Lead the Leader 引领你的领导
For a team to work well, we need awareness, accountability, engagement, commitment, full participation, and a leveling of status. Simply knowing all this, however, is rarely enough to make an impact on how a team functions. For such concepts to be put into practice, someone has to oversee the process. Thus, the possibility of excellent teamwork increases as a result of excellent leadership.
为了使团队运作良好，我们需要意识，责任心，敬业度，承诺，充分参与和地位提升。但是，仅了解所有这些信息几乎不足以影响团队的运作方式。为了将这样的概念付诸实践，必须有人监督过程。因此，出色的领导能力会增加优秀团队合作的可能性。
To emphasize leadership right after we’ve just asked everyone to surrender their status may seem somewhat paradoxical, but then what is life without the beauty of paradoxes? In real-world business settings the role of “team leader” is often made explicit to the team. The presence of a “ranked” leader does not necessarily undo the positive team dynamics we’ve been speaking of; however, care and thoughtfulness must be taken. A leader’s style of leadership must instill and protect positive team dynamics. Leaders have to know when to lead from on high, when to lead from within, and when not to lead at all—to let the group self-regulate.
在我们刚刚要求每个人都放弃自己的地位之后强调领导才能似乎有些自相矛盾，但是没有自相矛盾之美的生活又是什么呢？在现实世界的业务环境中，“团队领导者”的角色通常是明确赋予团队的。“排名靠前”的领导者的存在并不一定会消除我们一直在谈论的积极的团队动力。但是，必须谨慎和周到。领导者的领导风格必须灌输并保护积极的团队动力。领导者必须知道何时从高处领导，何时从内部领导，什么时候根本不领导，以使团队自我调节。
For people in positions of leadership within a team, status is something to be very mindful of. Some “persons of rank” are understandably proud of their job titles and cherish the status they have been endowed with by others. The pitfall is that as soon as that title begins to dictate the style and quality of collaboration in team efforts, the chances for the team’s success may be greatly compromised. As a leader consider how you do or do not foster creativity, risk taking, and talent. Are you suppressing ideas with your style of leadership, or do you make the decision to create environments in which status is leveled and communication is open?
对于团队中处于领导地位的人来说，地位是非常要注意的。可以理解的是，有些“有上层人士”为自己的头衔感到自豪，并珍惜自己被别人赋予的地位。陷阱在于，一旦这个头衔决定了团队合作中的协作风格和质量，团队成功的机会就会大大降低。作为领导者，请考虑您如何培养或不培养创造力，冒险精神和才能。您是要以领导风格压抑想法，还是要决定创建一个状态得以提升且沟通畅通的环境？
A leader, even the strongest of leaders, has to realize that it can be counterproductive to dictate the tone and pace of every meeting. If you as leader want the people on your team to be engaged and committed to the work of the team, it will be counterproductive to micromanage and steer things directly to the outcome you want. I recently worked with a V-level exec who was tasked with running the South American branch of a high-powered financial firm.
一个领导者，甚至是最强大的领导者，都必须意识到，决定每次会议的基调和步调可能适得其反。如果您作为领导者希望团队中的成员参与进来并致力于团队的工作，那么微观管理将适得其反，并将事情直接引导到您想要的结果。我最近与一位V级高管一起工作，该高管的任务是经营一家高能金融公司的南美分支机构。
He was wondering why he couldn’t get more out of the people he worked with, and the problem turned out to be exactly this: he assumed that the only way to be a strong leader was to constantly remind his teams that he was the strongest man in the room. If a group he was leading startedoff on a tangent, he would pull back too hard and too quickly. He did not demonstrate the trust to let the group have the freedom to move anywhere other than where he wanted to go. He kept a tight hold of the reins and felt that any time the discussion drifted, the team was off track and not focused.
他想知道为什么他不能从与他一起工作的人身上获得更多收益，而问题却恰恰是这样：他认为要成为强大的领导者，唯一的方法就是不断提醒他的团队，他是最强大的房间里的男人。如果他领导的小组在切线起步，他会退缩得太快和太快。他没有表现出让团队有自由移动到他想去的其他地方的信任。他紧紧握住了绳，感到每当讨论进行时，团队就偏离了轨道，没有集中精力。
What this particular VP came to see was that if he wanted optimal work out of his groups, he had to allow them to become their own entity with their own voice. The individuals that made up the groups had to feel they had value and that their voice was a part of the group, while also understanding that the group itself had a greater vision and a greater voice that everyone was there to serve. Without instilling and protecting this concept, the VP found himself not leading true teams—instead he was simply giving orders to a bunch of people who had less status than he had and who were not connected to each other.
