商业团队6大样板盘点
《财富》 | 2014-04-15 11:51
分享：
[译文]
Business is a team sport. While history textbooks -- and business magazines -- tend to lionize individual leaders from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs, there would be no Ford Motor or Apple without groups of employees working together to design, manufacture, market, and sell their products. Fortune set out to highlight successful teams and quickly discovered that there's no single formula for making them work.
We found highly effective groups consisting of people who'd worked together for years and productive "virtual" teams that span multiple time zones and companies. Some teams vacation together to strengthen their bonds, others encourage dissent -- but all in the name of getting results. Still, there are some universal lessons to be gleaned: Chemistry matters. So does having a common goal. And while there's no one way to build strong teams, you can't build a successful company without them.
做生意是一项团队运动。虽然历史书和商业杂志喜欢大书特书亨利•福特和史蒂夫•乔布斯等商业奇才的故事，但是如果没有员工团队齐心协力进行设计、生产、推广和销售，也就不会有后来的福特汽车公司（Ford Motor），也不会有苹果公司（Apple）。我们在本文中挑选了一些成功的团队，并且很快发现，成功的团队并没有一个“标准配方”。
我们发现，有的成功团队的成员已经在一块工作很多年了；有些高产的“虚拟化”团队的成员却分布在好几个不同的国家和企业；有些团队为了增强团队凝聚力，会一起外出度假；还有一些成功团队鼓励成员们有不同的见解——但最终的目标都是为了出业绩。不过成功团队还是有一些放之四海皆准的特质构成了他们的化学反应，而且他们也都有一个共同的目标。尽管如何打造成功团队并没有一个“标准配方”，但是要构建一个成功的公司，却离不了下面几种特质。
丰田式“长途自驾游”
To test its new tech, the fuel-cell group went road-tripping.
Over the past three years, members of the fuel-cell vehicle group have logged more than 1 million test miles in certifying Toyota's first-ever production fuel-cell car: a zero-emission, electric drive, four-door sedan that can travel 300 miles and be refueled in three minutes. On trips lasting weeks at a time, the nine-member group, based in Torrance, Calif., has taken the car from Yellowknife, Canada, to Death Valley, Calif., with stops in between in Las Vegas, San Francisco, and the Rockies.
Using classic automotive test protocol, the team installed the fuel-cell components in nondescript older cars known as engineering mules and traveled caravan-style with support vehicles. Three technicians handled the driving (technicians are renowned at Toyota for their ability to calibrate suspensions with their posteriors) while four engineers monitored the powertrain.
Due to be introduced in the U.S. next year, the car, which as yet has no official name, will initially be sold in California with a subsequent rollout to the Northeast, and Toyota (TM), optimistically, has already boosted its production targets.
The carmaker has been working on fuel cells since 1992 and now believes they have greater potential for development than similar battery-powered cars. Powertrain costs have been reduced 95% over the past 10 years, partly by including the use of parts already developed for Toyota hybrids. Packaging the bulky components has been significantly streamlined. Team leader Matt McClory says the fuel-cell car has already passed one key test: In the bitter -30° cold at Yellowknife, a conventional gas-powered rental car being used as a support vehicle failed to start after a cold night. The fuel-cell car fired up flawlessly. --Alex Taylor III
丰田燃料电池团队进行路试以测试新技术。
过去三年里，丰田（Toyota）的燃料电池部门为了测试公司的第一款燃料电池汽车，已经进行了超过100万英里的道路测试。这款汽车是一台零排放的四门全电动轿车，每次充满电可续航300英里，而且充电过程只需要短短的三分钟。每次道路测试都要持续9周的时间，这个总部设在加州托伦斯的九人测试团队要把汽车从加拿大的耶洛奈夫开到美国加州的死亡谷，中间在拉斯维加斯、旧金山和洛基山脉短暂停留。
这个团队使用了经典的汽车测试规程，他们把燃料电池组件安装在较老的车型上当作测试车，然后与后勤车队编队行进。三个技术人员负责驾驶（他们调较悬挂的功夫在丰田是出了名的），另有四名工程师负责监控动力系统。
这款新车明年就要在美国问世了，但现在还没有正式命名。它将首先在加利福尼亚州上市销售，然后推广到美国东北部地区。丰田现在已经乐观地提高了它的产量目标。
丰田早在1992年就已经开始研究燃料电池技术。丰田相信，燃料电池汽车比普通的电池动力汽车拥有更广阔的前景。过去10年里，燃料电池汽车的动力系统成本下降了95%。这个改进部分程度上要归功于它用到的许多零件已经先期为丰田的混动车型开发出来了。另外，它的组装工艺也有了显著改进。这个团队的负责人马特•麦克克罗瑞介绍称，燃料电池汽车已经通过了一个关键的测试：在耶洛奈夫零下三十度的极端环境下，一辆传统的汽油动力后勤车在停放了一晚上之后，怎么也打不着火，但燃料电池汽车却可以完美地点火启动——Alex Taylor III
爱在一起玩的高管
The folks who built hot grocer Whole Foods actually like one another. A lot.
