non-authoritative leader

If you were to draw a group sketch of traditional Chinese business leaders, their majestic expressions would probably be strikingly similar. Because, for a long time in China, the word "authority" has been associated with leadership, and the leader's sense of power has always overwhelmed the sense of responsibility and has the absolute upper hand.

In modern enterprises, employee creativity and teamwork are increasingly seen as an important source of competitive advantage. At this time, leaders bluntly rely on position power to command and control, often making the effect run counter to the original intention. When leaders regard themselves as mentors, partners or even friends, and use various informal and authoritative leadership methods such as coaching, communication, tolerance, and motivation, they often receive unexpected results. This is another force that helps teams succeed, in addition to stereotyped authority.

Leadership is becoming more flexible and diverse. Huang Hui, Yu Hongding and Lv Xiaoxiang from different fields and different companies tried to use their respective experiences to interpret different "non-authoritative leaders".

Huang Hui: Flexible Situational Leadership

Huang Hui is a typical global manager who has led different employees in different countries and cultures. This experience made him familiar with a variety of leadership styles. In his experience, there is no single type of leadership that works in all settings, whether authoritative or non-authoritative coaching, supportive, or delegating. "You have to constantly adjust in the process." Huang Hui regards flexible "situational leadership" as the biggest challenge to his leadership.

From Germany to Japan, in Huang Hui's own words, his initial management experience was obtained in German companies. Not only did he learn a whole set of European-style theoretical processes, but his rigorous and direct leadership style also greatly influenced him. deep. Because of the overall positive personality of Europeans, who dared to try to solve some problems on their own, the delegating leadership style was more suitable in the environment at that time. "I usually set a general direction and goal for employees to do. If there is any difficulty, I will help to solve it." Huang Hui said that in German companies, leaders give employees a lot of room to play, and they are very helpful when making decisions. Respect the opinions of subordinates. And once it is decided to promote a certain strategy, the attitude is very firm and tough. "Sometimes there is a sense of command. But this is based on frequent and frank communication and feedback between superiors and subordinates in European companies, so it does not make people feel blunt or sudden."

And Huang When Hui left Germany for the first time in Japan, his successful leadership experience led him to make many mistakes: "It took me almost a year to reshape my leadership style." Spirited up. Huang Hui found that in Japanese culture, everyone operates in a strict social system, and they work according to the established way. "It's like a person who walks the same road and does the same thing every day, and suddenly you give him space to create and play on his own, and he becomes overwhelmed."

Then there are many negative effects of orders. "Faced with the rigid orders from the superiors, the Japanese will only have two reactions." Huang Hui recalled that when he asked employees to complete a certain job within a limited date, one kind of person had a strong resistance, and even affected To the working relationship between the two; and the other person will be so stressed that he can't do anything. "In short, the order will destroy the original harmonious and harmonious atmosphere in the enterprise."

Facing the new environment, Huang Hui adjusted a new leadership style. "For these Japanese employees who can neither be too open nor too closed, and everything must be carried out step by step, the most effective thing is to give as much clear guidance as possible. Giving him a direction is not enough, but also to help him build a concrete structure. The framework for doing this, clearly stating who and what resources are needed, and you can help him arrange it properly, so he can do well." He admitted that the price of being a leader in Japan is that he has become very hard, which is more difficult than in Europe. A lot of time and energy is spent in the enterprise.

Not only that, Huang Hui, who is accustomed to speaking frankly, has to learn the art of devious communication, "Say a little thing, and make a big detour." Thinking back on this passage, Huang Hui finds it a little funny. Because in Japan, a slightly more straightforward way of expression will make employees feel rigid and rigid. "Employees will even speculate whether the boss has any personal prejudice against him, but haste is not enough."

He cited a very interesting Contrastive example. When brainstorming in Europe, Huang Hui's approach was to ask everyone in the team to write down their ideas on a piece of paper, explain their ideas and opinions in front of everyone, and then organize them together. A framework, and then discussed together, the effect is very good. In Japan, however, it doesn't work at all. "The first step is to get every team member to write an idea on a note, but it's okay for him to state his point of view in public. Almost everyone can't do it. Because if he does, everyone will know the idea. It belongs to him, and I will be very taboo when commenting, for fear of offending him." Huang Hui then changed his method and asked everyone to write down all the ideas that came to their minds on paper, and then asked the staff to take them to another room to tidy them up. Write it on a blackboard and take it back to the room so that no one knows who came up with the idea and the discussion is easy.

