If the employees are not good enough, should we replace them or change the system?

Thread Content

01 The first story: The quality inspection system. During World War II, the success rate of parachutes used by the U.S. Air Force was 99.9%, which meant that, statistically, one in every thousand paratroopers would die as a result of a defective parachute. The military requires manufacturers to achieve a 100% pass rate. The factory manager said they did their best; 99.9% is already the limit, unless a miracle happens. The military (or General Patton, as some say) then changed the inspection system: before each delivery, several parachutes were randomly selected, and the factory supervisors were required to personally jump from them to test their functionality. From then on, a miracle occurred: the success rate of the parachutes reached 100%. 02 The second story: Payment methods. After Britain turned Australia into a colony, and given that the country was vast but sparsely populated and undeveloped, Britain encouraged its citizens to emigrate there. However, Australia was very underdeveloped at that time, so no one wanted to go there. Britain **came up with a way to send criminals to Australia. In this way, it addresses the issue of overcrowded prisons in the UK on one hand, and the labor shortage in Australia on the other. Additionally, they believed that by sending away all the bad guys, the UK would become a better place. The UK **hires private ships to transport prisoners, charging based on the number of people boarded, with more passengers meaning more profit. It was soon **discovered that there were serious drawbacks to this approach: the mortality rate among criminals was extremely high, averaging over 10 percent, with the worst-case ship having an astonishing mortality rate of 37 percent. ***Staff racked their brains to reduce the mortality rate during the transport of criminals, including sending staff aboard to supervise and limiting the number of people loaded onto the ships, but none of these measures could be implemented. Finally, they found a permanent solution by changing the payment method: from paying based on the number of people boarding to paying based on the number of people disembarking. The shipowner can only earn the shipping fee by delivering the people alive to Australia. As soon as the new policy was introduced, the crime rate dropped immediately to around one percent. Later, to improve the survival rate, shipowners also equipped ships with doctors. 03 Third story: The cleaning standard for toilets. At a high-end Japanese hotel, the standard for checking whether the toilets in guest rooms are clean is for the cleaners to scoop up a cup of water from the toilet and take a sip of it. One can imagine just how clean such a toilet would be. 04 The fourth story: The system for distributing porridge. Seven people lived together, and each day a large bucket of porridge was distributed among them. The worst part is that there’s never enough porridge every day. At first, they drew lots to decide who would divide the porridge, with one person taking turns each day. As a result, over the course of the week, they only had one day when they were full, and that was the day when they distributed the porridge themselves. Later, they began to elect a person who claimed to be morally upright to distribute the porridge. ****Without constraints, ** will arise. Everyone began to rack their brains to please him, colluding with one another, which turned the entire small group into a chaotic mess. Then everyone started forming a three-member committee for distributing the porridge and a four-member committee for making decisions, and they ended up arguing with each other, so the porridge was cold by the time it reached their mouths. Finally, a solution was thought of: divide the porridge in turns, but the person responsible for dividing it has to wait until everyone else has chosen their portion before taking the last remaining bowl. To ensure that no one gets the least amount, everyone tries to distribute things as evenly as possible; if it’s not perfectly even, there’s nothing to do but accept it. May everyone be happy and harmonious, and may their lives get better and better. 05 The Fifth Story: A Paradise of Mutual Assistance and Win-Win Outcomes. There was a kind-hearted Christian who, after dying, made a request of God to take him to hell and heaven so that he could see what the differences between them were. Upon arriving in hell, I saw a huge dining table filled with sumptuous dishes. I thought to myself: Is life in hell not bad? After a while, it was time to eat. A group of emaciated, barely alive people sat around the pot of fragrant meat. Because the spoons in their hands were too long, they struggled to get the meat into their mouths, but were unable to do so; they were anxious, hungry, and eager. God said, this is hell. They entered another room, which was just like hell: it also smelled of broth, and they too held extremely long soup spoons in their hands. 　　