why elephants can dance

On October 26, 2004, all IBM colleagues in Greater China received a letter from Zhou Weikun, the letter reads as follows Write:

"We have many good examples to prove that our growth comes from the pursuit and execution of our core values. Tomorrow, the company will start the 2004 global online discussion, which will start from October Beijing time. It started at 0:00 on the 27th and lasted until the early morning of the 29th. This is a very cherished opportunity for IBMers all over the world, giving us the opportunity to put forward our own ideas and suggestions to make IBM better and stronger. Many IBM's senior managers have been assigned to host different forums, and myself, along with two other senior managers, will host the 'Innovation Impacts the World' forum. I hope to see the enthusiastic participation of our colleagues in Greater China..."

Gerstner summed up how to change corporate culture: "All you can do is create the conditions for the company to transform, you can provide encouragement; you can point and clarify market realities and goals. But at a later date In it, you have to learn to trust. In fact, in the ultimate sense, managers do not ask managers to change the culture, but invite employees to change the culture."

Two global online discussions when Palmisano took over After Gerstner took over IBM, Zhou Weikun said: "We thought he would think behind closed doors, and then write down a few values that he thought were important." But Palmisano did it -- invite employees to change the culture. In 2003, IBM let 320,000 employees around the world have a big online discussion: What do you like most about IBM and what do you hate most about IBM? What do you want the future of the company to be like? Then summarize these opinions, and finally form a new value: customer achievement, innovation as the key, integrity and responsibility.

A year later, in 2004, IBM once again mobilized its entire staff for 48 hours of online discussions. This year's theme is: Are the values identified last year still far from actual work? How to really implement these values into work? For example, in the process of "accomplishing customers", what are the company's processes that may prevent you from doing these things? How to improve? This discussion is divided into 6 forums, two forums for each value, and employees are invited to express their opinions. The result was a total of more than 10,000 comments. More than 1,000 of them were selected and posted online, and then everyone was invited to vote. Some of these opinions are about how to allocate the company's resources, some are about how to strive for new areas, some are about how to give more authority and so on. These ideas are evaluated by employees and then returned to the top, and then decide which ideas can actually be implemented.

To Zhou Weikun's great pleasure, in 2004, employees in Greater China actively participated in this event, and many of them took advantage of their break time to participate. A total of more than ten percent of employees in Greater China express their opinions online, which is second only to India except for the US headquarters. Considering that India is an English-speaking country (all online discussions are in English), it is even more gratifying that Greater China can achieve such a level of enthusiasm.

There are two main types of opinions expressed by Chinese employees. One is that they want to tell Palmisan: China has many opportunities and needs more investment. Not only Chinese employees put forward this opinion, but some foreign employees also put forward this opinion. Another category is about what unique approaches should be taken to the Chinese market. Zhou Weikun was most impressed by an employee who made a 20-page report and posted it on the Internet, on how to provide services for many of IBM's customers in Japan in factories and branches in China, and how the report was about IBM's competitors in Japan. Do, how to do it in China, and what adjustments IBM should make a detailed analysis. This moved Zhou Weikun so much that he immediately sent an email to thank the employee. Now IBM has a group of people re-studying this problem to see if the current method can really achieve customers, and whether the current combination of products and services is what they need.

Greater China's "Golden Ideas" program Gerstner said of inviting employees to change corporate culture: "Perhaps the hardest part of this process is getting IBM employees to accept the invitation. ” In the first big online discussion in 2003, the level of participation of Chinese employees was not very high. This is related to the fact that the first time employees are not used to and do not know how to participate. The second time the employees participated so enthusiastically, in addition to the human resources department and the corporate planning and communication department doing a lot of work to let employees know about this event, I am afraid that there is a big discussion with the Greater China region before this and the online discussion. Similar and unique things.

IBM Greater China Human Resources Department has an "employee pulse survey". In this year's survey, they found that employees have two outstanding opinions: one is that IBM is a huge company, and its internal processes are higher than ordinary companies. Cumbersome and employees are not satisfied with internal processes. Another is that employees feel more pressure and hope to have a more relaxed and pleasant working environment.