It is these differences in details that remind Huang Hui to continue to be flexible and flexible in his leadership style. Seven years of work experience in Japan made him have a more concrete and mature understanding of the management thinking of "situational leadership": "Even if there are different employees in the same enterprise and in the same culture, you cannot expect effective leadership for them. The way is the same. If a leader only knows how to order, he will definitely achieve nothing."

From Japan to China In 2001, Huang Hui returned to China as President of BearingPoint Consulting (formerly KPMG) Greater China. At that time, BearingPoint had just officially entered the Chinese market, and everything was still in its infancy. "Management consulting is still a new field in China, and it is difficult to compare the abilities of consultants with foreign countries. Therefore, at the beginning, leadership means of coaching and training are essential." Huang Hui said.

The development goals of BearingPoint's entire Chinese company need to be decomposed into the goals of each business unit. Each business unit's consulting services to customers represent the company's brand. Therefore, at that time, from market research, marketing methods, organizational structure, talent training to customer management, Huang Hui had to demonstrate and communicate with the heads of various business units. "However, the leadership style for each person is developed in the process." Huang Hui said that they each have different professional backgrounds and work experience, and each person's personality is also different, some are active and some are passive. , some pragmatic, some ideal. Therefore, when he first came into contact with these subordinates, Huang Hui always tended to "put a little more first" to give them more space to play and express, while he observed and understood more from the perspective of a bystander. Provides different people with the help and guidance they need, and gradually finds a balanced leadership style. "The break-in time varies with everyone. Some are as short as three months, while others are more than a year."

Due to the particularity of the consulting industry, many BearingPoint employees spend less time with clients than they stay with them. More time in the company. Therefore, in BearingPoint China's office, although the number of seats is only one-third of the total number of employees, it seems that there are still very few people. "Business in China is developing very fast, and most of the employees are not working in the company, which brings us huge challenges in leadership and communication." Huang Hui said, in response to this situation, BearingPoint on the one hand, through the internal communication committee, Multi-level communication platforms such as the management committee, BearingPoint Talks, and company newsletters enable the company's senior managers to communicate with each other in a timely manner and learn about employees' opinions and suggestions; on the other hand, as a top leader, he also attaches great importance to awareness Communicate regularly with employees. BearingPoint employees know that the president's office is always open to everyone. Anyone who has a problem, whether it is work or life, can walk in as long as they want to communicate with him.

Three years later, BearingPoint has become one of the largest management consulting companies in China, with nearly 1,000 employees and a nearly twenty-fold increase in performance. With the development of the company and the growth of employees, Huang Hui has once again positioned his leadership style and turned to service-oriented: "In the past, China's consulting industry paid attention to personal ability, but now we need to rely on the strength of the team to provide some large customers with A full range of comprehensive services. That is to say, to help employees change from being individual-oriented to team-oriented." Now, on the basis of coaching and communication, he focuses more on the deployment and integration of various business units and departments. resources in between to help the team do things that the team itself might not be able to do. He feels that his more important responsibility as a BearingPoint leader is to support employees and unite them in a common corporate culture, work smoothly and happily, and grow with the company.

Yu Hongding: Influence with Integrity

When Yu Hongding first came to Shanghai as the general manager of IBM East China and Central China, the first thing he did was to organize the office It was rearranged, the glass house was removed, and all management and employees, including myself, sat and worked together. "In addition to the relationship at work, emotional communication is also very important between managers and employees. In this way, you can observe whether someone is in a bad mood today, and if you know what problems he has, you can help him solve them in time. "Yu Hongding feels that an open office environment can create more communication opportunities for everyone, and this approach also makes employees feel more intimacy with this new boss who seems to be a little introverted.

Yu Hongding, who has worked at IBM for 23 years, is deeply influenced by the corporate culture of "dilute grades" and likes to chat with employees casually. He believes that the leader's affinity and communication skills are very important, and the foundation of which is to establish his own integrity: "I believe in the so-called leadership authority, which is based on trust, not prestige." In his view, whether it is up or down This kind of honesty can create an influence for oneself, whether it is a level or a colleague, "and this needs to be accumulated in a little bit of work."

Fighting for resources IBM uses a matrix method Management structure, that is to say, in East China and Central China led by Hongding, all business departments including products, services, markets, finance, etc. also have a vertical line of management. "Most of the employees also need to report to the bosses of their respective business departments. This is a solid line. I manage them regionally, which is a dotted line."

Yu Hongding said that his current leadership work is more than In the past, it was much more complicated when I was the general manager of the Greater China region of the business unit. He described leading a server department before as like a leader fighting on the front lines, whose main task was to seize the market. Now as a regional leader, the most important job is to bring together the strength of all different departments in East China and Central China to serve customers together. "I'm like a bridge, and I have to make sure that the communication between departments is smooth. Also give my opinion very clearly on what parts of the whole region need to be strengthened."

