在谷歌(Google)网站上，有一个点击率颇高的视频。在这个短片中，人们可以看到微软(Microsoft)首席执行官史蒂夫•巴尔默(Steve Ballmer)在台上跟着舞曲蹦蹦跳跳、尖声呼喊，并鼓动那些被他刺激得兴奋起来的观众“来吧！”过一会儿，他停了下来，气喘吁吁，然后用最大的嗓门喊道：“我有一句话要对你们说：我——爱——这——个——公——司。耶！”
 In a much-visited video clip on Google, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, can be seen bouncing around the stage to dance music, screaming, whooping and exhorting his hyped-up audience to “COME AARN, GED UP”. He then pauses, panting, before shouting at the top of his voice: “I HAVE FOUR WORDS FOR YOU: I – LOVE – THIS – COMPANY---- YEAHHHS!”
　　显然，巴尔默真把那句关于领导力的陈词滥调当回事了，而且还对此深信无疑。这句话就是：与员工的沟通永无止境。首席执行官们通常都会非常重视沟通问题，并且时常夸耀自己“体恤”下属的方式——“市政厅”会议、实地访问、新闻快报、保持办公室大门永远敞开，以及时下流行的博客。
　　Mr Ballmer evidently took to heart – and to the extreme – that cliché of leadership that you can never communicate enough with your employees. Chief executives routinely pay homage to communication and boast about the ways they “reach out” to their people – through “town hall” meetings, site visits, newsletters, open doors and, now, blogs.
　　然而，接受关怀的一方却往往困惑不解，甚至感觉受到了欺骗。一项最新调查显示，员工真正想要的领导者，是那些在第一时间告诉他们坏消息和好消息的直言不讳者。他们还希望领导者能够展现真实的自我，而不是伪装演戏，或通过幻灯片说教。
　　Those on the receiving end, however, are often left feeling bemused or, worse, cheated. What employees really want, according to a new survey, are straight-talkers who keep them up to date with bad, as well as good, news. They also want leaders who stay true to themselves instead of putting on a performance or preaching through PowerPoint.
　　接受这项调查的1000名雇员认为，与制定清晰的公司远景规划相比，与员工沟通是一项更为重要的领导力品质。只有40%的员工表示，他们的老板能进行有效沟通。
　　The 1,000 employees surveyed regard communicating with staff as a more important leadership quality than having a clear vision for the company. Only 40 per cent say their boss communicates effectively.
　　职场沟通顾问公司CHA发布的这份名为“有话直说”(Straight Talking)的报告称，调查结果发现存在四类沟通者。“体贴型”领导者会直接与员工交谈，而非通过部门经理或媒体。他们还会邀请员工进行反馈，并尊重员工的意见。约有三分之一的雇员拥有此种类型的老板——体贴、真诚、善于激励。
　　The report, “Straight Talking”, by CHA, a workplace communications consultancy, says the findings suggest four categories of communicators. The “considerate” ones talk directly to staff rather than through managers or the media, invite feedback and value people’s views. About a third of employees have bosses like this – considerate, sincere and motivating.
　　另一方面，有三分之一的雇员称，他们的老板不能提供关于计划的充分信息，沟通时机太迟，或者根本不沟通。此外，老板说话的口吻像是说教，而非交流。
　　On the other hand, a third say their bosses fail to provide enough information about plans, communicate too late or not at all and talk at them rather than having a conversation.
　　这些“控制型”的沟通者往往还会低估员工的智商和可信任度。市场研究公司Explorandum进行的调查显示，这类老板更热衷于与业内同行交谈，而不愿与自己的员工沟通。
　　These “controlling” communicators also tend to underestimate the intelligence of their workers and how far they can trust them. They are keener to talk to industry peers than to their staff, according to the survey by Explorandum, a market research company.
　　许多受访者抱怨称，自己缺少与领导者进行当面沟通的机会。“虽然基层员工与客户直接打交道，并切身了解客户的需求，但领导者从未问过基层员工的意见，”一位员工说道。
　　Many respondents complain of the lack of face-to-face contact with their leaders. “Nobody at floor level ever gets asked their opinion, even though they are the ones dealing directly with the customers and the ones with the real experience of what people need,” says one employee.
　　另一位员工表示，如果她是主管，她会“努力记住为我工作的是谁，他们为什么为我工作，以及他们的名字；对他们想要表达的想法表现出兴趣，并采取相应的实际行动；少一点冷淡和孤傲，在我犯错误或需要帮助的时候，坦然承认。”
　　Another says that, if she was in charge, she would “try to remember who works for me, and why, and their names; show some interest in what they have to say and actually try to act on it; be less aloof and proud and feel free to admit when I am wrong or need help”.
