【中英双语】从别处“偷”点子，最大的障碍是什么？
从其他行业寻找新创意，是一种实现战略改进和突破的好方法。但通常实施起来却很难。毕竟，按照一贯的做法、遵循行业标准和期望，要比参考其他行业更简单且舒服得多。如何克服其中存在的困难，本文作者提出了一些应对之法。
现在企业正努力从新冠病毒流行的影响中恢复，我看到这样一条建议广为流传：管理者要从其他行业寻找新创意。
As business scrambles to recover from the pandemic, I’ve seen one famous piece of advice doing the rounds: managers are told to look to other industries for fresh ideas.
经典的例子是亨利·福特发明装配流水线，这个灵感来自肉类加工业。屠宰场用“解体流水线”将宰杀的动物顺着轨道送到负责各个步骤的工人面前，每位工人执行特定步骤。福特把这个概念借过来，彻底改变了制造业。
The classic example is Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line, an idea he stole from the meat industry. Abbatoirs used a “dissembly line” to shunt carcasses along a steel rail from worker to worker, as each executed a specific task. Ford simply flipped the concept and revolutionized manufacturing.
像这样向其他行业借鉴，是个不错的主意，但我从事企业战略咨询顾问三十余年的经验告诉我，这种做法不一定管用。下文详细解释这种方法中的困难，以及应对之法。
Looking to other industries like this is a neat idea, but my experience as a strategy consultant to businesses over three decades tells me that it doesn’t always work. In what follows, I’ll explain the challenges to the approach— and how to overcome them.
难题之一：没有要求
Challenge 1: Lack of mandate
布莱尔是一家预拌混凝土跨国公司的工厂负责人，我问他是否会向其他行业借鉴客户服务或定价等方面的“创意解决方案”，他的回答简短且一针见血：“这不是我的职责所在。”
Blair is a Plant Manager for a multi-national company in the pre-mixed concrete industry. I asked him if he looked to other industries for “creative solutions” in terms of customer service or price, for instance. His answer was short and to the point: “It’s not in my job description.”
他的职责是确保自己任职的工厂高效运作，供应充足，客户和员工都满意。他显然只关注行业，不用考虑来自其他行业的新创意。根据经验，我知道他所在的公司自下而上都不用考虑这些。
His job is to make sure that his batching plant runs efficiently, that supplies are always on tap, and that customers and staff are happy. He’s clearly industry focused and any thinking outside the box which might come from another industry is simply not on the agenda. I know from experience that it’s not on anyone else’s agenda in his company either, all the way to the top.
难题之二：没有权限
Challenge 2: Lack of authority
维罗妮卡是一家媒体公司的销售主管。她的工作是向广告商销售电视广告时间，监督五名销售代表的工作。我问她是否向其他行业寻求战略创意，她的回答很明确，“我的职责不包括这个，而且我也没有权限做这方面的工作。”
Veronica is Sales Manager for a media company. Her specific job is to sell television time to advertising agencies. She also supervises five sales representatives. When I asked her about looking outside her industry for strategy ideas her answer was clear. “It’s not in my brief to do that and, even if it was, I don’t have the authority to do anything about it.”
维罗妮卡的销售工作中有很多接触其他行业的机会，有时也对其他行业的战略印象深刻，但她没有权力在自己的公司尝试，于是她的洞见无法发挥作用。
Veronica has a lot of exposure to other industries in her role selling advertising, and there are times when she is impressed with the strategy she sees in use. But she has no power to try them out in her own business, so her insights go unused.
难题之三：没有信心
Challenge 3: Lack of confidence
人们担心某项具体战略从一个行业转到另一个行业非常困难，甚至根本不可能。医疗行业员工容易出现这种倾向，认为本行业的问题特殊，不可能向其他行业借鉴。
This concerns a fear that making any translation from one industry to another will be difficult — or worse, impossible. Health care workers are particularly prone to this, believing that their challenges are unique and that they couldn’t possibly transfer initiatives from another industry to theirs.
我有一个客户是退休老人俱乐部，安全记录上有些问题，直接影响其保险理赔和保险基金，也影响吸引和保留人才的能力。该客户遵循行业规范方法，难以从其他行业学习。我推荐了其他行业的制造商杜邦公司，这家公司十分关注安全问题。然而客户公司的员工表示怀疑：制造商跟退休老人业务能扯上什么关系？
One of my clients, a retirement village, was having trouble with its safety record. This was impacting its insurance claims and insurance premiums directly, but it was also affecting its ability to attract and retain staff. It was following industry norms and practices so little could be learned from other industry participants. I nominated Dupont, an industrial manufacturer, from outside the retirement village’s industry as it was known as a fanatic on safety. But I was met with skepticism from staff. How is a manufacturer relevant to a retirement village?