"Many times, the various departments For a specific project, there will be different opinions. Since each department has its own focus on the line, I can't order him to put all resources in my area." Yu Hongding believes that In this case, it is very important to communicate frankly with the head of the business unit, and exert influence with an honest and professional attitude. "First of all, I made it clear that each other's interests are not conflicting. My advantage is that I am familiar with the situation in East China, and the opportunities I create here will also strengthen his business indicators; also, if it is clear that I also feel that the opportunities in North China are better. Better and more important, I will not blindly find ways to obtain resources for East China." He pointed out that resources are limited after all, and only by looking at the problem from the perspective of the other party and the company as a whole can we win trust.

Since he took charge of this region, due to his accurate prediction of the development prospects of the financial industry and private enterprises, he has obtained corresponding resource input in a targeted manner, and the regional performance has doubled rapidly within two years.

Dispute resolution Maintaining a peaceful and just attitude towards things and people is the cornerstone for Yu Hongding to establish his own leadership integrity. Especially when dealing with some employee disputes. "Although every leader may have his or her own preferred and highly valued employees, in the event of a dispute, they must discuss the matter on a case-by-case basis, and must not be partial." A detailed division that defines the responsibilities of each business person. "Although we try to make the distinction as clear as possible, there will always be some new customers in this year, so it is easy to cause conflicts who are responsible for this new customer." Yu Hongding said that a certain joint venture car brand once became After IBM's new customer, the two salesmen had a disagreement and came to him to solve it. "One was originally in charge of the domestic auto industry, and the other was in charge of the brand's foreign parent company. Both of them believed that this customer should belong to them, and I had to make a decision in my position as a leader. Then I can't look at me and Whoever has a good relationship, or who has a good performance in the past, is the fact that everyone puts it out. For example, what percentage of the equity of the foreign parent company of the joint venture brand, and what percentage of the domestic part of the equity. According to this ratio, we will first study Customers have the right to decide their own internal discourse, and then judge who is more reasonable to assign it to."

Yu Hongding admitted that he used to be more emotional when he was young, and he was easily impulsive when he encountered problems. Some things that should not be said, this will not only hurt the employee, but also spend a lot of energy in the future to rebuild his trust in himself. In fact, with more and more experience, he found that disputes between employees are often not right or wrong, and there may be some reasons behind them. As a leader, you should try to understand the root cause of the problem and the interests of different employees first, and do not let external interference factors affect your judgment. In this way, even if the decision made may not satisfy everyone, at least it will make people feel fair, and there will be no resistance when convinced.

"Sometimes, you will also find that the root cause of employee conflicts is yourself. For example, the decision-making is not very reasonable, or the problem arises and you do not solve it in time." Yu Hongding said, once encountering this problem In this case, you should take the responsibility yourself. "Admitting your mistakes will only make employees respect you more." And the integrity of a leader is established in the handling of everything, and forms a kind of A virtuous circle.

Guiding Direction Talking about his strengths in leadership, Yu Hongding believes that what he is best at is to develop an employee's potential through guidance: "If I directly provide him with answers to many things, ask him to perform this work. , he may be very repulsive, or he may not understand very well. A good way is to guide him to think, and the answer he has come up with will be easy to accept and can be completed actively."

For example, A department manager has a conservative personality. Yu Hongding found that every time he submitted a business target plan, it was lower than the actual completion later. "If I force him to report higher next time, he will be under a lot of pressure. So I ask him to review for himself, what factors are helpful to improve performance, whether these are within his control and so on. After doing the analysis, he also found that his potential is still great."

&nbspIBM has a detailed career development plan for each employee, and implements a "mentor system" for key employees. As a mentor, Yu Hongding also hopes to guide employees to judge what they really want to do. "Everyone has some ideas about the future development direction, but in fact, people do not necessarily see their own personality and strengths very clearly. So I will feedback my opinions to him and analyze them, based on my experience. And what he knows about him is suitable for him." Yu Hongding said that he is not willing to force employees to choose, because everyone has a different path, and finally he has to make his own decision: "Even if I judge this employee is It is a good material for sales, but if he wants to do it successfully, he must be able to accept it from his heart."

Now, Yu Hongding will occasionally meet with his coaching staff every two weeks from time to time. Some very light discussions. It is not limited to the company's business or career development, and more emphasis is on the sharing of personal ideas and experiences. "For an employee to grow into a manager, peace of mind and integrity are more important than business ability itself, and these also require the guidance and influence of leaders bit by bit."