IBM Greater China Corporate Planning and Communications Department decided to start from here to promote corporate culture, and the method used is still to invite employees to participate. From September 1st to 15th, 2004, they launched a "I Innovate---2004 IBM Greater China Golden Idea Turn ON" activity, on how to change the internal process and how to create a pleasant working atmosphere in the company. Questions to solicit innovative ideas from employees.

In the proposal they said: "'Innovation for the sake of' is IBM's value, let us start small and show our innovation ability. Innovation, this word has always been on our lips in the past year, Now it's no longer a slogan or a point of view, we're going to put it into practice." Every employee who contributes an idea will receive a gift, and from these ideas will be selected for bronze, silver, and gold. The golden idea will eventually have a dedicated team responsible for implementation, allowing employees to see for themselves the great value that their "innovation" brings to the company.

In just two weeks, the Corporate Planning and Communications Department received 438 ideas. They organized a special "Idea Selection Committee" - composed of more than 20 persons in charge of the service department, department heads in charge of the process, and senior leaders. The jury strictly evaluates each idea. The evaluation criteria are: First, it is innovative---bold but can estimate its risks, and have breakthrough thinking. Second, the purpose is to solve the problem. Third, it is executable. In the first round, a total of 94 "brave and resourceful ideas" were evaluated. Some people asked whether they could put some relaxing music in the office after get off work, so that people who work overtime would not be so nervous all the time; some people suggested that the seats should be better arranged so that everyone could communicate more conveniently and better.

While the judging wasn't complete during our interview, the employee who worked on it revealed to us one idea she thought would be a good candidate for the "Golden Idea" award: computers used by IBM employees Basically, it needs to be replaced every three years, and many computers will be eliminated just because the model is old. IBM disposes of its discarded computers once a year and asks the environmental protection department to crush it. The employee who came up with the idea, who works in the back office, is always heartbroken to see these computers crushed every year. The employee, who is also a member of IBM's volunteer community "On Demand Community", suggested asking IBM's after-sales service "Blue Express" to re-test, format and install the computers, and delete internal confidential content. and donate them to schools in impoverished areas. This idea received very high feedback from the jury.

2004 was a year of innovation at IBM. IBM believes that innovation is far more important than invention. The innovation required for "on demand" falls more on each employee than the development of the research department. The "Golden Idea" activity is to tell everyone that innovation is not unpredictable. Some of the things that employees have accumulated in their usual work, if they are refined, they are good ideas and innovations. Zhou Weikun said: "I think the final result is important, but the process is also very important. In this process, it is to let employees know: First, the company is very willing to accept their opinions. Second, the company is constantly looking for innovative methods. ."

Leading Dance－－－
Let leaders drive corporate culture

John Cotter, a management guru who has done in-depth research on the relationship between corporate culture and business performance, described the new corporate culture in The process of gradual development and growth in a virtuous circle of continuous success: "In the beginning, a group of like-minded people accepted these new business strategies, new business practices and new values. The behavior of these people will have positive consequences. , not only reinforces the new values and new business behaviors they own. This ever-expanding collective active participation will again have positive consequences, and so on and on, growing and expanding, and again and again, the new corporate culture will be Form." IBM did the same. Zhou Weikun said: "It is necessary to bring the corporate culture layer by layer through a leadership team. Instead of issuing a document saying that there are three new values, and then discussing it with everyone, it can be done."

Culture determines leadership One night in December 2003, a guest from the United States came to Zhou Weikun's house. He stayed at Zhou Weikun's house for one night. He was assessed the next morning and continued until the afternoon.

Zhou Weikun remembers that he had received a similar assessment 10 years ago, when Gerstner analyzed what the company's culture was, what the capabilities of the company's leaders were, what the company's future model was, and how IBM would look under this model. What competencies should leaders have. Gerstner hired a human resources consulting firm and determined that IBM leaders should have 11 competencies (understanding the customer, thinking breakthroughs, commitment to goals, team leadership, outspokenness, teamwork, decisiveness, organization-building). competencies, coaching, personal contributions, passion for the business), IBM's top 300 leaders were assessed to see what gaps between their capabilities and what the organization requires, and then make plans to improve. Zhou Weikun also received a 4-hour evaluation at that time.

