2014.11.14

你必須嘗試

  我在教育圈工作許多年，發現在某些條件下，人如果置身於組織中，更有可能表現優異。某些條件，比如給予團隊明確可行的目標，建立有效的團隊結構，即時的組織支援，高效的訓練，當一個團隊具備了這些條件，就會表現得更出色。所以我工作有條理也非常努力，但結果恰恰相反，這簡直給幾十年的工作打了大大的耳光，因此我說「結果就是結果，現時就是現實」，生活得回到現場，理解這一現象。

  心理安全是一種感覺、經歷空間，讓人覺得可以在辦公室，在組織內，安全地討論錯誤與過失，讓你覺得摔倒了也能安全的站起來。有心理安全的組織，會表現比較好。許多研究證明有心理安全的團隊，他們的成員不會害怕被告密，也不怕摔倒或犯錯，這些組織會更為成功，他們是學習型組織，成員不斷的學習成長，從錯誤中學習，下一次就能做得更好。

  不論是領導者或家長，要為自己的孩子營造心理安全，讓他們毫無拘束的告訴你，他們做得不好失敗的事，因為如果他們願意跟你說，就不容易進入害怕失敗的完美主義，會更快樂更成功。

  這是Thomas Watson 的故事，他是IBM的創建者，至今日仍舊每天不斷的改造，所以IBM能發展至今。IBM剛成立還在發展打字機時，有一名員工犯了策略性錯誤，給IBM損失了一百萬美元，當時對IBM來說是一筆很大的錢。於是他犯錯後第二天，去找了創辦人Thomas Watson並且給他一封信，Thomas Watson並且打開信讀了讀，問那員工說：這是甚麼？他說：先生，這是我的辭職信。為什麼辭職？先生，我剛犯了錯，為您的公司造成了一百萬美元的損失，我不想…你一直對我很好，我不想讓你煩惱是否要炒了我，所以我主動辭職。Thomas把信撕了說：炒了你？我剛為你的教育投入了一百萬美元，現在我要炒了你？不論這故事是百分之百真實或部分真實，在IBM公司廣為流傳，在IBM公司應造良好的氛圍，告訴大家，你必須嘗試。

You Have To Try

   I’m done work on an education teams, on groups for many years. And what I found was there are certain conditions that if they are put into place in an organization, the group is more likely to perform well. Certain conditions, such as a clear, engaging goal for the team, for the group, such as an enabling team structure, such as supportive organization, such as effective coaching. When a group has these conditions in place, it will not only perform better. So I’m very methodical, very hard working. But they are significant in the opposite direction. Again this the phase of decades or work. And I said, “well, a result is a result; reality is reality. We have to go back to the field. We have to understand this phenomenon.”

   Psychological safety is the feeling, the experience, the space that you feel in your workplace, in your organization where you are safe talking about errors and mistakes, where you feel safe falling down and getting up again. And these organization with their own psychological safety, they performed better. Many research showing how groups organizations with their psychological safety with their employees don’t or are not afraid of whistle blowing or not afraid of falling down of making mistakes. These organizations are significantly more successful. These are learning organizations with the employees constantly learn and grow. Or you learn from your mistakes and then the next time you are able to do better.

  Whether it’s for leaders, whether it’s for parents, would you have this psychological safety for your kids, while they feel comfortable talking to you about things that they did not do well, about failures. Because if they do feel comfortable, they are much less likely to enter into this perfectionistic fear of failure. And they are much more likely to be happier as well as successful.

   This is a story about Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, one organization that he invented and reinvented itself numerous times-continues on the daily basis. And that’s why it survives. So there was an employee are the beginning when IBM was founded, when they were making type writers, an employee made a strategic error. And the error was that he actually lost IBM a million dollars and a million dollars at that time for IBM was a lot of money. So the next day, after he made that mistake, he comes to see Thomas Watson, the founder and gives him a letter. Thomas Watson opens the letter and reads it and look at the employee and says, “ what is this?” He says, “ sir, it’s my letter of resignation”.”Why resignation?” “ Sir, I just made a mistake that cost your organization a million dollars. I don’t want…you’ve been great to me. I don’t want to put you through this difficult experience of firing me. So I’m resigning”. Thomas took the letter and tore it and said, “Fire you? Fire you?”I’ve just invested a million dollars in your education and I’m going to fire you? Now whether this story is exactly true, or almost true, it’s still that circulates around IEM, and a story that creates a certain reality in IBM, a reality that says” you have to try”.