In marketing practice, many managers habitually use pressure to boost team efficiency. They constantly ask subordinates, "Why didn't you do...?" but are unwilling to care about the real reasons behind the "not doing." In fact, in marketing operations, many cases of "not doing" are because subordinates "cannot do."
The author believes that if a marketing manager is overly obsessed with this pressure management philosophy and long-term ignores the reasons for subordinates' "not doing," failing to understand "cannot do" from "not doing," it will bring serious side effects to management practice.
First, because the manager only focuses on the results of problem-solving, completely ignoring the process, and is unwilling to understand the real reasons for subordinates' "not doing," they naturally won't understand the root causes of problems, nor will they help subordinates overcome difficulties that may exceed their current capabilities.
This situation, if maintained for a period, will inevitably lead to two consequences: on one hand, team members will gradually develop a work style that only focuses on eliminating symptoms rather than solving root causes, because eliminating symptoms is always easier and involves fewer problems. On the other hand, actual problems within the team will accumulate over time, and their impact will deepen.
For example, a manager finds that sales in his area are poor. To solve the problem of not meeting current sales targets, he scolds the salesperson, "Why didn't you make the sales?" The salesperson immediately acts. They use methods like "channel stuffing" and "customer deception" to quickly boost sales, and the manager's problem seems solved.
Is the problem really solved?
Obviously not. This approach actually brings bigger problems to the company because it essentially involves salespeople plundering market resources, sacrificing the company's market resources and long-term interests, which is fatally damaging to long-term market competitiveness.
Second, as experienced people know, those who work diligently and steadily often encounter more problems. But managers who only focus on results force them to rely on personal strength to solve various problems they create.
This situation, if maintained, will inevitably lead to two consequences: on one hand, in the company, the lower the status, the harder it is to coordinate and communicate, and the more difficulties in solving problems. Therefore, long-term pressure to solve problems will continuously dampen the enthusiasm and passion of these employees, reducing the team's overall capability. On the other hand, the fear of having to solve problems alone will prompt team members to report fewer or no problems. Meanwhile, since managers have many issues to focus on, they cannot discover all problems in time, so actual problems in the team will accumulate, and the team's situation will become increasingly dangerous.
The author knows a manager who, to keep abreast of sales, required departments to fill out market forms regularly. Because he was obsessed with pressure management, he would harshly criticize department heads with abnormal data. Soon, all departments' data looked perfect. Does perfect market execution really exist?
Finally, due to the above effects, marketing managers become increasingly distrustful of their subordinates, forcing them to go to the front line to find problems themselves. Undoubtedly, their efforts are effective, and they will find many problems. However, their management philosophy determines they will never deeply analyze the root causes, nor see the interconnections between problems, making the problems seem even more numerous. To solve them, they will scold subordinates even more harshly, "Why didn't you do...?"
The result is that marketing managers face more and more problems, their relationships with employees worsen, and their methods become harsher. They and their teams eventually fall into a vicious cycle from which they cannot extricate themselves.
Therefore, the author believes that marketing managers must strive to grasp the scale of pressure management and improve their ability to distinguish "cannot do" from "will not do" in subordinates' "not doing."
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