Hello from Hamburg,
In my last newsletter, I reported on the Chinese household appliance manufacturer Haier, which has split its company into 4,000 individual companies. This gives its employees the opportunity to become entrepreneurs themselves in one of the subsidiaries. One reader asks: "Where do those responsible get the confidence that what emerges from this is in the interests of the company? And that it won't become a general store without a profile?"
Ruimin Zhang, CEO of Haier and the inventor of the model, says: "To create a jungle, you can't decide which trees you want and which you don't want. You can only prepare the soil in a suitable climatic environment, add light and water (...). The rest is evolution." Haier's management naturally provides guidelines within which the individual companies should operate, for example on medium to long-term profitability or the strategic direction of the newly emerging business areas. Basically, the founder's words speak of a strong trust in his colleagues and confidence in what is being created, without knowing what that will be.
The most important ingredient for an environment in which we can expect entrepreneurial and personal growth is indeed trust. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true: we see that established companies need far more time to develop innovations or implement their plans than they can actually afford. There are too many coordination loops, too many attempts to secure themselves, which are ultimately nothing more than an expression of mistrust. However, actions driven by mistrust and control cost time and money. If we want to become faster, we need to increase trust.
Easier said than done. It is a truism that trust is slow to build but quick to destroy. As a manager, how can I build trust in everyday life and learn to trust?
I like the interpretation of Harvard professor Frances Frei, who says that trust has three elements: Authenticity, logic and empathy.
- Authenticity: Research shows that it takes 15 seconds to recognize whether someone is being authentic or faking it. Authenticity requires self-awareness and constant critical self-reflection. As managers, we cannot always say everything we know, for example when making personnel decisions or when a company is to be reorganized. But saying openly that we don't know or can't say something and explaining why helps to build trust even in critical situations.
- Logic, which also includes technical and analytical expertise. According to Frei, those who have a weakness in this area tend to introduce an issue at length and not get to the point. For example, if I explain the general conditions, the current situation and the environment to an employee at length, only to let the cat out of the bag at some point: "I think you should take on another task." During the explanation, the employee wonders: "What is the boss trying to tell me?" And becomes more suspicious with every loop: "Is she trying to fire me?" Frei's recommendation: First present the result, then the derivation: "I suggest that you take on another task, because ..."
- Empathy, the measure of which is shown, for example, in patience when listening. This is particularly visible in meetings, which participants often use to speak out and position themselves in front of others (which is a problem in itself, but that's another topic ...). The attention span of managers who have an "empathy wobble", as Frei says, is in the basement after a few seconds in meetings and stays there until they lose it. Because I think I've known the answer for a long time. I confess that I am a "wobbler" at this point. Empathy wobbling recommends Frei to move from an I-centeredness to an other-centeredness. For example, by asking questions that encourage the participants to find solutions themselves that might be better than what I have in my head: "Do you have any ideas on how we can solve this?"
Listen. Being open to surprises. That's how I build trust. When I trust people with a task, even at the risk of things going wrong, I go to great lengths to fulfill this trust. Like at Haier, whose corporate success over the past 20 years has been based on trust and confidence. In these times, mistrust and control will get us nowhere, or only far too slowly.