Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more marketing and distributor internal management content.
In enterprises, the lower the management level, the more likely managers are to be busy and chaotic. We cannot simply blame this on weak abilities of frontline managers, because in many cases they are powerless. Many issues in enterprises are essentially determined by the management systems, management level, and corporate culture.
In actual work, frontline managers often have little real power but bear significant responsibility. Some frontline managers do not even have the right to hire or fire their subordinates, nor can they decide on salary increases for them.
Moreover, most frontline managers are promoted from among employees. Suddenly becoming managers, they have to manage former colleagues who were once their equals, and soothe their feelings—how easy is that?
These former colleagues often pay lip service to their new boss but are not truly convinced. They do not think you were promoted because of your ability; they believe you just know how to flatter superiors and "play the game," nothing special.
Additionally, as a manager, doing well individually is completely different from leading a team to do well. Although these new supervisors may have received some so-called qualification training, these former top performers are often at a loss when it comes to management tasks, not knowing where to start.
New supervisors are also prone to impatience—"a new broom sweeps clean." They want to achieve results quickly to prove to the higher-level managers who recommended them that their decision was wise.
These frontline managers think: since they cannot mobilize their former colleagues, they might as well not bother. The only way to achieve results is to do everything themselves, handling all matters personally.
On one hand, this is due to their long-standing work habits. Previously, they worked tirelessly to stand out. Now with more pressure, shouldn't they work even harder?
On the other hand, they hope to "influence" their former colleagues through their hard work, praying that they will have a change of heart and share the burden.
Thus, a common situation arises: frontline managers wish their 8-hour workday could become 18 hours. Their schedules are packed, and they are as busy as ants on a hot pan.
Meanwhile, their former colleagues, now subordinates, do not know what to do. They either kill time or mechanically perform repetitive tasks without any creativity.
The frontline managers' expectation of "influencing" subordinates through actions is entirely their own wishful thinking.
The subordinates think: "You got promoted, your income increased, you want to show off—that's your own doing. You should do more; what does it have to do with us?"
These are common confusions frontline managers face in daily work.
Drucker said, "Today's supervisor is an excellent manager when dealing with subordinates face-to-face. But he does not yet know how to manage through setting objectives, organizing work and jobs, and through sound planning—in other words, through the elements of management, rather than through interpersonal relationships."
However, for most frontline managers in domestic enterprises, achieving this goal in daily management is clearly not something they can control alone. It is a systematic project constrained by the overall management level of the enterprise.
If in a company, even senior managers do not manage "through the elements of management," how can we expect frontline managers to do so?
How to change the busy and chaotic state of frontline supervisors? This is a big question worth pondering!