What is organizational life? If I were to define it, organizational life refers to the institutionalized, persistent organizational activities that all members of any organization—whether government, enterprise, institution, military, political party, or group—must participate in. It is often said that the Communist Party has too many meetings, drowning in paperwork and meetings. To some extent, it is these meetings that make members constantly aware that they are part of the organization, uniting and consolidating members to achieve organizational goals, ensuring the organization's healthy and stable growth.
In contrast, most distributors in China started as individual businesses, and many are still in the form of mom-and-pop shops. The number of employees in such shops ranges from three or four to a dozen or more. Many distributors believe that they are not as large as manufacturers, and with only a few employees under their command, they can see everyone at a glance. Since they see each other every day, they think there is no need to be as formal as manufacturers, with morning meetings, weekly meetings, monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, and so on. Many distributors think that they can call a meeting when there is something to discuss, and skip it when there is nothing. They ask, "If we have meetings all day, how can we get work done? Besides, what is there to talk about in so many meetings? It's a waste of time and a formality."
No matter how small a distributor is, it is still an organization, and it must provide organizational life for its employees. The most direct manifestation of organizational life is whether there is a regular meeting system, especially weekly meetings. Although distributors are not as large as manufacturers, and a sparrow may be small but complete in all its organs, many systems and management practices can be omitted or simplified compared to manufacturers, but the meeting system cannot be omitted.
Among all distributors in China, those who hold weekly meetings consistently are rare. Many distributors do not realize the benefits of weekly meetings.
The first major benefit of weekly meetings is overcoming employee inertia. People are inherently lazy, and the longer they stay in the same job, the lazier they become. Over time, they just go through the motions. Without external pressure, employees will not proactively think, summarize, or reflect on their work; they just do the minimum. A weekly meeting is a good external force that compels employees to summarize and reflect on their work. This also applies to distributor bosses.
The second major benefit of weekly meetings is enhancing team communication. First, if the boss is busy, although they see employees every day, there are relatively few opportunities for communication. Second, informal communication is quite different from formal communication like weekly meetings. In fact, weekly meetings provide a formal platform for employees to communicate with each other and with the boss, where everyone can speak freely and have in-depth communication and exchange on work issues and important content, which cannot be replaced by informal communication.
The third major benefit of weekly meetings is enhancing team cohesion and competitiveness. Without organizational life and weekly meetings, employees often feel detached from the organization, not constantly aware that they are part of the team, lacking a sense of belonging and cohesion. Weekly meetings are also a good learning platform where employees and bosses can exchange experiences, share insights, and discuss key work content in depth, all of which are ways for employees to learn and improve. Only teams that maintain a continuous learning state can be competitive.
How should distributors hold weekly meetings? It's simple: first, summarize the work of the past week; second, arrange the tasks for the next week; third, analyze and discuss key work and important issues; fourth, evaluate and motivate employees, commenting and motivating on their work progress and goal achievement on a weekly basis, rewarding good performers and punishing poor ones; fifth, learning and sharing. The learning content can be broad, but it should mainly help with one's own work. It can include learning from competitors, excellent practices of peers, content from books, or sharing of employees' insights and experiences.
Distributors, regardless of size, as an organization, must have organizational life. Weekly meetings are a good form of organizational life and must be persisted in. Distributors without organizational life are truly OUT (outdated).
Source: Global Brand Network -END-