如何克服这些困难
Overcoming the Challenges
其他行业有很多可借鉴的优势，因为以上几个问题而让机会白白溜走就太可惜了。可以参考下面几种方法应对：
With so much to gain from looking outside your industry it’s a shame to let an opportunity slip by because of obstacles like these. Here’s how you can get past them:
建立有自主权的团队。“没有要求”和“没有权限”这两个问题可以通过建立有自主权的团队来解决。假设你决定观察行业外的三家企业以寻找答案，那么你的“突破性创新团队”应该由三到十名能够利用观察到的结果来推动改变的员工组成。如果其中没有公司的CEO，就要让这个团队能直接与CEO沟通。你要的是战略变革，不是战略拖延。还要保证团队关注实际效用。对于具体的战略行动方案，要关注导致障碍的战略要素，寻找改善后可以实现竞争优势的地方，如产品质量或客户服务。记住，观察不同行业的公司不是观光游览，对方不会浪费时间接待你做“行业参观”。你必须清楚地说明和解释自己的目的，否则一定会遭到拒绝，或是参观了一趟却一无所获。
Assemble an empowered team
Lack of mandate and lack of authority are overcome by establishing an empowered team. Let’s suppose that you decide to visit three organizations outside your industry for answers. Your “Breakthrough Team” should be in the range of three to ten people made up of individuals who can make a difference when results are bought back. If the CEO is not part of the team, make sure that a direct line exists to them. You want strategic change, not strategic stalling. Also, make sure your team zeros in on impact. For true strategy initiatives, focus on the strategic factor where you’ve hit a brick wall and which would clearly make a competitive difference if significantly improved, e.g., product quality or customer service. Remember that visiting a business in a different industry is not a fishing trip. That organization doesn’t have time to waste on an “industrial visit.” Your purpose must be clearly stated and explained. Otherwise, you’ll receive a clear “no” from the targeted company or you’ll come away with nothing of use.
提供强有力的领导。应对缺乏信心的问题，需要强有力的领导。伦敦大奥蒙德街儿童医院的马丁·埃利奥特（Martin Elliott）和埃伦·戈德曼（Alan Goldman）两位高级医师，看到了手术室和赛车维护组的相似之处。维护组要迅速且不出差错地更换轮胎、给车加油，而复杂的手术中医疗团队则要交接换班。这个项目成功的关键就是埃利奥特、戈德曼以及其他人的领导。上文中退休老人俱乐部的十人团队里有CEO和护理部主任，一开始就奠定了领导基础，而且可以打消员工的疑虑。
Provide strong Leadership
Tackle the lack of confidence issue via strong Leadership. Senior doctors, Martin Elliott and Alan Goldman, at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children saw a link between their operating theaters and Ferrari’s pit crews in the racing-car industry. The specific comparison was between how pit crews changed tires and refuelled a car quickly and without error, and the handoffs for medical teams during team changeovers in complex operating cases. The Leadership of Elliott, Goldman, and others was key to the project’s credibility and to the result. The ten-member team in the retirement village case included the CEO and the Director of Nursing. Leadership was there at the outset through the CEO’s involvement and was able to cut through the staff’s initial skepticism.
考虑如何说服对方。要借鉴其他行业的方法，先要考虑如何说服其他行业的组织允许你们参观。
Prepare your sales pitch
If you intend to go down this path, think about why an organization in another industry would want to entertain a visit from a group of unknown managers like yours.
根据我的经验，能让目标企业允许的由头，包括增强企业员工的责任感，以及提升员工演讲能力。还有一个原因是，被选为其他行业公司学习的典范这件事能提升员工士气。此外，允许你参观学习，还会促使目标企业的管理者思考自己做了什么、如何做到的，实现有益的自省。别忘了，项目结束时你会获得一份很有价值的报告。可以与目标企业的管理层分享报告摘要——当然，有必要的话要修改一些具体细节保护行业机密。
The reasons businesses say “yes,” in my experience, range from being a good corporate citizen to improving the presentation skills of staff. Others include being beneficial for staff morale in knowing that they’ve been chosen for examination by another organization. In addition, your visit will require the targeted company managers to think about what they do and how they do it — engaging them in a useful self-examination. Don’t forget that at the end of your project you’ll have something of significant value — a report. You could undertake to share a summary of that with the management of any targeted business — with names suitably disguised to protect confidentiality, of course.
借鉴其他行业的经验实现战略改进和突破，是一种很好的方法。这种方法之所以不常用，主要是因为惰性。按照一贯的做法、遵循行业标准和期望，要比参考其他行业更简单且舒适得多。因此只要你鼓起勇气做出改变，就可能获得竞争优势。
Looking outside your industry for strategy improvements and breakthroughs is a good approach. The core reason why it doesn’t work more often is inertia. Doing what you’ve always done and in accordance with industry standards and expectations is far easier and more comfortable than looking into other industries. This very fact affords you a potential competitive advantage — if you dare.
格拉汉姆·肯尼（Graham Kenny）|文
Graham Kenny, CEO of KMS Education and Strategic Factors, is a recognized expert in strategy and performance measurement who helps managers, executives, and boards create successful organizations in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. He has been a professor of management in universities in the U.S., and Canada.
朔间 | 译 周强 | 编校