Later Zhou Weikun came to China and used this method to train his subordinates. He once said: "You ask me what kind of corporate culture can cure all diseases. I think a strong leadership team can cure all diseases."

With the introduction of the "On Demand" strategy and the corporate culture IBM believes that the leadership needed to lead the team should also be adjusted. IBM's senior leadership took another assessment. 10 years later, a lot has changed.

Zhou Weikun, for example, used to have the ability to "understand customers", but now this ability no longer needs to be assessed. Because if you don't have this ability, you can't be a leader at all. Now it's time to assess the leader's ability to gain customer trust and build relationships with customers. In the past, it was necessary to measure whether the leader had the ability to "work in a team". Now this is too simple. What is needed is the ability of the leader to lead in a more complex organizational environment. The former core competency was "Love IBM", but now the core competency is to be enthusiastic about the company's future. Leadership is now 10 competencies: building relationships with clients, partnering for influence, facing challenges, thinking about the big picture, making informed judgments, taking risks strategically, earning trust, having the ability to grow and achieve results , Committed to the development of IBM people and the community, must have confidence in IBM's future.

This set of leadership assessment methods is only at the beginning in China, and every manager has not been asked to spend most of the day assessing, but they have paid great attention to cultivating these 10 competencies of the leadership team.

Former IBM China Human Resources Director Zhou Jing was assigned another important task this year, becoming the Greater China Leadership and Organizational Capability Director. Zhou Jing said that IBM's method of cultivating leadership is very different from the past. In the past, training programs were the main focus, but now we put the strategy first and cultivate leadership according to the needs of the strategy. During the "May 1" holiday this year, IBM Greater China invited several professors from Harvard University to train 100 people to be trained in the future. This process is not just about giving lectures, but giving them some strategic topics first. They made preparations in advance, and then several professors came over to help them adjust with other high-level executives, and they would follow up after 60 or 90 days.

Zhou Weikun put forward a very clear idea: first, think clearly about the strategy according to the market, then consider what the corporate culture should be, then determine what kind of leadership is needed, and finally find out the gap between the current leadership and requirements make improvements.

Communication and Culture Communication is IBM's tradition, but IBM Greater China has emphasized communication more than ever this year, which is still related to strategy and corporate culture.

From serving customers to achieving customers, it is not simply to sell products to customers, but to establish a long-term close relationship with customers. This is not a sprint but a long-distance run, and it is even more necessary for excellent employees to stay for a long time. In order to allow employees to see their future, the Human Resources Department organizes a report meeting to invite employees who have successfully developed their careers at IBM to introduce their experiences. Zhou Weikun personally came to the stage to talk about his experience. The Human Resources Department also posts vacancies on the Internet, where interested employees can apply, and provides employees with the latest information on a weekly basis. The company originally had a "leapfrog conversation" system, where employees could apply to communicate with their superiors. This year, the Human Resources Department stepped up its enforcement of the system, setting targets for each senior leader. There are more roundtables this year: whenever senior leaders from other places come, the human resources department organizes employees to communicate with them.

Zhou Weikun has always emphasized that communication is what leaders should do, and it is very important for the formation of corporate culture. He said that half of his daily work is actually communication. There is a personal homepage on the intranet of IBM Greater China, where he often tells employees what has happened recently in the company. Every quarter he writes a letter to employees about performance and cultural issues. He also has a mailbox --- President Online. What makes employees deeply admire is that he will reply to every letter written to him by employees over the years. These letters have all kinds of content: some want to be transferred to another department, but the manager does not allow it; some employees think they have been unfairly treated and complain to him; some ask him about problems in life. Zhou Weikun still remembered that an employee's fiancee was robbed by another employee in the early years, and he wrote a letter asking Zhou Weikun to "preside over justice". Zhou Weikun really met the employee and did the proper work.

In the past two years, Zhou Weikun found that employees wrote less letters to himself. He analyzed that perhaps the organization has grown larger and has more levels, and everyone has become more and more isolated. This is what I worry about. On the optimistic side, it may also be that managers at all levels have taken up their leadership responsibilities well and solved the problem.

