員工給管理顧問提建議要講技巧
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????親愛的安妮：我在一家公司擔任一線管理人員。這家公司在過去五年經歷了三次重組。每次重組，公司都會聘用管理顧問團隊，針對我們的問題提出解決方案。然而，他們每次提供的建議在真正懂行的人（比如我們）看來，要么完全不可行，要么就是再簡單不過的方案。為什么？因為他們從來不會征求我們的意見，或者他們干脆對員工們提供的建議視而不見。 ????如今，同樣的情況似乎又將再次上演。這幫所謂的“專家”根本沒有實踐經驗，雖然他們確實投入了大量時間，但根據我的觀察，他們壓根沒有找到問題的癥結所在。我曾就此向老板提出意見，但他現在只聽這些“專家”們的，根本不想聽我的。顧問們為什么會這么做？他們的做法似乎完全違反了常識。如果我站出來，是否值得？或者我應該（再次）保持沉默和合作？我想聽聽您的讀者都會有什么樣的意見。——敵占區。 ????親愛的敵占區：你的困境其實非常普遍。實際上，凱倫?費倫曾專門針對這個問題寫過一本書。費倫曾擔任過德勤會計師事務所（Deloitte & Touche）與雙子星顧問公司（Gemini Consulting）的顧問，還曾在兩家《財富》500強公司（Fortune 500）擔任過高管職位，因此，對于你目前的狀況，她對雙方的立場都有所了解。她在自己的著作《對不起，我毀了你的公司——當管理顧問成為問題》（I'm Sorry I Broke Your Company: When Management Consultants Are the Problem, Not the Solution）中引用了大量顧問出錯的生動案例，還詳細分析了 “一刀切”的解決途徑為何往往不起作用。 ????費倫說：“顧問有好有壞。好的顧問結合了偵探工作、咨詢服務和深入的行業知識。”而這些知識只能從經驗中獲得。壞的顧問呢？“接受過高等教育的聰明的年輕人——我之所以知道，因為我之前便是這樣——缺乏真正的專業知識，來到一家公司之后，執行的都是標準的方法，完全是他們公司培訓的那一套。”聽起來耳熟吧？ ????其次，顧問“在‘解決’問題之前，找不到問題的根本緣由，”費倫說道。“而這正是（一名好的顧問）提供咨詢服務的必要之處。在許多面臨困境的公司，人們彼此之間通常不會交流，或者他們根本無法進行恰當的溝通。” ????最常見的結果是：顧問收拾東西離開之后，“沒有人知道該做什么，因為適當的員工并沒有參與新策略的設計。結果，唯一能夠把建議付諸實施的辦法就只能使聘請更多顧問。”費倫認為，有時候，這種“依賴關系循環”完全是人為造成的：“它會產生更多費用。” ????費倫補充道，糟糕的顧問經常會忽略像你一樣的員工們的擔憂，他們會說員工根本不想改變。她說：“事實完全不是這樣。人們喜歡改變。否則就不會有人去上大學、結婚生子、搬家或換工作了。而被強迫進行有問題的變化，才是人們所不喜歡的。” ????如果你希望這一次能夠避免發生同樣的情況，就必須大聲說出自己的觀點。費倫說：“通常情況下，沒有人會嘗試提出與顧問想法相悖的信息，因為他們會假設自己的觀點將被徹底否決。”然而，需要特別注意的是，發表意見的方式與意見本身同樣重要。員工在嘗試影響顧問時，通常會“以全盤否定顧問當前的工作作為討論的開場白，比如他們會說：‘這種做法太蠢了，根本不可能奏效’等等，”費倫說。“如果是這樣，自然沒有人愿意聽取你的意見。” |
????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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