversations." ????A frequent result: After the consultants have packed up and left, "no one knows what to do, because the right employees were not involved in designing the new strategy. So the only people who can put the recommendations into practice are more consultants." Sometimes, Phelan contends, this "cycle of dependency" is deliberate: "It leads to more fees." ????Bad consultants often dismiss the concerns of people like you, Phelan adds, by saying that employees just don't like change. "Nothing could be further from the truth. People love change. Otherwise no one would ever go away to college, get married, have a child, move, or switch jobs," she says. "What people do not like is having questionable changes thrust upon them." ????If you want to avoid that, this time around, you're going to have to speak up. "Usually, no one even tries to bring up information that's contrary to what the consultants think, because they just assume they'll be shot down," says Phelan. But -- and it's a big, crucial "but" -- how you speak up is just as important, if not more important, than what you actually say. When employees do try to influence consultants, they too often approach the discussion "by tearing down what's going on, saying things like, 'This is so stupid, it will never work,' and so on," Phelan says. "That will just get you tuned out." |
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