Lv Xiaoxiang: From authority to Non-authoritative transformation

From the sales representative when he first joined the company to the general manager of the vaccine department, Lv Xiaoxiang held about a dozen or three positions at GlaxoSmithKline. His leadership style continues to change and grow as he moves through the ranks from the lower, middle and upper levels.

Style Changes Lv Xiaoxiang, a salesman, is no stranger to authoritative leadership styles. He admits that when he was a junior and mid-level manager, he used to "use power more recklessly".

"Responsible for sales work is very stressful, as a leader is burdened with the performance indicators of the entire team." Lu Xiaoxiang recalled, "At that time, short-term results had a great impact on performance appraisal, and there was a lot of work to do every day. Do, pursue results and efficiency, as well as the consistency and discipline of your own team." In Lv Xiaoxiang's view, this situation is quite common for middle and low-level managers in China. In such a position, his main role is to execute and supervise, so he pays more attention to the details than to the macro. And because of the often overloaded work, there is not much time to communicate with employees, so the constraints and leadership of employees will appear relatively tough.

"Although the leadership style was very strict, the results were satisfactory at the time." Lv Xiaoxiang analyzed that at the executive level, constraints and incentives are like two swords, and neither is indispensable. In addition to exercising power, he tends to provide a highly motivating environment for employees, not only in terms of income and benefits, but also in training, career development opportunities, and more empowerment. With the successful use of incentives, Lv Xiaoxiang's tough leadership style at the time "was not too much of a failure."

With the advancement of his position and the accumulation of management experience, Lv Xiaoxiang has more thoughts on his leadership style. "The higher you get to the top, the looser the leadership's organizational structure will be. In a large enterprise, there are many levels of management. It is increasingly impossible to rely on the authority of a single leader to push everything." He said that at present At the work level, thinking about the medium and long-term development strategy of the company and effectively pushing it down step by step has surpassed the previous pursuit of short-term performance and has become the focus of my work. This made him more willing to approach his employees and learn more about their thinking. "Communication exposes me to the most vivid things. For example, how the front-line employees view the market, how we view our competitors, etc. These will allow me to avoid subjectivity in my decision-making; in addition, everyone has their own independent Values, if you don't really understand his goals, his choices, and his needs, your decision will not be able to really affect him and let him accept it."

Lu Xiaoxiang's own boss also has a deep influence on him. He gradually discovered that senior managers were very careful in exercising power, and more often they motivated employees through the concept of benefit sharing. "The win-win mentality with the company enables employees to motivate themselves, including myself working hard because of my sense of identity with the company." Lv Xiaoxiang developed the relationship between himself and his subordinates in this direction. Rather than focusing on restraint and oversight, he now leans more toward delegating authority and making employees feel part of the company for more self-management.

Reverse leadership As the first general manager of GlaxoSmithKline to be promoted by local employees, Lv Xiaoxiang has a strong voice in the company's formulation of China's vaccine market strategy. "To a certain extent, I have a better understanding of the business situation in China than my boss, because he has many issues to focus on, and it is impossible to cover everything at the tactical level." He believes that if we understand it from the perspective of "giving influence" Leadership, sometimes a manager can even "lead" his superior to change his original decision.

"Once our entire senior management team held a meeting to discuss the channel design of a certain product. At that time, my boss proposed a plan based on his experience abroad. Everyone agreed. Only I held a different opinion. Insist on implementing another plan I proposed." Lu Xiaoxiang recalled that although the difference was only technical, the two had a very heated argument at the time. He always insisted that his views were right, and said that if he failed, he was willing to pay for it and accept punishment. "In the end, after a period of persuasion, struggle and persistence, he finally gave me a chance to execute it, and finally proved that I was right." Lv Xiaoxiang said that this success added another weight to his credibility , and later he got more trust and authorization.

"There have been many such examples. But with each experience, he will have more trust in your ability and potential, and will leave more room for your own decision-making in the future." Thinking back to this paragraph Experience, Lv Xiaoxiang concluded that the "reverse leadership" of superiors has nothing to do with "power", and the formation of such influence requires personal credibility and persistence as support. "The leader's recognition of the subordinate's personal ability or potential cannot be formed in a short period of time. As a subordinate, you must build his trust from the first job your boss gives you; From the perspective of the boss, we should really consider the company and do the business well together. If you cannot convince him after having these two premises, you must persevere very tenaciously, and have the mentality to bear the consequences and responsibilities."

Lv Xiaoxiang later used this successful experience of "giving and influencing" in other areas. "Especially the win-win mentality of empathy is actually applicable to all kinds of relationships." He said that not only between superiors and subordinates, but also between colleagues, and even between the company and customers, it is necessary to find common ground of interests for both parties. "Only by helping him and achieving success with him can you influence others."

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