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Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric (GE), is most widely regarded for his philosophy of leading the team that led GE to become the world's largest company by market capitalization.
「There is no doubt that HR leaders should be the second most important person in any organization after the CEO.From the CEO's point of view, the importance of human resources is no less important than that of the chief financial officer, Jack Welch, the management god of the Western business world, believes that the most important asset of a company is talent, so the importance of investing in talent is far greater than investment in technology and equipment.
As one of Boston Red Sox's most famous die-hard fans, he often takes inspiration from professional baseball teams. Why is HR so important to businesses? He cites the example of team management: of course the opinion of the team accountant should be listened to, because he knows how much the team can afford to pay the players. However, the opinion of the team accountant is definitely not higher than that of the director of player affairs, who knows how well each player plays the ball. So,"When it comes to making decisions, HR leaders should be on an equal footing with CEOs like CFOs.」
He believes that after being promoted to supervisor, the most important way to lead is to know how to nurture others so that every member can grow.
Looking back on his more than 8 years of management experience, Welch summed it up as the "Leadership 0 Code", which is worth learning from every manager.
Leadership Code 1:Use every contact with your subordinates as an opportunity to assess, coach and develop your subordinates' self-confidence
According to Welch, the most common mistake managers make is to assume that training and communication with their subordinates is only done at every performance review.
In fact, everything in daily work can be used for subordinate training, and from which the potential of subordinates can be observed and explored. For example, visiting a customer is a good opportunity to evaluate whether the business person can solve the customer's problem; Even during the break in the middle of the meeting, you can take the opportunity to guide the presentation skills of the subordinates who come to the stage to report.
The best way to improve the overall quality of the team is to use all opportunities to contact with subordinates to train personnel, communicate work content, and instill confidence in them.
Leadership Code 2: Not only strive for subordinates to see the vision, but also subordinates to work hard for the vision, and daily life and rest are around the vision
Leaders have to paint a vision for the team, but Welch argues,Vision is not just about "talking", it must be "lived".
How do you bring the vision to life? He believes that the direction must be clear and clear, and that it is absolutely impossible to achieve a lofty but vague goal. The goal should be clear to the point that even if an employee is woken up in the middle of the night, he or she can still speak while asleep.
"Leaders have to keep talking about vision, about the point where it's callousing," Welch said. The vision must be repeated and emphasized in various occasions before it can be implemented for everyone. Only in this way can the team's actions continue to focus on the vision, and only by the leaders continue to transmit, communicate, and strengthen it with rewards, the vision will jump off the page, have vitality, and not be just a slogan. Otherwise,"The value of the vision is not as good as the paper on which the vision is printed.」
Leadership Code 3: Leaders should radiate positive energy and optimism
"The mood of a leader is contagious," Welch noted.The leader is cheerful and optimistic, and his team will also be full of positive views;Conversely, if the leader is pessimistic and gloomy, the attitude of the team members will be the same as his.
He believes that being a leader is to resist the impact of negative energy. No matter how bad the environment is, leaders need to lift their spirits, show that there is a solution to any problem, and walk out of the office to infect their team members to find a way to solve the problem. 「If you can't really bring it to the hearts of your subordinates, you will definitely lose something. In this way, work is just work.」
Leadership Code 4:Leaders will only be trusted for their openness, transparency, credibility and prestige
Standing in a leadership position, showing power, controlling others, allocating resources, and even not easily confiding in his views on people and performance, he shows a "unpredictable" style.While these actions help establish the leader's "boss" status, they also erode the trust of the team.
Welch believes that when leaders are transparent, honest and trustworthy, they can build trust in their teams. For example, don't hide bad news; do not take credit, but give credit to those who deserve it; Absolutely not one set in front of others, one set in the back; In front of outsiders, provide support to the shoulders of subordinates; When a team makes a mistake, they can shoulder the blame. These are all ways to help build trust.
Why do you need to be trusted by your subordinates? Welch pointed out that when he was elected as a leader, he did not receive a crown, but the heavy responsibility of bringing out all the potential of his subordinates. To do this, you must first win the trust of your subordinates and make them truly believe that they can be led to a better state by their leaders.