　　上述调查发现的另外两种沟通风格，分别是“魅力型”和“低调型”。前一种以李察•布莱信爵士(Sir Richard Branson)为代表。后一种领导者通常受人敬仰，但由于过分矜持，使得人们一直处于猜测和好奇状态中。耐克公司(Nike)董事长菲尔•耐特(Phil Knight)和英格兰足球队前任主教练斯文-格兰•埃里克森(Sven-Göran Eriksson)都被划归这类风格。一些领导者符合的风格不仅限于一类——例如杰克•韦尔奇(Jack Welch)，可以同时归入控制型和魅力型。
　　Two other communication styles emerge from the survey: the “charismatic”, exemplified by Sir Richard Branson, and the “understated”, where the leader is often admired but so reserved that he or she leaves people guessing and wanting more. Phil Knight, chairman of Nike, and Sven-Göran Eriksson, the former England manager, are cited as cases in point. Some leaders fit more than one category – Jack Welch, for example, could be categorised both as controlling and charismatic.
　　不擅于沟通的领导者能够彻底改变吗？抑或，他们的这种特征已深植于个性之中？2000年被迫下台的英国航空(British Airways)前首席执行官鲍勃•艾林(Bob Ayling)非常不受人欢迎，他给人留下的印象，是一个无法与员工沟通、冷漠而粗暴的领导者。
　　Can bad communicators change fundamentally, or is it all rooted in personality? Bob Ayling, the unpopular British Airways chief executive ousted in 2000, came across as a distant and abrasive leader unable to connect with his employees.

　　斯坦福大学商学院(Stanford’s Graduate School of Business)组织学习教授杰弗里•普费弗(Jeffrey Pfeffer)表示：“领导者可以学习讲真话，承认他们不知道的东西，承认错误。他们还可以学习降低控制欲。跟生活中的某些领域中一样，人们希望在工作中做出决策，并拥有一些控制力和责任。”
　　“Leaders can learn to tell the truth, to admit what they don’t know and to admit mistakes,” says Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organisational learning at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. “They can also learn to be less controlling. People want to make decisions at work and have some control and responsibility, just as they do in other spheres of their lives.”
　　普费弗教授在他即将出版的一本新书中列举了一个例子。这本书名为《他们在想什么？关于管理的不寻常智慧》(What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management)，明年将由哈佛商学院出版社(Harvard Business School Press)出版。
　　Prof Pfeffer gives an example in a forthcoming book, What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, to be published next year by Harvard Business School Press.
　　他写道：“安妮•马尔卡希(Anne Mulcahy)于2001年成为施乐(Xerox)首席执行官。就在上任5个月之后，她告诉华尔街，该公司的业务模式存在问题。”为了大幅扭转施乐公司的经营状况，她采取的第一步措施，便是直率而坦诚地向员工解释他们所面对的挑战。尽管可能出人意料，但这种诚实让员工明白，他们的老板真正了解真相，愿意谈论这个真相，而且有一套做出改善的计划。
　　“When Anne Mulcahy became CEO of Xerox in 2001, after just five months on the job she told Wall Street the company’s business moel was flawed,” he writes. Then she explained to employees, directly and honestly, the challenges they faced, the first step in creating a remarkable turnaround at Xerox. That honesty, although possibly unexpected, told employees the person in charge actually knew and was willing to talk about the truth and had a plan for making things better.”
　　最重要的因素是真诚。史蒂夫•巴尔默在舞台上的表演令人惊愕，但The Company Agency的合伙人达文•布里格斯(Darren Briggs)表示，这确实代表了巴尔默的风格。The Company Agency向企业领袖提供沟通建议。
　　What matters most is authenticity. Steve Ballmer’s stage performance was jaw-dropping. But it represented the way he is, says Darren Briggs, a partner at The Company Agency, which advises corporate leaders on communications.
　　布里格斯12年前曾在微软工作。他表示，巴尔默以大嗓门、直率和不那么善于聆听而著称——这与比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)恰好相反。“但人们接受了这种风格，因为他就是那样的人。这不是他在做秀。如果他在台上很平静，并和别人讨论一些问题，人们反而会问：‘史蒂夫•巴尔默怎么了？’
　　Mr Briggs, who worked at Microsoft 12 years ago, says Mr Ballmer had a reputation for being loud, direct and not particularly good at listening – the opposite of Bill Gates. “But people accept that behaviour because that’s what he’s like. It’s not a show he’s putting on. If he’d been calmer [on the stage] and discussed things, people would have said: ‘What happened to Steve Ballmer?’”

　　译者/何黎