A series of problems actually stem from management philosophy. Please think carefully: does your company have these common phenomena? 5%-10% of employees come to work to find faults and oppose you; they dislike all systems and disagree with all decisions, without considering their own performance. 15%-20% of employees produce substandard work. 20% of employees work blindly, not knowing why they do things right or wrong. Only 20% of employees perform at high levels. In other words, 60% of employees do not produce normal performance. What a waste! Despite managers' efforts, learning management knowledge, and trying many management systems, ideal results are not seen. Where is the problem? This is what I found in a 10-year follow-up study of 200 companies. Over the years, these problems have deeply attracted me to management: Why do the same resources and people, when managed by different managers, produce vastly different results? Why do so many people fall into ineffective or even meaningless work? What are the key factors affecting people's work? Why do people leave? Why do many people feel that the organization does not let them play a role? These problems all stem from management philosophy. 01 Speak with Performance: Management Only Cares About Performance Phenomenon 1: Effort vs. Results Now it is widely understood that "effort" does not help performance. But in reality, many people feel they have done enough for the company after putting in effort. In fact, we also accept these views; many companies still use effort as a criterion. This shows that the concept of management is not clearly understood. Emphasizing effort is the first waste in management. Phenomenon 2: Ability vs. Attitude Management only cares about performance; what directly produces performance is ability, not attitude. Whoever produces performance is the most important. Attitude is useful only when it is transformed into ability. Reflect on your own company: who are the employees that thrive? Is it that capable people are exhausted while those who do nothing live well? Usually, capable people have a less favorable attitude, while incapable people are always ingratiating. If so, your management has problems: do you assess attitude more or ability more? If 50% of your assessment is on attitude, then capable people will naturally live tiredly—and if they have the chance, they will leave. This is the second waste in management. Phenomenon 3: Talent vs. Character Character can only be evaluated when facing major challenges. Usually, it is difficult to judge whether a person's character is good or bad. Management cannot bet on this; instead, it should try to solve it: Management's responsibility is to give no opportunity for people to make mistakes, to turn character into talent, and to create performance. So, to learn management, one should study economics and organizational behavior. When is "character" more important than "talent"? It must be noted: at two points in time, character is more important than talent. One is during recruitment; the other is during promotion. 02 Equilateral Distribution Principle: Management is a Distribution Managers must know how to divide three things into an equilateral triangle: power, responsibility, and interests are equal. Almost all management problems arise from the inequality of these three. Management is actually a distribution. It is particularly important to note that what is distributed here is responsibility, not power. The biggest mistake we make in management is distributing power. It must be clear that the basis for power distribution is not position, but responsibility. For example: if the responsibility for achieving performance is greatest for the branch, then the branch manager should have the most power. But in reality, this is often not the case. I suggest two important observations: 1. Who does the general manager often call to meetings? Those who attend are the ones with the most power. Does he often meet with headquarters functional staff, such as HR managers and finance managers? Or does he often meet with branch managers and frontline managers? Those who often meet with the general manager have the most power to make decisions, though the decisions are deployed through the general manager. 2. In the design of company titles, are frontline positions higher or are functional department positions higher? Titles have symbolic meaning; power is often distributed through job titles. You will find that the general manager's meeting room often has functional staff, and the titles of second-line functional department heads are higher than those of branch and frontline positions. How can you make a human resources director serve a small frontline manager? When they greet each other, the superior-inferior mindset immediately widens. Such distribution is not based on responsibility, and management effectiveness naturally suffers. 03 Management Always Serves Business This is a viewpoint I have always insisted on and is the most discussed topic. It contains two important understandings: First, what management does must be determined by business; Second, management level cannot exceed business level. Understanding 1: Why is what management does determined by business? In a company, "business" is choosing to do the right things; management is doing things right. The logical relationship is obvious. For example, usually, small profits and quick turnover correspond to scale and cost management; one price for one quality corresponds to quality and brand management; service-oriented management corresponds to process management; customized management corresponds to flexible management, etc. Understanding 2: Why can management not be greater than business? Because if a company's management capability is greater than its business capability, it often means losses. This is why some companies have sound systems, advanced cultural concepts, and excellent talents, but are not doing well in business. Although you understand management well, your management philosophy has problems. Take a look: are your company's best people doing business or management? Do you have more internal meetings or external meetings? If your senior management team always has internal meetings and sees only their subordinates every day, then your management is greater than business. This is why Jack Welch said: Bad managers spend the most important time in the morning in internal meetings and see clients in the afternoon when it's less important; good managers spend the most important time in the morning seeing clients and minimize internal meetings in the afternoon. From the allocation of time, you can know whether business or management is greater. Source: 春暖花开 (ID: CCH_chunnuanhuakai) -END-