Leadership Code 5:Have the courage to make unflattering decisions
As a leader, you often come across moments when you have to make difficult decisions, such as cutting budgets, vetoing a proposal that a subordinate has carefully prepared, or even having to fire someone.These difficult decisions are bound to attract complaints and resistance, but the leaders must deal with them.「The team leader is not to lead in the popularity race, the key task is to lead,Welch pointed out.
Leadership Code 6:Always explore with skepticism and curiosity, and make all questions get concrete action responses
When you're a professional, you have to find a way to "find all the answers", and your job is to be the best in this field. When it comes to becoming a leader, the main job is to "ask all the questions", and when discussing decisions, proposals, and markets, leaders must often use phrases like, "What if this happens?" "Why not?" "How so?" sentences.
Welch stresses that "even if you ask these questions and make yourself look like the dumbest person in the room, you have to be calm." Only by asking questions can the team pay the attention they deserve, and the leaders can understand the process and make the best judgments.
In addition, it is not enough to ask questions. Leaders must identify questions that will not only stimulate discussion, but also lead to more questions. The most important thing is to make sure that someone will take care of the problem.
Leadership Code 7: Lead by example and encourage subordinates to take risks and learn from them
Welch analyzes that risk-taking and learning are encouraged, and it is easier said than done.He often encountered leaders urging his subordinates to try new things, but once they failed, they severely criticized their subordinates.若希望部屬勇於冒險與實驗,就必須以身作則。The easiest way, he shared, is for leaders to talk about their failures, share lessons learned, and make their mistakes public.It's uncomfortable, but the goal is to let people know that it doesn't matter if you don't miss a swing, you just need to learn from it, so that you can create a team culture that encourages risk-taking.
To encourage team learning, leaders should also be able to take action. For example, whenever Welch sees a favorite best practice on the outside and comes back internally, he always shares it internally and praises it, letting everyone know that he is very happy to refer to good new ideas and practices.
Leadership Code 8:Know how to reward and praise
When the team has good performance and good results, Welch believes that it is very important for the leaders to take the lead in the celebration, and during the GM period, he constantly emphasized the importance of the celebration and asked every supervisor not to forget to take the opportunity to celebrate.
Celebration is the fastest way to improve team morale and cohesion. Because the celebration can create a "sense of winner" in the subordinates, creating an atmosphere of affirmation and positive energy. "Think about it, the team that won the MLB World Series didn't open champagne and sprayed foam everywhere? It's simply impossible," Welch noted.
When you make something at work, of course, you have to celebrate, take advantage of these opportunities to celebrate, reward the team, if the leader doesn't do it, no one in the team will do it.
The 4E1P principle for finding good talent
Having hired and managed a variety of top talent, Welch believes that good people have 4E1P principles that leaders can use to build their team members.
E Positive Energy People with positive energy are usually outgoing and optimistic, easy to be friends with, they enjoy their work and never complain about hard work.
E energize others People who know how to motivate others, who can inspire their teams to do the impossible, and have fun doing it.
E Decisive (edge) Have the courage to make difficult decisions about right and wrong, and do things decisively without dragging their feet.
E Execute: Have the ability to complete any idea, project, task, commitment.
P Passion Whether it is work or life, it can be full of vitality. 5 PowerPoint Slides for a Cohesive Strategy One of the most important tasks of a leadership team is to shape a vision, and the implementation of the vision is to have clear goals and strategies.
How to develop a winning strategy?
Welch uses the structure of 5 slides to share his thoughts.
1. What is the current situation?
◎Who are the competitors in this business? Large or small?
2. Is it a newbie or a veteran?
◎What is the market share of each competitor in each market?
3. Where do we start?
◎What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor?
◎Who are the main customers of this business? Why Buy?
4. What did the competitor do?
◎What have competitors done in the past year to change the situation?
◎Are there any competitors who have launched new products, new technologies, and new channels that have changed the situation?
5. What did you do?
◎What have you done to change the situation in the past year?
◎Have you lost some competitive advantage, such as: a certain business master, a special product, a certain exclusive technology?
6. What will come up in the future?
◎ In the coming year, what are the one or two things that competitors may hit you?
◎What new products or technologies are likely to be launched by competitors to change the competitive situation?
◎What kind of M&A combination will beat you?
7. What's your winning move?
◎How do you change the game? Is it to find key talent, to launch a new product, or to change the way you market?
◎How do you increase customer loyalty?