--- title: "Employees Not Executing Well: Change the People or Change the System?" description: "An ant, blown into a pond by the wind, was saved by a dove that dropped a leaf into the water. Later, when a hunter aimed at the dove, the ant bit the hunter's foot, causing him to miss, thus repaying the dove's kindness. This story illustrates the power of systems: a good system can suppress bad intentions, while a bad system can thwart good intentions. The article uses five stories to show how changing systems can solve problems, such as improving parachute quality, reducing prisoner mortality, ensuring cleanliness, fair distribution, and promoting cooperation." author: "New Distribution" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2016-01-16" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/employees-not-executing-well-change-the-people-or-change-the-system-94591567/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/employees-not-executing-well-change-the-people-or-change-the-system-94591567.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0LAh82zUtAyQ3Q1oGhhcsQ" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%91%98%E5%B7%A5%E6%89%A7%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%8D%E5%8A%9B-%E6%8D%A2%E4%BA%BA%E8%BF%98%E6%98%AF%E6%8D%A2%E5%88%B6%E5%BA%A6-94591567.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/employees-not-executing-well-change-the-people-or-change-the-system-94591567/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Employees Not Executing Well: Change the People or Change the System? > An ant, blown into a pond by the wind, was saved by a dove that dropped a leaf into the water. Later, when a hunter aimed at the dove, the ant bit the hunter's foot, causing him to miss, thus repaying the dove's kindness. This story illustrates the power of systems: a good system can suppress bad intentions, while a bad system can thwart good intentions. The article uses five stories to show how changing systems can solve problems, such as improving parachute quality, reducing prisoner mortality, ensuring cleanliness, fair distribution, and promoting cooperation. An ant was blown into a pond by the wind and was on the verge of death. A dove in a tree saw this and quickly dropped a leaf into the pond. The ant climbed onto the leaf, which drifted to the shore, and the ant was saved. The ant was very grateful to the dove for saving its life. After some time, the ant saw a hunter aiming a gun at the dove in the tree, but the dove was completely unaware. Just as the hunter was about to shoot, the ant climbed onto the hunter's foot and bit him hard. The hunter, in pain, missed the shot, and the dove escaped. The ant had repaid the dove's kindness. Story 1: The Inspection System for Quality Rate During World War II, the pass rate for parachutes in the U.S. Air Force was 99.9%, meaning that statistically, one out of every thousand soldiers who jumped would die due to a defective parachute. The military demanded that the manufacturer achieve a 100% pass rate. The manufacturer's representative said they had done their utmost, and 99.9% was the limit unless a miracle occurred. The military (some say it was General Patton) changed the inspection system: before each delivery, they randomly selected a few parachutes and had the manufacturer's representative personally jump-test them. From then on, a miracle occurred: the parachute pass rate reached 100%. Story 2: Payment Method After Britain colonized Australia, because the land was vast and sparsely populated and undeveloped, the British government encouraged citizens to immigrate to Australia. However, Australia was very backward at the time, and no one was willing to go. The British government came up with a solution: send criminals to Australia. This solved the problem of overcrowded prisons in Britain, provided labor for Australia, and they thought that by sending away the bad elements, Britain would become better. The British government hired private ships to transport prisoners, paying based on the number of people loaded, so the more they transported, the more they earned. Soon, the government discovered a major drawback: the mortality rate of prisoners was very high, averaging over 10%, with the worst ship reaching a shocking 37%. Government officials racked their brains to reduce the mortality rate during transport, including sending officials aboard to supervise and limiting the number of prisoners, but none of these measures could be implemented. Finally, they found a permanent solution: they changed the payment method from paying based on the number of people boarding to paying based on the number of people disembarking. The shipowners could only earn the transport fee if they delivered the prisoners alive to Australia. As soon as the new policy was introduced, the prisoner mortality rate immediately dropped to about 1%. Later, to improve survival rates, shipowners even equipped ships with doctors. Story 3: Cleaning Standard for Toilets In a certain high-end Japanese hotel, the standard for checking whether a guest room toilet was clean was: the cleaner had to scoop a cup of water from the toilet and drink a mouthful. One can imagine how clean such a toilet would be. Story 4: The Porridge Distribution System Seven people lived together and shared a large bucket of porridge every day. The problem was that the porridge was never enough. Initially, they drew lots to decide who would distribute the porridge, rotating daily. As a result, each week, they were only full on the day they distributed the porridge themselves. Later, they elected a person who claimed to be morally upright to distribute the porridge. With absolute power and no checks, corruption ensued. Everyone began to scheme to please him, colluding with each other, making the whole group chaotic. Then they formed a three-person porridge distribution committee and a four-person evaluation committee, but they argued and bickered, and by the time the porridge reached their mouths, it was cold. Finally, they came up with a method: rotate the distribution, but the distributor had to wait until everyone else had chosen their portion and take the last remaining bowl. To avoid getting the least, each person tried to distribute evenly, and even if it wasn't even, they had to accept it. Everyone was happy and harmonious, and life got better and better. Story 5: The Heaven of Mutual Help and Win-Win A charitable Christian, after death, asked God to show him both hell and heaven to see the difference. In hell, he saw a huge dining table laden with sumptuous dishes. He thought: "Isn't life in hell good?" After a while, at mealtime, he saw a group of emaciated, dying people sitting around a pot of fragrant meat, but because the handles of their spoons were too long, although they eagerly tried to feed themselves, they couldn't get the food, feeling both greedy, anxious, and hungry. God said, "This is hell." They entered another room, which was exactly like hell, with the same aroma of meat soup and the same extra-long spoons. But here, everyone was ruddy and energetic. It turned out that they were feeding each other with the long-handled spoons. God said, "This is heaven." The same people, different systems, can produce different cultures and atmospheres and vastly different results. This is the power of systems! A good system can suppress people's bad intentions, while a bad system can thwart good intentions. Establishing a system that links results with personal responsibility and interests can solve many social problems. **-END-** Content Selection **Reply with the following keywords to search and read related articles:** Sales Supervisor, Second-Tier Management, Regional Manager, Distributor Management, New Channels, City Manager, Competition, 2015, Manufacturer-Dealer Game, Product Stagnation, Terminal Visit Management, Route Management, Deep Distribution, Internal Management, Sales Skills, Profit Improvement, Recruitment, Distribution, Daily Management, Team Motivation, Trade Promotion, Sales Misconceptions, New Product Launch, Township Market, New Product Pricing, Sales Target Achievement, Closing, Market Visit Inspection, Baijiu, Beer, Sales Increase, Agency Products, Cross-Region Sales, KA, Terminal Merchandising, New Market, Market Operation, Learning, Book Recommendations, Inventory Management, New Salespeople, Consumer Promotion, Execution, Old Products, Expired Product Handling, Model Market, Investment Attraction, New Media, Distributor Development, Performance Appraisal, Assessment, Annual Planning, Shopping Guide, Morning Meeting, Display, Transformation, Inventory Pressure, Holidays, Distributor Cost Control, Channel Operation, Marketing Theory and Laws, Brand Truth, Order Meeting, Team Management, Training, Debriefing, Debriefing Report. --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. 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