Private Enterprise Internal Management Research / Pan Wenfu Introduction: For a restaurant to expand and open chains, it is essential to eliminate the chef and achieve de-chef-ification. Once the secret recipes for dishes are in the hands of the head chef, the restaurant business is in danger. If the boss accidentally offends the chef, the food may taste off, or the chef may simply quit, leaving the boss in a bind. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to de-chef-ify, obtain the cooking secrets from the head chef, and form a standardized cooking process. The main ingredients, auxiliary ingredients, and seasonings should be prepared in advance, and ordinary chefs can follow the established process, ensuring at least a basic consistency in taste, color, and shape. Company management is the same: standardization and consistency are the foundation for growth and strength. The worst thing is when employees have varying levels of skill. For the same task, different understandings, executions, and results inevitably lead to huge internal friction. It doesn't matter if employees are a bit slow; it doesn't matter if everyone is slow. The execution standards can be adjusted based on the level of employee slowness. Generally, the slower the employees, the clearer and more straightforward the standard process should be. Explain multiple times, use graphics instead of text when possible, and demonstrate personally instead of verbal instructions. Keep following up to prevent forgetting or misremembering. Also, provide the necessary execution tools so employees can use them immediately, like a point-and-shoot camera—no need for high photography skills, just press the shutter. However, some bosses don't think this way. Although they notice the unevenness of the workforce, they like to pick out a few better ones, calling them key employees, and focus on cultivating them as positive role models, hoping other employees will learn from these advanced examples. The idea is not wrong, but the reality is frustrating. First, other employees won't respect these key employees. The key employees' diligence highlights the others' backwardness and incompetence. In the eyes of the others, the key employees' positive performance is just acting, fooling the boss, or there must be some hidden self-interest. If the key employees also put on airs and show contempt for the others, it's even worse. So, what do the key employees themselves think? They are valued by the boss because they are clearly different from ordinary employees. The others are not as good as them and contribute less to the company, but they don't get paid less. They contribute so much, and the boss earns more, but their income hasn't increased significantly. Moreover, they are the backbone of the company; the entire operation is supported by a few key employees. The ordinary employees are useless. If they were to leave, the company would collapse. Naturally, they become proud, thinking they are special and important. They look down on the current management system and have no interest in standardization or innovation. They think, "I am the standard, I am the norm. Others' innovation is a denial of me. Innovation? Forget it!" The existence of key employees will eventually become a problem. They won't drive ordinary employees to improve, nor will they be loyal to the company in the long term. If they suddenly resign, or leave to join a competitor, or start their own business, they cause the greatest harm to their former employer. In summary, for a company to achieve sustainable development, it must implement standardized management and employee consistency, with employees' abilities roughly equal. To explain exactly how to achieve this, I would need to write hundreds of thousands of words. Here, I'll just list a basic outline:

  1. Do not deliberately cultivate so-called key employees.
  2. Do not artificially inflate employees' comprehension, professionalism, execution, or stability.
  3. Improve job descriptions.
  4. Define standardized execution instructions for each task.
  5. Rotate employees across positions.
  6. Conduct proactive recruitment for reserves.
  7. Promptly release employees' accumulated good experiences or lessons and incorporate them into work processes.
  8. Highlight the core: promote consistency in employee capabilities around established behavioral standards. The author, a private business owner, has managed a family distributor company for many years, during which he also served as a business manager and trainer for several production companies. His research focuses on internal management of small and medium-sized private enterprises, with main topics including personnel management, cost control, management backend setup, and the integration of retired military personnel into private enterprises. He continuously breaks down over 400 topics related to internal management of private enterprises and keeps updating his material collection and solutions.