Lenovo Q12 Helps Aorta&Nbsp; Open Up Microcirculation

The traditional employee satisfaction survey often has an unclear purpose, and the questionnaire is lengthy, away from the grass-roots level. It takes several months and takes a lot of effort. After the high-level report, it is either a formality or a shelving. In fact, you only need to manage 12 questions (Q12) to improve employee engagement and stimulate maximum organizational effectiveness.

The rapid development of Lenovo Group benefits from Q12. As early as 2002, Lenovo Group began to introduce the "Q12 - Evaluation and Management System for Work Environment Construction" of Gallup Consulting. As the core person in charge of the project at that time, we participated in the whole process of the project, and have many experiences and feelings to share with you here.

What is Q12

Through more than 60 years, Gallup has investigated hundreds of companies in dozens of industries, interviewed 80000 managers and millions of employees, asked more than 1000 questions, and summarized 12 core questions using advanced analytical methods and strict scientific testing methods:

Q1. I know the company's requirements for my work.

Q2. I have completed the materials and equipment required for my work.

Q3. In my work, I have the opportunity to do what I am best at every day.

Q4. In the past 7 days, I have Excellent work And was praised.

Q5. I think my supervisor or colleagues care about my personal situation.

Q6. Someone in the work unit encourages my development.

Q7. In my work, I feel that my opinions are respected.

Q8. The mission/goal of the company makes me feel that my work is very important.

Q9. My colleagues are committed to high-quality work.

Q10. I have a best friend in my work unit.

Q11. In the past six months, someone in the work unit talked to me about my progress.

Q12. In the past year, I had the opportunity to learn and grow in my work.

These 12 questions are consistently related to the four dimensions of enterprise operation: profit margin , customer satisfaction, enterprise operation efficiency, excellent staff retention rate.

The survey found that in the companies with good scores on 12 questions, the talents of each employee were given full play; Companies with poor scores on the 12 questions lost a large number of outstanding employees, or underestimated and misused the remaining employees.

Based on this survey result, Gallup has developed a set of work environment evaluation and management system, namely Q12. For 12 core questions, through the public opinion survey of all staff (each question has a score of 1-5 according to satisfaction), we can obtain important data about employee engagement and work environment quality in key performance indicators. Therefore, taking effective measures can improve the management efficiency of managers, especially front-line managers, strengthen the execution of enterprises, implement the construction of enterprise culture, and help enterprises achieve short-term business objectives and long-term development blueprints to the maximum extent.

Four purposes of Lenovo's introduction of Q12

Liu Chuanzhi, president of Lenovo Holdings Group, summarized Lenovo's management into three elements: team building, strategy setting and team leading. Lenovo Group introduced the Q12 project to improve the ability of cadres to "lead the team". At the same time, we also hope to take the measurement results report as the KPI indicator of cadre performance. Specifically, the introduction of the Q12 project has four purposes:

Help aorta to open microcirculation. Unlike other survey tools, Q12 focuses on the construction of grass-roots work environment, which can help Lenovo's corporate culture construction from "soft environment" construction to "hard data" management, and promote the construction of corporate culture from the first level directory to the third level or even to the fourth level directory, and implement it to the lowest level.

After nearly 40 years of research, Gallup found that the only way to make talented employees engaged is through excellent managers Create positivity Efficient working environment. This is also the key to the construction of corporate culture, and its realization must rely on front-line managers. Grass roots managers of enterprises are the most critical link between the past and the future. On the one hand, they maintain the stability and dedication of the staff, and at the same time implement the strategic decisions of enterprises into daily operation and management through their own actions.

"Help the aorta and open the microcirculation" is the best embodiment of the manager's role and function. This sentence vividly illustrates the role of managers in connecting the preceding and the following in the organizational value chain: on the one hand, it helps the core strategic layer of the company to implement the business strategy of the enterprise, strengthen the execution, make the company's "aorta" beat vigorously, and open up the "nerve endings". The "microcirculation" also plays an important role; On the other hand, through the improvement of the ability of managers to lead the team and team building, a good working atmosphere and local subculture will be created, which will affect the overall corporate culture and working environment of the company.

We often say that employees join because the company is good, and leave because the manager is bad; The company decides the "climate", and the manager decides the "weather". In retaining key employees, the direct role of the manager is better than that of the company. In front of employees, the manager's behavior is the company's behavior, and the manager represents the company.

In the book First, Break All the Routine, Gallup has a clear description of Gallup's path.

From the Gallup Path, we can see that the role of excellent managers is to cultivate dedicated employees, including the selection, training, requirements, assessment and development of employees. However, only through effective management of the 12 issues can we effectively cultivate excellent and dedicated employees, bring loyal customers, thus bring about sustainable development and sustainable growth of actual profits, and finally realize the stock appreciation and shareholder value of the enterprise.

