Give you a company, see how you manage

Chapter 50 Respect and Persist in "Hierarchy"

As a leader, the management method of "overstepping the position" and "inserting into the end" is extremely harmful.In today's private enterprises in China, especially small enterprises, due to the imperfect organizational structure and immature operating mechanism, it is often prone to "ultra-authority management" (interfering with the management of superiors beyond authority) or "cross-level management" (directly Intervene in the management of subordinates) things.In fact, among small private enterprises, too strict organizational structure and operating mechanism will often tie the hands and feet of the enterprise and make the enterprise lose its due flexibility.

Therefore, in a sense, a certain degree of "ultrajurisdiction" and "cross-level" management has its positive side, and it is not all bad things.It’s just that if “too much is too late”, it will cause “chaotic warfare” where “responsibility and rights are not clear” and “no rules and regulations”, which will bring great harm to the management efficiency of the enterprise.On this point, I have a deep understanding.I once believed in the power of managers to "take the lead" and the management philosophy that managers must "fight on the front line".Therefore, at one time, I had to personally intervene in every detail, and even directly participated in the management activities at the lowest level, and "melted with" the lowest level employees.But over time, I found a problem, and it became more and more serious—the company's middle-level cadres became more and more "sluggish", doing nothing all day long and full of complaints.What's more serious is that their work efficiency and execution ability have dropped sharply, and everything they arrange is pushed back and forth, and they can't come up with a decent result for a long time.At the beginning, I took a "critical education" approach to them.But afterward, it was found that it had no effect—although they recognized your "big truth" in words, it was not reflected in actual actions at all.I once lamented - the quality of "human" is not enough!
One day, however, a young middle manager finally "opened up" to me and told the truth.It turned out that my excessive "overreach" had seriously violated their "territory", which made them "at a loss" and had no chance to exert their abilities at all.What's more serious is that since I directly deal with "low-level employees"—the direct subordinates of these middle-level cadres, these employees will complain to me if they are even slightly dissatisfied with their "superior."And out of my "moral psychology" of "making decisions for the people", I always call those middle-level people over to "teach me a lesson" at the first time.After a long time, these middle-level people have become "sensible" - "If you don't let me take care of it, why offend others!"What I said made me suddenly realize, like waking up from a dream.Since then, I have deeply reflected on the harm of excessive "cross-level management". into their work.

Of course, "no one is perfect", they will still make mistakes at work, and employees will still have "dissatisfaction" with them in one way or another.But no matter what mistakes they made, I will never call them in front of me again, and "teach" them indiscriminately, let alone "reprimand" them in front of their subordinates, and make them lose face.I always listen patiently to their "voices", no matter how much I disagree with them, and try to analyze the problem from their standpoint, and work with them to find a solution to the problem.After experimenting in this way for a period of time, the situation has greatly improved-I found that the middle-level cadres of the company have regained their previous vitality and regained their long-lost "passion".They no longer have any scruples, and they dare to act one by one, and their work efficiency and execution ability have also been significantly improved.Therefore, in the final analysis, managers should be good at "employing people to do things" rather than "doing things by themselves", which means that the principle of "hierarchical management" must be respected and adhered to.Managers who are always "leading the way" and "active in the front line" may not necessarily be smart.

(End of this chapter)