Whole Foods' "e-team" of seven top executives possesses a closeness and trust seldom found in big corporations that keep the C-suite strictly professional. Co-CEO John Mackey has been friends with executive vice president Jim Sud for 47 years, dating back to when they were Houston teenagers, going on double dates together. (Sud's $5,000 investment helped the company get started.) Chief financial officer Glenda Flanagan joined in 1988, when Whole Foods (WFM, Fortune 500) had just six stores. She and Mackey live in the same Austin neighborhood and often go on morning walks together. Though they're scattered in offices in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Texas, the seven executives try to spend time together outside the office. President A.C. Gallo once toured Croatian villages with Flanagan and Mackey. This spring the entire executive team will head to the Virgin Islands for a beach vacation. "We just like hanging out together," says Mackey. How does this translate into good business? Mackey says their high degree of trust means better communication and a willingness to work things out when problems and disagreements arise. With 33 to 38 new stores opening this year and revenue expected to climb 11% to 12% this year, it is hard to argue with his approach. (For more, see "Whole Foods takes over America.") --Jennifer Alsever
全食公司的高管们是真心彼此喜欢。
全食公司（Whole Foods）的七个高管组成的“e团队”互相的亲密和信任在其他大企业里很难看得到，这也让全食公司的高管层得以保持高度的专业性。公司的共同CEO约翰•麦基与常务副总裁杰姆•萨德已经是47年的老朋友了。当年他们还只是十几岁的半大孩子，经常带着自己的女朋友一起约会。（萨德的5000美元投资对全食的创业起了重大作用。）1988年财务总监格兰达•弗拉娜甘加盟公司的时候，全食公司只有6家门店。她和麦基住在奥斯汀的同一个小区，两人经常早上一起散步。虽然七位高管分别驻扎在加州、马萨诸塞州、马里兰州和德克萨斯州的办事处，但他们经常抽时间在一起聚聚。今年春天，全食公司的整个高管团队将赴维京群岛度假。麦基说：“我们就是喜欢一起出去玩。”那么它是如何促进公司的业务增长的？麦基称，高度的信任使他们能够更好地相互沟通，而且出现问题和分歧时也有利于大家齐心协利解决问题。今年全食公司将新开设33到38家门店，公司的营业额也将攀升11到12个百分点。因此谁也难给他们的友谊挑出毛病。——Jennifer Alsever
Homejoy：水到渠成
A brother-sister startup team cleans up with high-profile backers.
The era when startup teams would toil together in obscurity for years before launching a product or seeking funding is long gone. In 2010, Homejoy founders and siblings Adora and Aaron Cheung, now 30 and 25, respectively, brought a startup idea to mentoring program Y Combinator. It didn't work, but they left the incubator with enough seed funding to try different ideas. When their software-driven housecleaning business plan caught on in 2012, Andreessen Horowitz led a $1.7 million investment; just seven months later Redpoint Ventures, along with Google Ventures, injected $38 million. Because of its high-profile backers, Homejoy has been able to assemble a dream team of seasoned vets, such as finance director Deborah Lightfoot, who had the same gig at gaming giant Electronic Arts. --Jessi Hempel
姐弟创业，风投撑腰
创业团队在发布产品或拉到投资之前必须得默默无闻、兢兢业业干很多年的时代已经过去了。2010年，Homejoy公司的创始人阿多拉•程与亚伦•程姐弟俩（今年分别是30岁和25岁）带着一个创业点子找到了导师项目Y Combinator。虽然这个点子没能成功，但是他们却从Y Combinator那里拉到了足够的种子资金去继续尝试其他点子。后来随着他们的家政应用Homejoy在2012年流行起来，安德里森—霍洛维茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）为他们注入了170万美元的资金；七个月后，红点创投（Redpoint Ventures）和谷歌创投（Google Ventures）又为他们注资3800万美元。由于有了大牌风投基金的支持，Homejoy得以组建了一支由经验丰富的业界高手组成的“梦之队”，比如该公司的财务经理黛博拉•莱特福特曾供知于游戏巨头电子艺界公司（Electronic Arts）。——Jessi Hempel
IBM上演“帽子戏法”
Surprise! an old-school organizational technique (not software) saved the day.
