Encouraging Different Levels of Motivation - Liu Chuanzhi, Chairman of China's Lenovo Group
The challenge we face is how to motivate three distinct groups: the management team, mid-level managers, and production line employees. We have different expectations for each group, and they each require different motivational approaches.
Our management team needs a sense of ownership. Many Chinese state-owned enterprises face a unique challenge: they cannot allocate shares to senior managers. We adopted an unconventional approach; we restructured the ownership model, turning Lenovo into a partnership, allowing all members of the management team to receive shares. Additionally, senior managers need recognition, so we provide them with opportunities to speak to the media. To this day, none of our senior managers have left for other companies.
Mid-level managers aspire to promotions and becoming senior managers, so they are often the most proactive in responding to challenges and seizing opportunities to showcase and hone their skills. We set high standards for mid-level managers and allow them to make and implement their own decisions. If they perform well, they will receive excellent rewards.
Production line workers need stability. If they work diligently, they can earn pre-determined bonuses. We also link the performance of teams to the company or department and tie individual performance to the team. For example, we sometimes let the team decide how to distribute the bonus awarded to the entire group, with the company only providing general guidelines.
Accelerating Progress to Overcome Challenges - Hank McKinnell, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc., USA
Moving swiftly toward a goal, especially when the process is fraught with challenges, can often motivate people. Knowing that the company is committed to swift decisive actions can encourage creative thinking and cohesive behavior.
In 2000, during the merger between Pfizer and Warner-Lambert, we experienced this firsthand. Although we successfully acquired Warner-Lambert, we inherited a company with low morale due to the acquisition battle. At the first meeting of the transition team, I emphasized the need to quickly establish the new company, particularly before our largest competitor resolved its own merger issues. This was an ambitious plan: within just five months of the two companies agreeing to merge, we would find the best practices to integrate Pfizer and Warner-Lambert and prepare to operate as one unified company.
Time was tight. Our usual procedures for reaching consensus were not applicable at this moment. Therefore, we allowed relevant personnel to act quickly and permitted them to make mistakes—provided their actions aligned with our fundamental principles: maintaining the integrity of the company, respecting others, etc.
The emphasis on speed helped everyone put aside grievances and power struggles. Just take the sales teams in the U.S. as an example; the salespeople from both companies proposed over 200 suggestions for improving business and policies, almost all of which were implemented. Ultimately, hundreds of transition teams composed of top talent from both companies formed a unified new Pfizer, which began operating smoothly just hours after the final documents were signed.
Encouraging Risk-Taking - Ross Pillari, Vice President of BP Oil Company
Helping someone try something they perceive as risky is one of the hardest things to do. In the early 1990s, while I was overseeing BP’s retail business in the United States, the company's CEO, Lord Browne, asked me to manage BP Research and Engineering and make it more commercially oriented. Browne thought I was the right person for the job, but I thought it was a terrible idea. I’m a businessman, not a scientist; I didn’t believe I had the ability to lead a group of mathematicians and geologists. Why should I take on a job that was almost certainly doomed to fail, risking my career?
Browne didn’t try to persuade me. He encouraged me to openly discuss the risks this job posed to me personally and to the company. He also clearly stated that I wouldn’t have to bear all the risks alone. As a result, I accepted the new position, and we successfully transformed this research institution into a more commercially-minded company. Personally, it turned out to be one of the most developmental jobs of my career.
This experience taught me that you can't—and shouldn’t—eliminate all risks. But you can help someone step into a slightly uncomfortable zone and achieve extraordinary results. The best way is to openly and honestly discuss the possibilities of success, clarify responsibilities and obligations, and distribute the risk across the entire organization.
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Shenzhen Municipal Government has also explicitly expressed...