颠覆时代如何让员工安心 Strategies to soothe disrupted staff

We are said to be living in the age of disruption. Technology is enabling start-ups to overturn traditional businesses. The likes of Uber and Airbnb are threatening the taxi business and the travel industry. Carmakers are competing with tech companies such as Google.

都说我们生活在一个颠覆的时代。科技让初创企业能够颠覆传统企业。优步(Uber)与空中食宿(Airbnb)之类的企业正在威胁出租车和旅游行业。汽车制造商正与谷歌(Google)等科技公司竞争。

For those in charge of established companies, devising strategies to stay afloat is a priority but they also need to manage employees’ anxieties. I asked veteran business leaders, consultants and a workplace researcher for tips on handling staff in such circumstances.

对于老牌企业的负责人来说，制定生存战略是优先考虑的事情，但他们还需要解决好员工的焦虑问题。关于在这种大形势下如何管理员工，我向资深商业领袖、顾问以及一位职场研究人士讨教了一些小窍门。

John Reid

约翰里德(John Reid)

Former CEO of Warner Music Europe

华纳音乐欧洲(Warner Music Europe)前首席执行官

At Warner, Mr Reid gained first-hand experience of how the recorded music industry was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. The sort of structural upheaval that ravaged CD sales can prompt an “existential fear among employees”, he observes. It meant that talented people left the industry, believing that they had no future.

在华纳，里德获得了在面对数字技术的颠覆时，唱片行业如何成了“煤矿中的金丝雀”的第一手经验。他说，摧毁CD销路的那种结构性剧变会引发“员工的生存焦虑”。这意味着，有才能的人会因为觉得在这一行干没前途而选择离开。

Today, he says, the recorded music industry is competing with the likes of Google for staff. “That’s a challenge. You still want bright, contemporary thinkers entering the industry.” Smaller budgets mean more work for remaining staff. But staff retention is aided by emotional attachment to the product.

他说，如今的唱片业正在与谷歌之类的公司争抢员工。“这是一个挑战。你仍然想要聪明、具有现代思想的人加入这一行业。”削减的预算意味着剩下的员工要承担更多工作。但员工会因对产品的情感依恋而留下。

For some, the challenge and excitement of digital disruption in itself is compelling. Staff have to adapt, learning new technical skills, spotting new challengers and also new markets.

对一些人来说，数字颠覆本身带来的挑战和兴奋足以激发他们的兴趣。员工必须学会适应，学习新的技能，发现新的挑战者和新的市场。

Mr Reid left the recorded music industry for live music and now leads the European operations of global concert operator, Live Nation. He admits to feeling much happier “now I’m not cutting costs and instead, growing a company”. Nonetheless, he knows he cannot afford to be complacent. “Live music is not immune to digital disruption,” particularly when it comes to ticketing.

里德离开唱片业，进入了现场音乐行业，现在负责领导全球演唱会承办商Live Nation的欧洲分部。他承认，现在感觉更快乐，“现在，我不是在削减成本，相反，我在发展壮大一家公司”。尽管如此，他知道自己还不能自满。“现场音乐也无法免受数字颠覆的影响，”特别是在票务方面。

Tammy Erickson

塔米埃里克森(Tammy Erickson)

Executive fellow at London Business School

伦敦商学院(London Business School)管理研究员(executive fellow)

Ms Erickson’s research has been on managing a changing workforce. “We tend to join a company or industry with a future in mind,” she observes. “When an industry goes through transition, employees feel the psychological contract has been broken.”

埃里克森一直以来的研究重点是如何管理变化的员工队伍。“我们倾向于加入一个自认为有未来的公司或行业，”她说，“当一个行业经历转型时，员工们会感觉心理契约被打破。”

She looked at US utilities after the market was deregulated in the 1990s, and found that employees who had joined for a stable career were distressed when told to be entrepreneurial and take risks.

她观察了上世纪90年代解除市场管制后的美国公用事业，发现为了职业稳定而加入这类单位的员工当被告知他们将成为企业员工并承担风险时都感到了苦恼。

Ms Erickson believes it is important that management acknowledges the problem. “You have to say ‘I know you joined for this reason but things have changed.’” Managers need to be clear about what they can give in return for employees’ loyalty. “It might be thatyou offer professional development. If that is the case, you have to make it happen.” This could mean exposure to a broader range of aspects of the business or mentoring.

埃里克森认为，管理层承认这一问题很重要。“你不得不说‘我知道你是因为这个原因而加入，但情况发生了变化。’”管理者需要清楚，他们能拿什么换取员工的忠诚。“或许是提供职业发展。如果是的话，你必须实现这一点。”这可能意味着要让员工接触到公司业务的更多方面或得到更多指导。

The risk is that you lose valuable staff, she says. “So employers need to come up with compelling propositions, to explain why [you should] work for them rather than someone else.” Yet there is always the risk, she notes, that employers are as paralysed as employees when faced by new challengers.

风险在于你可能失去有能力的员工，她说。“所以，雇主需要提出令人信服的意见，解释为什么（你应该）为他们工作，而非为其他人。”但他指出，有一种风险始终存在——当面对新的挑战者时，雇主和员工一样没有做不出什么反应。