这个特别的副总裁看到的是，如果他想从团队中获得最佳的工作，他必须让他们以自己的声音成为自己的实体。组成小组的个人必须感到自己很有价值，他们的声音是小组的一部分，同时也要理解小组本身具有更大的视野和更大的声音，每个人都可以为之服务。在没有灌输和保护这个概念的情况下，副总裁发现自己并没有领导真正的团队-相反，他只是向一群地位比他低，彼此之间没有联系的人发出命令。
The improvisational solution in this case was to introduce the concept of distribution of leadership. I’ve seen again and again that leaders get the most out of their teams when they position themselves not as a leader of underlings but as a leader of leaders. This is accomplished through very practical means. For example, a leader can assign two other people the duty to run a particular meeting. Or the nominal leader insists that leadership be rotated each meeting so that a different team member leads a meeting every week. Specific leaders can be assigned by topic or project. Seats can be moved around and rooms changed by type of meeting so that the physical workplace setting doesn’t develop into a reflection of hierarchy (“That guy’s always at the head of the table”).
在这种情况下，即兴解决方案是引入领导分配的概念。我一次又一次地看到，领导者将自己定位为领导者而不是下属领导者时，会从团队中获得最大收益。这是通过非常实际的方式完成的。例如，领导者可以指派另外两个人主持特定会议的职责。或者名义上的领导者坚持在每次会议上轮换领导，以使不同的团队成员每周主持一次会议。可以根据主题或项目分配特定的领导者。可以根据会议的类型来回移动座位和改变房间，以使实际的工作场所设置不会反映出等级制度（“那个人总是在桌子的头上”）。
To that end be deliberate about where you sit, so that you are not at the head of the table. When meetings are allowed to include different voices, different energy, and different input,they become more dynamic, increasing the level of interest, engagement, and collaborative buy-in. When every member is given responsibility to lead some part of the team and is accountable to the overall team, then everybody has a stake in the team. Team duties become a matter of respect and responsibility rather than mere assignment. The team dynamics will improve almost instantly.
为此，请仔细考虑您的坐姿，以免您坐在桌前。当会议被允许包含不同的声音，不同的精力和不同的输入时，它们将变得更加动态，从而增加了人们的兴趣，参与度和协作参与度。当每个成员都有责任领导团队的某些部分并对整个团队负责时，那么每个人都与团队息息相关。团队责任成为尊重和责任的问题，而不仅仅是分配。团队动态几乎会立即得到改善。
For any nervous leaders wary of surrendering the reins to the group, this doesn’t need to be a zero-sum game. Team leadership is not a simple choice between maintaining complete control or letting things run wild. Distribution of leadership means the team’s leader must know when and how to lead as well. The leader has to be aware of what he or she wants out of the team and has to figure out how best to get there. At times a leader must keep the train on the tracks and make sure all scheduled stops are hit. The power to command that train doesn’t ever have to be surrendered.
对于任何担心将绳投降到团队中的紧张领导者来说，这不必是零和游戏。在保持完全控制或放任不管之间，团队领导不是一个简单的选择。领导的分布意味着团队的领导者还必须知道何时以及如何领导。领导者必须意识到自己想要离开团队的东西，并且必须弄清楚如何才能最好地到达那里。有时，领导者必须使火车保持在轨道上，并确保所有预定的停靠点都被击中。指挥该火车的权力从来不必屈服。
However, a leader must be open to the idea that strategic risk taking—letting the group drive the train—may result in the discovery of an excellent shortcut, a more efficient route, or a new track altogether. Leaders have to allow themselves opportunities to discover that there may be other ways to get where you want to go other than the one path you have charted.