IBM is one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world, but when one of its executives needed to organize a sprawling team of more than 200 of the brightest scientists at eight different IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) labs, two government laboratories, and five university campuses with diverse areas of expertise, he turned to a book written in 1985.
IBM Fellow and chief scientist DharmendraModha, charged with overseeing an ambitious government-funded project to develop a chip that would mimic the human brain, used a method called six thinking hats, described in a book of the same name by inventor Edward de Bono. He told the team members, who struggled to find consensus in their email and digital communications, to characterize with colors their arguments: white for facts, black for discernment, red for emotions, green for investigating an idea, and yellow for optimism. The idea: Drive objectivity by separating fact from emotion.
Modha says the method worked to encourage quieter participants with good ideas to speak up and allowed everyone to reconcile diversity of thought. To ensure a common direction, Modha created a contract, outlining the technical specs of what each party would build. It eliminated the ambiguity of whether a key piece of technology would fit with the work done by others. "It kept us working in complete synchronization," says Modha.
When groups differed on the best way to tackle a particular technical challenge, he split people into two groups. Each group pursued their approach and measured the results objectively at the end of a set period. The idea: Ensure that failure was never a mark against anyone's reputation but rather a learning experience for everyone.
In 2011, Modha's team successfully demonstrated a brain-inspired chip architecture, and the project continues to develop technology that helps computers think more like humans. No word yet on whether the computers divide their arguments by color. --J.A.
IBM靠1985年的一招领导艺术搞定了大项目。
IBM是全世界技术最先进的公司之一，但当IBM的一位高管需要建立一支由200多名不同领域的最优秀的科学家组成的、横跨8个IBM实验室、2个政府实验室和5所大学的科研团队时，他却得向一本写于1985年的书寻求帮助。
IBM首席科学家达曼德拉•摩德哈领导着一项由政府出资支持的科研项目，项目致力于开发出一款能摸拟人脑功能的芯片。但是这个团队在电子邮件和数字通讯上难以形成共识。这时摩德哈使用了发明家爱德华•迪•波诺在其著作《六顶思考帽子》中使用的方法，他告诉科研团队把他们的论点用颜色表示出来：白色表示事实，黑色表示洞察，红色表示情绪，绿色表示调查一个观点，黄色表示乐观。这个想法的实质是：把事实与情绪分开来，借此提高客观性。
摩德哈表示，这种方法有效地鼓励了比较内向的参与者说出自己的好点子，而且有助于大家消弥思想的分歧。为了确保大家的工作朝着一个共同的方向前进，摩德哈还订立了一个合同，概括了各方需要构建的具体技术规格，避免了某一项关键技术无法与其他人的工作兼容的可能性。摩德哈说：“它使我们可以充分同步地工作。”
如果有团队对如何最好地解决某项技术挑战产生了分歧时，他就会把这个团队分成两个团队，每个团队可以继续按照他们的方法工作，然后等到一段特定时间后分别评估他们的成果。这样做的目的是永远不给任何人打上失败的标签，而且让它成为一个让大家学习的过程。
2011年，摩德哈的团队成功展示了一款模拟人类大脑的芯片架构，而且这个项目还在继续开发使电脑模拟人脑思考的技术。不过现在我们还没听说电脑是否会用颜色来区分自己的分歧。
针锋相对老对头
Noodles & Co. uses conflict to spice up the C-suite.
Kevin Reddy craves a good debate. So in 2009 the CEO of restaurant chain Noodles & Co. (NDLS) hired Dan Fogarty as chief marketing officer -- even though Fogarty famously clashed with Noodles president Keith Kinsey when the two worked together years earlier at Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The two were opposite in personality, skill, and style. Kinsey, a former accountant, is predictable; he eats the same lunch every day. He's also pragmatic, grounding every idea in financial and logistical reality. Fogarty, meanwhile, grew up in advertising. For him, no idea is too crazy. He loathes routine and seeks out variety, whether it's in fine dining, Scotch, or travel. Not surprisingly, Reddy had to referee many heated debates between his lieutenants, who ultimately achieved détente on a road trip visiting the company's restaurants. "It was kind of like couples therapy," says Fogarty. "Now we understand the common goal."
Reddy believes that executives who challenge one another -- rather than validating each others' ideas -- produce the best thinking. "I don't mind if it gets a little bloody as long as it's merely a flesh wound," he jokes. Given Noodles & Co.'s performance -- same-store sales have grown in 31 of the past 32 quarters -- Reddy can accept the squabbling. --J.A.