Dancing together---
Let China synchronize with the world

Should IBM's corporate culture in China be the same as that of its headquarters? Should it be adjusted accordingly?

The matrix dance Gerstner's only mention of Beijing in "Who Said Elephants Can't Dance" was in an email about corporate culture on the subject of managing the matrix. He wrote: "I would like to discuss with you a problem that arises every time we have a meeting with employees. I encountered this problem again when I had a meeting with some employees in Beijing two weeks ago. The essence of the problem is: how should we deal with IBM conducts matrix management. And how should we implement our strategy in such a complex company." The letter was dated September 28, 1998. What exactly did Gerstner discuss in Beijing on this day?

Zhou Weikun recalled that after he took over IBM Greater China in 1995, Gerstner first came in March 1996. Zhou Weikun told him that March is the time for the two sessions in China, and the leaders of the state and enterprises are very busy, so it is better to change the time in the future. After that, Gerstner came to Beijing every September or October. Every time he comes to Beijing, he holds a staff meeting. He will talk for ten minutes first, and then the staff will ask questions. This time in 1998, an employee raised a question about matrix management.

When Zhou Weikun implemented matrix management in China, he encountered a lot of opposition. At that time, IBM China was just a strategic experiment for the headquarters. It was a very small company, very enthusiastic, and did things very quickly. But many people's way of thinking is still a simple unit: I only listen to my boss, and there can only be one boss. The matrix management is so complicated that I can't even figure out who my boss is. Many people said: "Does this set work in China? We should tell the headquarters that China's situation is special and a set of methods with Chinese characteristics should be used. "Zhou Weikun also debated with them, and finally came to the conclusion: One day, IBM will become a very big company in China, and it will become a very important operating base for IBM. It's better to start doing these things now. Now it seems that the whole way is "still very smooth".

The question of whether the corporate culture needs to be adjusted in each region has also been debated at IBM headquarters. There have also been debates. And this issue was also discussed during the cultural adjustment this time. Zhou Weikun personally believes that there should be no conflict between corporate culture and regional culture. The values of a multinational company should be adjusted so that there is no conflict with the region. Fully consider the difference between the way the Chinese do things and the Americans, and understand that the way of thinking of employees and customers is different from that of the United States.

Growth Culture Zhou Weikun wrote in a letter to employees in the first quarter of 2004: " Our numbers for the first quarter of last year were encouraging. You may have seen from many forecast reports that 2004 was a year of rapid economic growth. The American "Business Week" commented: 'Driven by the rebound of global enterprise IT spending and IBM's own business transformation, Big Blue's record will be even more brilliant in the next few years. If this good situation can be maintained, then its position as the leader of the IT industry is still untouchable. '

"I would like to remind everyone that the word 'if' here means that for IBM, this market is full of opportunities, and at the same time, there is also fierce competition. If we IBM want to continue to be the industry leader, we must be able to stand out from the crowd, be able to constantly surpass ourselves, and grow steadily. I have repeatedly emphasized the importance of growth on many occasions. 'Grow, grow, grow again', do not Underestimate the word 'growth', the article behind it is very big."

If you have to say that IBM is different in China, it may be that Zhou Weikun puts more emphasis on "growth". On the one hand, it is because China It is an important area for performance growth. On the other hand, the pursuit of growth will not rest on its laurels and complacency.

John Cotter found through the study of ten companies that have undergone major changes in corporate culture: to varying degrees, these reformers started their new jobs by vigorously promoting and creating a sense of crisis. Although IBM has achieved a lot of success in Greater China, Zhou Weikun still often reminds employees not to be complacent and proud and to pursue growth. In his eyes, there are still many companies worthy of IBM's learning. For example, he praised GE in public, saying that it has a strong atmosphere of pursuing growth. In a letter to employees, Zhou Weikun also called for learning from Haier. He said: "Rapid growth is not only Haier's reality, but also runs through Haier's corporate culture. Therefore, what we call 'growth' is not only a company The rapid growth of the business also includes the company's atmosphere, the enthusiasm and determination of each employee to pursue business growth and personal growth, and only in the atmosphere of 'growth' can the miracle of growth be created. It's even more critical for a big company like IBM."

For a big company like IBM, only culture can make it dance.