但是，领导者必须对这样的想法持开放态度，即采取战略冒险行动（让团队来驱动火车）可能会导致发现一条捷径，一条更有效的路线或一条全新的道路。领导者必须让自己有机会发现，除了您所绘制的一条路线以外，还有其他方法可以到达您想去的地方。
A leader should always step into a team meeting with a firm agenda.That same leader has to possess a great sense of observation and awareness as well. If you want a team to flourish—to do the work you’re asking of it at the highest level—you have to approach the team with mindfulness. If the group needs a moment to digress, or dive into details, or even goof off (connect with each other), an enlightened leader should recognize the benefits of allowing the team to have that freedom.17 That doesn’t mean the leader has completely surrendered anything. This is a “multi-tool” style of leadership, adaptable to the voice of the team and getting the best out of individuals within it.
领导者应始终参加具有固定议程的团队会议，该领导者也必须具有很高的观察力和意识。如果您希望团队蒸蒸日上—在最高层次上完成所要求的工作，则必须以正念与团队接轨。如果团队需要一点时间来散布，深入细节或什至变得愚蠢（彼此联系），开明的领导者应认识到让团队拥有这种自由的好处。17这并不意味着领导者拥有完全投降了。这是一种“多工具”式的领导风格，适应团队的声音并从团队中的个人中获得最大的收益。
If pressed to PowerPoint what we’ve covered so far, I’d suggest the following four ways to build great team dynamics:
如果按PowerPoint讲到目前为止，我将建议以下四种建立良好团队动态的方法：
1. Establish buy-in by getting 100 percent participation from every member of your team in the development process. The buy-in will turn into “build-in” as each member contributes more equally to the success of the team, the process, and the product (“build-in” is a term I’ve heard the great professor Iris Firstenberg use many times in UCLA Anderson Exec Ed programs).
1.通过让团队中每个成员100％参与开发过程来建立支持。因为每个成员对团队，流程和产品的成功做出的贡献均相等，所以买入将变成“内置”（“内置”是我曾听说过伟大的教授Iris Firstenberg使用的术语在UCLA Anderson Exec Ed程序中多次。
2. Level status by distributing leadership. Groom others to lead a meeting or two, or three, or every other meeting.
2.通过分配领导力来提高地位。修饰他人以主持一个或两个，三个或每个其他会议。
3. Loosen the reins. Come to meetings prepared with your agenda and then be flexible to allow the group to take control. Keep your agenda on your map as your final destination, and be open to others finding alternate routes to get there.
3.松开the绳。参加根据您的议程准备的会议，然后灵活地让小组进行控制。将您的议程保留在地图上作为您的最终目的地，并向其他人开放以寻找到达那里的替代路线。
4. Talk to your team. Be vulnerable. Find out what can be done to do better or at least be open to learn from whatever they have to say about the team.
4.与您的团队交谈。脆弱。找出可以做得更好的方法，或者至少可以从他们对团队的言论中学习。
This was a very hard lesson for me to learn in the early days of my business—ironically enough a business predicated on the power of improv. When I was first getting Business Improv started and finding my voice as a leader, I was very concerned with improv’s reputation as being a “soft,” pleasant, yet otherwise ineffective way to create business teams. I was passionate about proving that improv had a place of value in business-centered decision making.
对于我来说，这是非常艰难的一课，这对我在业务起步时的学习来说具有讽刺意味，这足以使一家公司凭即兴的力量为基础。当我刚开始使用Business Improv并找到领导者的声音时，我非常关心即兴创作的声誉，因为它是建立业务团队的“软”，愉快，但无效的方式。我热衷于证明即兴在以业务为中心的决策中具有价值。
With that in mind I was going to run my business like a business—not like an improv group that also happened to do corporate gigs. If I had a half hour’s worth of agenda to cover, I scheduled a half-hour meeting. I thought I was valuing everyone’s time by punching items out from the first minute to the last. This felt great to me—the budding young CEO of my own venture. Meetings were right on time and I always got to say everything I needed to say. My agenda was presented fully and explicitly.