Noodles & Co.利用冲突来提高高管们的进取心。
餐饮连锁公司Noodles & Co的CEO凯文•雷迪爱用“激将法”，因此2009年他把丹•福格蒂招进公司做营销总监。福格蒂与公司总裁基思•金赛多年前在奇波多墨西哥连锁快餐公司（Chipotle Mexican Grill）共事时就是出了名的不合。
这两个人在个性、技能和风格上都截然相反。金赛是会计出身，做事按部就班，每天都吃同样的午餐。他同时也是个实用主义者，每个点子都得先考虑财务和后勤的可能性。而福格蒂是搞广告的出身，对于他来说，世上没有疯狂的点子。不管是吃正餐、喝威士忌还是旅游，他都讨厌一成不变，喜欢多姿多彩。毫不奇怪，雷迪经常得居中调停这两个人的矛盾，不过这两人终于在一次共同访问旗下门店的路上言归于好了。福格蒂说：“就像两口子接受了婚姻治疗一样，现在我们明白了共同的目标。”
雷迪认为，高管们互相挑战对方，才会产生最好的点子，而不是为对方的点子摇旗呐喊。他戏称：“哪怕见点血也无妨，只要是轻伤。”从Noodles & Co公司的业绩上看，在过去32个季度里，同店销售额有31个季度都是增长。因此，雷迪显然能接受一些口舌之争。
心有灵犀好兄弟
The Thompsons of the University at Albany are so in sync they don't need words to communicate.
Some teammates meet or practice so frequently that they develop a sort of magical rapport. University at Albany lacrosse stars Miles, Lyle, and Ty Thompson take this transcendent rhythm to another level. "They almost don't even have to communicate sometimes -- they can make things happen by a head nod or a stick fake or just a shoulder shrug that tips the other guy, and they're able to find each other," says Albany men's lacrosse head coach Scott Marr. "This is stuff you can't get from normal practice."
It may help that the Thompsons are family. Miles, a senior, and Lyle, a junior, are brothers; Ty, a senior, is their cousin. (The brothers are members of the Onondaga tribe, while Ty is Mohawk. They grew up on Native American reservations in upstate New York; all three are "attack," or strictly offense, players.) Miles traces their on-field chemistry to playing box lacrosse, an indoor version of the sport, together since they were children. "Growing up, playing with each other, it carries out on the field really well because we know each other's tendencies and know each other's strengths," says Miles. Ty adds, "Our lacrosse IQ is so high because we've been playing since we could walk."
So how to compete against the Thompsons, or any set of teammates that exhibits a similar brand of innate collaboration? Rivals have responded by double-teaming Lyle and Miles or trying to deny them the ball -- with some success. (Albany's record is 5-5; last year it finished 13-5.) But even when Albany loses, the Thompsons' play is thrilling -- "a thing of beauty," Marr notes. Sometimes the best way to deal with a transcendent team is simply to watch and learn. --Daniel Roberts
阿尔巴尼分校曲棍球队的汤普森三兄弟“心有灵犀”，在场上配合甚至不需要说话。
有些队友经常见面或在一起训练，最后培养成了某种神奇的心电感应。纽约州立大学阿尔巴尼分校（University at Albany）的曲棍球球星迈尔斯•汤普森、莱尔•汤普森和泰•汤普森就是活生生的例子。这所学校的男子曲棍球教练斯科特•马尔说：“他们有时甚至根本不用沟通，只需要点点头、用球棍做个假动作，或者耸耸肩，另一个人就能明白，并且找到对方。这种东西靠正常训练是练不出来的。”
不过三个汤普森本身就是一家人。迈尔斯是哥哥，莱尔是弟弟，泰是他们的表哥。（三人都是印第安人，迈尔斯和莱尔属于奥内达加部落，而泰是莫霍克族。他们出生于纽约州北部的印第安人保留地。三人都是进攻手。）迈尔斯表示，他们三人之间的化学反应要追溯到小时候。他们还是孩子的时候，就在一起玩室内曲棍网球，也就是曲棍球的室内版。迈尔斯说：“一起长大、一起玩耍，使我们在球场上也配合得很好，因为我们知道对方的趋向，也知道对方的优势。”泰补充道：“我们的曲棍球智商非常高，因为我们在刚刚会走路的时候就在一起玩了。”
那么对手面对汤普森兄弟，或者其他天生的神配合时，应该怎样防守呢？有些对手们采用夹击战术对付莱尔和迈尔斯，防止他们触球——有时倒也奏效。（阿尔巴尼分校的纪录是5：5，去年它的成绩是13：5。）但是即便阿尔巴尼分校输球了，汤普森兄弟的表现依然非常惊人。马尔称看他们打球是一件“美好的事”。有时，对付一个卓越团队最好的方法就是观察和学习他们。（财富中文网）
译者：朴成奎
相关阅读：