Q12 not only pays attention to evaluation, but also pays more attention to management and improvement after evaluation. After the evaluation, managers at all levels are required to organize employees of the department to interpret the evaluation data report of the department, and formulate corresponding action improvement plans according to the advantages and disadvantages of the department, so as to achieve the purpose of "evaluation" and "management" through "physical examination" and "treatment".

Meet employee motivation needs and promote employee engagement. Q12 is not to investigate employee satisfaction, but to analyze employee engagement. Because "satisfied employees may not be dedicated", only dedicated employees can truly continue to create good performance. Therefore, through managing these 12 issues, we can fully meet the four aspects of incentive needs of employees, from "my acquisition", "my contribution", "my belonging" to "my growth", so as to achieve the "common growth" of employees and the organization.

For the Human Resources Department, it can identify the "best team", summarize and promote excellent management experience. To achieve this goal, one of the most important, convenient and effective ways is to learn from the effective practical methods and tools that have been verified by international consulting companies.

Close contact with Q12

Lenovo Group has successfully implemented the Q12 project for five years since it was introduced in 2002. In terms of specific operation, the evaluation is generally organized once a year, and the process is divided into five stages:

Phase I: project design

● Purpose: to prepare for the project;

● Task: determine project team members and division of labor; Develop project plan; Designing questionnaires; Determine the list of employees participating in the survey and reporting relationship; Complete project mobilization and preparations;

● Key: ensure the attention of managers and employees at all levels of the company to ensure the recovery rate of questionnaires.

Phase II: Data collection

● Purpose: to maximize the recovery of questionnaires;

● Task: distribute questionnaires and carry out surveys (urge the backstage to count the response rate every day), and provide hotline help (provide hotline, intranet and poster publicity);

● Key: do a good job of publicity, and ensure that the company's managers and employees actively and impartially participate in the response.

Stage 3: Analysis

● Purpose: to conduct statistical analysis on the returned questionnaires.

● Task: data statistics and generation of manager's report, and generation of company's comprehensive analysis report (company's overall situation, department comparison, rank comparison, other comparisons); Select typical departments to hold group discussions;

● Key: accurate analysis and comparative analysis of data.

Stage 4: Manager training

● Purpose: Through training, senior managers and managers at all levels can understand the significance of the Q12 project and stimulate their recognition and participation;

● Task: do a good job of high-level reporting; Training internal teachers; Develop training plan; Implementation manager Q12 training;

● Key: report and communicate with senior management to win their recognition of the results and support for the project; The training of internal Q12 training teachers and department counselors to ensure that managers at all levels actively participate in the training.

Phase V: Implementation of IMPACT Action Plan

● Purpose: strengthen the implementation of department improvement plans after training;

● Task: urge managers at all levels to hold team IMPACT action plan meeting; Urge the manager to implement the IMPACT plan; Conduct interviews with excellent managers; Make project summary; Prepare for the next year's re evaluation;

● Key: effective follow-up of key departments to urge the implementation of IMPACT plan. Figure 4 shows the six steps for a manager to hold an IMPACT action plan meeting with his department after participating in the training (IMPACT, that is, the combination of the first letter of the six steps).

A dedicated employee is like a car in good condition. Each gear operates normally and is easy to drive. Q12 is to monitor the working environment in time to find the gear error at any time. As an excellent manager, it is necessary to troubleshoot. However, if the gear operates normally, attention must be paid at all times to ensure that the machine parts are kept in the best state for a long time. Q12 provides managers with systematic and practical guidance on team building and 12 comparable behavioral guidelines.

In combination with Q12, Lenovo Group specifically puts forward five requirements for managers to select, request, motivate, cultivate and evaluate five core management capabilities:

Select people: select talents. When selecting people, we should focus on selecting talents, not just experience, intelligence or determination.

Requester: define the results. When making a request, the focus is on defining the correct results rather than the correct steps or procedures.

Motivators: give play to advantages. When motivating people, focus on giving play to advantages, not just overcoming weaknesses.

Educator: It is applicable only for reasons. When cultivating people, the key point is to help them understand their talents so as to help them find the most suitable position.

Evaluator: development oriented. When evaluating the work performance of subordinates, more affirmation should be given to further stimulate their self-development potential, rather than just scoring and ranking.

According to the five competency requirements, Lenovo developed a management training course corresponding to the "five core management tasks" and organized managers at all levels to participate in this training. Five years of practice shows that this has played an important role in ensuring the smooth progress of the Q12 project.

Achievements and impacts of Lenovo Q12 project

Lenovo successfully implemented the Q12 project and achieved at least three results.