考虑到这一点，我将把自己的业务像一家公司一样经营，而不是像一个临时团体一样碰巧也从事公司演出。如果我有一个半小时的议程需要讨论，那么我安排了一个半小时的会议。我以为自己是从第一分钟到最后一刻都在打孔，以此来珍惜每个人的时间。这对我来说真是太好了-我自己的企业中崭露头角的年轻CEO。会议按时举行，我总是要说所有我想说的话。我的议程得到了充分而明确的介绍。
However, the results became counterproductive. My team felt I was a drill sergeant, just barreling through talking points. They continually felt like they didn’t have any say in the outcome because they were not part of the process. Consequently they didn’t feel motivated to follow an agenda that had been imposed on them.
但是，结果适得其反。我的团队认为我是一名钻探中士，只是在谈论要点而已。他们不断感到自己在结果中没有发言权，因为他们不是流程的一部分。因此，他们没有动力去遵循已经强加给他们的议程。
Fortunately I was working with elite improvisers with whom I had performed hundreds of shows for many years. They were (and still are) experts at using the tenets of improvisation to communicate, and one day a few of them pulled me aside and honestly communicated the team’s frustration to me. Very quickly I realized that the individuals in my teams needed time to be who they are as people, and not simply collections of people assembled to listen to a particular boss.
幸运的是，我与精英即兴演奏者合作，多年来我与他们进行了数百场演出。他们曾经是（现在仍然是）使用即兴创作原则进行交流的专家，有一天，其中一些人将我拉到一边，并诚实地向我传达了团队的挫败感。我很快意识到，团队中的个人需要时间来成为自己的人，而不是简单地聚集在一起聆听特定老板的人。
In large part the solution was very practical. I simply built 10–15 minutes of extra time into meetings so that the people in my teams could connect, joke around, and talk in a more personal way. Those extra minutes were at the top of each meeting and could be spent “off track” on whatever the group deemed worthy. To some clock-watchers those 10–15 minutes could be viewed as wasted time. Internally though, that brief period of time became an incredible asset: not only did the meetings accomplish everything they were supposed to accomplish;the individuals in the meeting were much more vocal about how to actualize the agenda.
在很大程度上，该解决方案非常实用。我只是在会议中花了10-15分钟的额外时间，以便团队中的人可以以更个人化的方式联系，开玩笑和交谈。这些额外的会议记录是每次会议的重中之重，可以“偏离轨道”花费在该小组认为值得的任何事情上。对于某些钟表观察家来说，这10到15分钟可能被视为浪费时间。但在内部，这短暂的时间成为了不可思议的财富：会议不仅完成了他们应该完成的一切；会议中的个人更清楚如何实现议程。
People left those meetings with a strong sense of being part of a team. They were intrinsically incentivized to be part of the success of the program because they cared about each other and felt their voices were heard. Further I became a member of the team and not just a boss. I still had the ability to pull the reins—there were times when things needed to get done quickly and I couldn’t allow the group to take over and wander at will.
人们离开这些会议时充满了成为团队成员的感觉。他们内在地被激励成为该计划成功的一部分，因为他们彼此关心并且感到自己的声音被听到了。此外，我成为了团队的成员，而不仅仅是一个老板。我仍然有能力控制局势-有时候需要快速完成工作，而我却不允许团队随意接管和徘徊。
Now though when I pull the reins the team falls in line without complaint and follows my directions to the letter. They do this because I consistently show care and respect to each individual in my team, and I only bark orders when there is an actual need for such urgency.
现在，当我拉动绳时，团队毫无怨言地排队，并按照我的指示进行操作。他们之所以这样做，是因为我始终如一地对团队中的每个人都表示关怀和尊重，并且只有在确实有这种紧迫感的时候才发出命令。
This successful adaptation was not the result of a grand vision. Rather it took place because I also employed the tenets of improvisation. I empathetically listened to the individuals in my team. I considered what they had to say to be important, was humble enough to realize there was room for improvements, and adapted their thoughts to what I needed to do so that meetings—and my business—could run as effectively as possible. That small investment of time continues to be a tremendous investment in human capital and their trust and support continue to pay off, hugely.
这种成功的适应并不是一个宏伟愿景的结果。而是因为我也采用了即兴创作的原则。我富有同情心地听取了团队中的个人。我认为他们必须说的很重要，要谦虚地意识到还有改进的余地，并且使他们的想法适应我需要做的事情，以便会议和我的业务可以尽可能有效地进行。很少的时间投入仍然是对人力资本的巨大投资，他们的信任和支持继续得到巨大回报。
