Nowadays, the season has come to winter, and the atmosphere is also cold. Even President Ma Yun, who has not appeared for a long time, has come out to contribute his famous quote, "All great companies are born in winter... I firmly believe that Alibaba will change." Another e-commerce giant, Brother Qiang from JD.com, also spoke up, saying, "JD.com must change, otherwise there is no way out... No matter what, I will not lie down." With a few words, the anxieties of the big shots are vividly displayed.
Facing the current situation, not changing means extinction, which has probably become the consensus of many bosses. Of course, there are still some companies that have not had time to change or simply do not want to change, and they have already fallen before the dawn of spring. Although their ways of dying are different, there are common signs to follow. That is, on the eve of their downfall, they have already started to slack off in various ways. Let's talk about these "slacking off highlights" and hope to inspire everyone.
01 Good employees slacking off: Beating the fast ox, scattering people's hearts#
The faster the water buffalo runs and the more fields it plows, the more it gets whipped. On the other hand, the lazy yellow ox leisurely eats grass without getting whipped much. The result is that the water buffalo can't bear it anymore, breaks free from the plow and runs away. This is called "beating the fast ox." In a chaotic company, when there is confusion and scattered personnel, with no direction and blind trial and error, these excellent employees are likely to be treated as firefighters on various "frontlines". Various tasks will be continuously assigned to them for various reasons and in various ways, often with the need for "urgent" completion. After they work overtime to complete the tasks, they usually receive no feedback or the version they just completed is overturned and stopped by the leaders, requiring them to start again from another direction... In this way, they keep trying and making mistakes repeatedly, like headless flies, without any sense of accomplishment at work or reasonable economic rewards. Instead, they do more and make more mistakes. After a long time, even the best employees will not accompany the company in its aimless struggle, but will start slacking off in various ways, either doing side jobs or secretly sending out resumes for job interviews.
All breakups are premeditated. Excellent fast oxen who are used to being compared to slow oxen can tolerate not knowing who they are fighting for and why they are fighting. If even the fast oxen start to degrade themselves, slack off, or run away from the plow, it often means that the company has major problems, or even its survival is at stake.
02 Team slacking off: Serious internal friction#
When a company's external business is blocked, unable to handle customers, and unable to get orders, it can only vent its frustration internally by starting to "introspect" and "reflect". Sometimes, the company thinks that its management system is the problem, and sometimes it believes that the employees' morale is not positive. Therefore, various system reforms are initiated, strict attendance management is implemented, and full-scale KPIs are implemented. The boss is like being injected with chicken blood, but the employees see through it. Is the company's problem really about attendance and systems? Didn't the company use the same methods during the first half of this year when the business boomed? Why is it sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter?
In fact, the company's intentions are not difficult to understand. First, they need to alleviate anxiety through formal turmoil. Second, they try to make some people's workload appear more saturated and have "soft results" through these "quantifiable" means. Third, they attempt to improve morale and boost morale while making some "thorny" individuals who cannot stand it and have many ideas voluntarily leave. But the final result is often a situation where there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. Everyone knows how to handle work, attendance, and KPIs in the workplace.
Everyone knows that what truly brings people together and boosts morale is working together to promote the company's business development and generate positive expectations for the company's future. When the team collectively (not individual) engages in internal friction with the company, the company is likely to be on the verge of failure.
03 Management slacking off: The prevalence of "pseudo executives"#
Pseudo executives usually have a set of "upward management" skills that they are good at when it comes to dealing with bosses. One common technique is "flattery and deception." "Flattery" means pleasing the boss, such as playing "social skills" with the boss or publicly admiring the boss's calligraphy or singing skills. "Deception" means disregarding reality and boasting in front of the boss, saying that the company's performance is either "slowly improving" or "doing great" regardless of the actual situation.
What's more important is that with such executives, it is easy to create a situation where the top is ineffective and the bottom is inefficient, showing the "Parkinson's Law" effect of too many people and too little work. By the time the boss realizes it, at least a year or more has passed. At this time, the pseudo executives have already prepared their new resumes and are having coffee and discussing new offers with headhunters as corporate executives.
If a company is filled with pseudo executives and a management team that idolizes pseudo executives, neglects their duties, and slacks off in various ways, such a company generally does not have a good ending. It is better to quickly find a new employer for oneself.
04 Boss slacking off: Trapped in an "information cocoon" and unaware#
Some time ago, I read an article about Chairman Xu of Evergrande. The article told an interesting story about Evergrande's advertising in the digital advertising industry. It said that more than ten years ago, Evergrande's key demand for website advertising was for Chairman Xu to see their advertisements on the homepage every day. As long as this could be achieved, the advertising fee was negotiable, and the actual advertising effect didn't matter. Some websites even went so far as to target the IP address of Chairman Xu's office. So, hundreds of millions of advertising fees were spent not to attract users, but to please one person, the boss.
Aren't all these "fancy" methods deliberately created to build an information cocoon for the boss? Over time, the boss who can only see these filtered and deliberately manipulated information can only slack off passively and be "locked" in a terrible cocoon, unable to see the truth, hear real feedback, and make timely and correct strategic judgments and decisions. If the information cocoon is not broken, and the boss cannot see the outside truth, how can such a company have good development?
Winter has come, but will spring be far behind? This may be an old cliche, but drinking this bowl of chicken soup at this time may warm you up. In the cold season, to maintain the necessary energy and warmth, take more steps, practice more internal skills, refuse to lie down, and avoid slacking off because once you start slacking off and lying down, you are prone to freeze and be completely eliminated. I wish everyone can stay positive and optimistic even in the cold winter. Keep going!