For the group, in 2003, the overall average of Lenovo Group's Q12 for the first time was basically the same as the 50th percentile of Gallup's global overall database. The results show that Lenovo's advantages lie in: employees are satisfied with the company as a whole; Employees generally agree with the mission and goal of the enterprise; Employees have a good relationship of mutual trust; Opportunities for learning and growth; The employees have clear work requirements and have necessary materials and equipment to complete the work. The department is well managed in terms of job responsibilities and task division. Lenovo's shortcomings include: the daily management of managers at all levels (the first camp, Q3 to Q6) needs to be strengthened; Employee orientation is not very clear; Insufficient spiritual motivation; The dialogue between superiors and subordinates should be strengthened; There is room for improvement in caring for personal development and humanistic care.

In order to strengthen the atmosphere of communication, Lenovo HR Department planned a "C-Time" corporate culture activity ("C" means "Coffee+Communication"), That is, at 12:30-13:30 every Tuesday, on the three floor platform of Lenovo Building, the president will provide free Nestle coffee for executives, and employees can freely communicate with executives and give feedback and suggestions. This initiative has promoted the communication between the company's management and employees.

At the same time, through the implementation of a series of methods in the Q12 project, Q12 has significantly improved the score of the "first camp", strengthened the construction of the company's humanistic culture, and promoted Lenovo's transformation from the corporate culture of "strict, serious, active, and efficient" to the corporate culture of "affection, trust, equality, and appreciation", It also laid a good humanistic foundation for Lenovo to acquire IBM's PC business in the future.

For department managers and employees, Q12 provides managers with a framework for team building and simple and systematic methods and tools, and generally improves managers' awareness of team leadership and team building ability.

For the Human Resources Department, the Q12 index is included in the cadre management system as the annual performance assessment index of cadres, accounting for 5-10% of the annual assessment index; In combination with the results of its 360 degree democratic review of cadres and Lenovo's cadre briefing, cadres are required to improve the team's Q12 score every year to optimize the grass-roots work environment. At the same time, through interviews with manager Q12, we compiled excellent behaviors into Lenovo manager Q12's behavioral benchmarking manual, and solidified Lenovo's team management experience with characteristics.

Seven successful experiences to ensure Q12 implementation

To sum up Lenovo Group's experience in successfully implementing the Q12 project, we believe that there are seven successful experiences worth learning from.

Ensure that senior management agree with the value of this project. We invited Mr. Fang Xiaoguang, the Chinese translator of "First, break all rules" at that time, to train and communicate with Yang Yuanqing, the president of Lenovo Group at that time, and his senior executives at the president's meeting, so as to urge the senior executives to reach a high degree of consensus on their ideas. In addition, we also made data analysis and interpretation of the evaluation report to the senior executives, so as to urge them to continue to attach importance to and support the project.

Use external consultants effectively. Hire professional consulting companies as consultants, not only use their business experience, but also trust them. Effectively use their communication experience in other organizations to eliminate and avoid risks in project implementation.

Fully mobilize the participation of managers and employees at all levels. Various forms such as mail groups, intranet home pages, specially set Q12 project columns, posters, Lenovo People magazine, managers' meetings at all levels, human resources system work meetings, and even reading experience and knowledge contests are used to attract and urge people to answer questionnaires and participate in improvement, so as to form an atmosphere of Q12 general mobilization in the company.

High quality training is closely combined with evaluation. We developed high-quality Q12 training course development, and let some Lenovo executives and managers of the Human Resources Department serve as internal teacher training. We conducted Q12 training for more than 1000 managers, so that managers at all levels fully understand and agree with the concept of Q12, and let managers master the skills of hosting IMPACT action planning meetings. At the same time, according to Q12, nearly 30 shifts of management training - "Five Key Tasks of Management" were organized for managers at all levels, so that managers could comprehensively improve five management abilities and promote the overall improvement of Q12 scores.

Establish a team of department Q12 instructors. Organize and cultivate a team of HR Q12 instructors in all departments and regions of the headquarters, help instructors build confidence and improve their professional status, and urge them to do a good job in the follow-up work of the department's Q12 project.

We should combine Q12 with cadre assessment. Take the Q12 result as a KPI of the annual assessment of cadres, put forward clear requirements, and urge cadres to pay attention to it; At the same time, the Q12 project will not be regarded as a campaign, but will be evaluated every year to form a comparison between the evaluation results before and after.

Urge the implementation of IMPACT plan. After the training, urge the manager to hold an IMPACT action plan meeting in the department through the Q12 instructor team of each department, report the implementation results and publish the implementation of the plan online. Grasp the typical exchange experience, use the advanced to drive the backward, and comprehensively promote the implementation and implementation.

In a word, the implementation of Q12 in Lenovo Group has effectively improved managers' humanistic awareness and team building ability, strengthened the construction of grass-roots work environment, improved employee engagement, and made positive contributions to Lenovo Group from excellence to excellence.
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