所有公司都希望员工能全身心地工作。毕竟，全心投入的员工就不会应付了事，他们跳槽的概率较低，还会散发正面能量，这有助于提升其他员工和顾客的心情。

All companies want engaged employees. After all, people who are engaged put in effort that goes above and beyond the minimum that’s required to complete a task. They are less likely to look for another job. And they project positive energy, which improves the mood of other employees and customers.

提升员工投入度的方法之一就是打造像“邻居”那样的同事关系。

One way to increase engagement is to foster a “neighbor” relationship.

探究各式不同关系的研究显示，我们可将世界分成几种不同的关系。其中我认为有三种在商业环境里特别重要：陌生人、家人、邻居。

Research on types of relationships suggests that we can break the world up into several kinds of relationships. I refer to the three that are particularly important in the context of business as strangers, family, and neighbors.

所谓“陌生人”指的是彼此没有密切关系的人。我们需要付费请他们帮忙；“家人”则是彼此有密切关系，愿意帮忙做任何事且常常不求回报；介于陌生人和家人之间的是邻居，也就是彼此关系还算密切，能互相帮忙，但也希望有所回报。

Strangers are people with whom we do not have a close connection; if we need their help, we pay them to provide it. Families are people with whom we have a close bond and for whom we do whatever is needed, often expecting nothing in return. In between strangers and family are neighbors — people with whom we have a reasonably close relationship, who offer us help, and expect help in return.

如果在工作场所全是陌生人并非好事，因为那样的话，所有的互动就都是“付钱才有服务”的交易模式，而且除了规定的工作外，不会有人为了完成公司目标而主动承担更多工作。此外，工作场所里全是陌生人的氛围也无法提高员工的工作意愿。

It’s not good to have a workplace that consists primarily of strangers, because every interaction becomes a fee-for-service transaction and strangers are not motivated to go above and beyond the specific tasks presented to help the organization fulfill its goals. Moreover, the social environment in a workplace full of strangers does not energize employees to want to come to work.

同样，对大多数企业来说，如果整个公司就像大家庭也并不理想，因为有些员工可能不会尽全力工作，这是一种既没效率也有损士气的工作方式。

Likewise, it’s dangerous for most organizations to function as a family, because not all employees will pull their own weight. It’s an inefficient and demoralizing way to work.

如果是与邻居相处，从长期来说，我们会设法做到礼尚往来、两不相欠。这就像是有一份契约：大家有共同的愿景，同时朝着共同的利益而努力工作。

But with our neighbors, we try to balance what we do for them and what we get from them over time. We construct covenants in which everyone shares a common vision and agrees to do what they can to work toward these common interests.

在健康的工作环境下，这种像邻居般的员工会努力工作，同时知道公司会照顾他们而感到心安。这些员工愿意为彼此提供合理的额外时间和努力，因此公司能迈向成功。

In a healthy workplace, neighbor-employees work hard, secure in the knowledge that the organization is looking out for them. The organization succeeds because its employees put in a reasonable amount of extra time and effort for each other.

有很多方法让工作场所具备“邻居精神”，但共同的核心就是要让员工知道公司非常重视他们。上市公司需特别强调这一点，因为它们通常将注意力放在如何提升每个季度的收入上。

There are several ways to promote a neighborhood in the workplace. At the core of each of these techniques is a demonstration that the organization has a broader vested interest in its employees. This reassurance is particularly important for publicly traded companies that are normally focused on improving earnings each quarter.

提升“邻里关系”的方法之一就是提供员工培训。许多公司为员工提供各种有助于提高他们工作和个人相关方面的技能，这表示公司很重视员工的长期最佳利益。在这类培训上的投资远低于招聘新员工的成本。

One way to support neighborhoods is training. Many companies provide extensive training opportunities for their employees, which give them a chance to develop both work-related and personal skills. This demonstrates that the organization is interested in the employees’ long-term best interests. Any investment in those training opportunities pales in comparison to the cost of replacing people who leave the company.

第二种方式是定期让员工与管理高层直接接触。要想让员工觉得彼此是邻居，就必须让他们感觉到公司知道他们是谁，而且公司不只在意所有员工，也在意他这个人。如果员工和公司管理高层毫无接触，即使公司某个业务部门内部可能有邻居精神，但仍会感觉与公司其他部门没有联系。

A second way to promote a neighborhood is to provide regular opportunities for employees to engage directly with higher-ups. Being a part of the neighborhood requires a feeling that the organization knows who you are and cares not just about people in general, about you in particular. Without some points of contact to the upper management of the company, a business unit might become a neighborhood, but that neighborhood may feel disconnected from the rest of the organization.

营造邻居精神的第三要素是必须要有共同的目的。住宅区里的邻居之所以有凝聚力，是因为大家都希望创造一个所有住户都能受益的小区。同样，企业内部也要有超越个人的共同愿景。比如，在我任职的德克萨斯大学，我与行政人员合作，让不同的部门（如建造、紧急服务、电力）与本校的使命重新连结，目的是让这些部门也觉得自己是学校里较核心的一份子。

A third component of the neighborhood is that it needs to have a shared purpose. Residential neighbors are bound together by the desire to create a community that benefits the people who live there. Similarly, companies need a shared vision that transcends the individuals. For example, at the University of Texas (where I work), I have worked with our operational staff to help the various units (like construction, emergency services, and power) to reconnect with the mission of the university in order to make those units feel like a more central part of the neighborhood.

最后一点，所有管理者都应该留意：是否有信号显示公司正从“邻居型”退化成“陌生人”。邻居精神降低的最明显信号就是，员工开始用各种理由逃避参与公司的大计划，而只想做自己分内的狭隘任务。他们可能会找各种借口只管自己的工作，而不管公司更大的需求。如果发生这种情形，管理者就得重新采用上面的几种方式告诉员工公司重视他们，并且提醒员工他们也是公司整体使命中重要的角色。

Finally, it’s important for all managers to look for signs that an organization is slipping from a neighborhood to a group of strangers. The biggest signal that a neighborhood is eroding is when employees start finding reasons not to support broader initiatives within the organization because of the narrower job that they have been assigned. They may give excuses for focusing on their particular job instead of what the larger organization needs. When this happens managers need to return to the above approaches, demonstrating that the organization cares about them and remind them of their connection to the broader mission.

维持邻居精神需要投入大量心力及资源，但这些投资很快就会得到回报。

Although it does require effort and resources to maintain a neighborhood, the investment is quickly repaid.

阿特·马克曼（Art Markman）博士是德克萨斯大学奥斯丁校区心理学与营销学教授。