However, everyone here has rosy cheeks and looks full of energy. It turned out that each of them was using a special spoon to feed the broth into the other person’s mouth. God said, “This is heaven.” The same people, under different systems, can give rise to different cultures and atmospheres, as well as vastly different outcomes. 06 This is the power of a system! A good system can suppress people’s bad thoughts, while a poor system will prevent people’s good intentions from being realized. Establishing a system that links outcomes to individual responsibilities and interests can solve many social problems. When a plan does not fit reality, one must give it up when the time comes. Systems are heartless, management is ruthless, but implementation makes sense: if you truly love your colleagues, then evaluate them, set demands on them, and push them to grow. If, out of sentimentality, you set low goals and low expectations and end up with a group of weak individuals, that is the greatest harm you can inflict on their future! Because this will only fuel their greed, ignorance, and laziness. To enable your subordinates to grow because of you, to develop the right outlook on life and values, as well as excellent character, and to keep progressing – that is the greatest form of love a leader can show for their colleagues! 07 When leading a team, these points must be kept in mind: 1. Management is achieved through close supervision; skills are developed through practice; solutions are found through thinking; potential is brought out by pushing employees. If you don’t push them, they will remain mediocre! 2. If it’s not done well, then it’s not done well – there are no excuses. Make any excuse; there’s no way to succeed. 3. It’s not that there’s no way, but rather that no effort has been made to find one. If you put in the effort to find a solution, one will definitely be found; it’s just a matter of time. 4. If the result is not good, then it’s simply not good; there are no exceptions when it comes to execution – only results matter. 5. Without execution capability, there is no competitiveness. 6. Choice is more important than effort; success or failure lies in the choices we make. Past choices determine today’s life, and today’s choices determine future days. 7. Execution focuses on results, not on excuses. 8. The height of one’s thinking determines the height of one’s actions, and the height of culture determines the height of a company. 9. Don’t expect others to help you; instead, expect others to need you. 10. When seeking approval, do not present problems alone; instead, come with solutions. When reporting on work, don’t make evaluative remarks; instead, provide a descriptive report. 11. Only by daring to take responsibility can one shoulder heavy burdens. The simple is the effective. 12. Successful people often change their methods without changing their goals, while unsuccessful people often change their goals without changing their methods. 13. Act as a manager in the manner of a boss; hold yourself to boss-level standards, and manage your position as if you were running a business. Affection is hypocritical; true love is the great love! Management must be strict! Negative energy – get out of the team! Within the team, it appears calm on the surface, but beneath lies turbulent currents. Among them, what spreads the fastest is not those inspiring and positive messages and energies, but rather those people and things that make people feel negative, tired, and upset. If you are not careful, you too may find yourself caught in a vortex of negative energy, which not only affects your work but also harms your relationships; in severe cases, it can even lead to the loss of your job. Keep in mind: by staying away from \"negative energy,\" one can achieve positive energy and stay optimistic! 1. The most destructive and widespread form of negative energy is complaining. There are always such people in a team, whether male or female, who like to list all their complaints about work and life, indulging in self-pity. Who doesn’t face stress at work? Constant complaining and cursing can easily disturb those who are trying to work in peace as well. Complaints are the most contagious, fastest-spreading, widest-reaching, and most destructive \"negative energy\" in a team. Complaining plunges oneself and others into negative emotions, leading to lazy behavior; one person can affect an entire department, and that department can affect the whole company. Sometimes, for the sake of \"**\", companies have to get rid of such people in a \"harmonious\" manner. 2. Those most likely to undermine morale – the pessimists. “The company probably has no future anymore!” “It seems unlikely that we’ll even get paid going forward!” In the office, there are always people who are lazy and pessimistic, lacking confidence in the company’s development and worried about what might happen. Such people usually have weak inner energy and low motivation; they keep wasting time and opportunities by overthinking. Employees with a negative mindset have a very detrimental effect on the team atmosphere. While everyone is working hard to achieve their goals, such individuals spread anxiety and disrupt morale; for teams facing challenging tasks, they pose a significant threat. 3. Eliminate those who can’t stand loneliness – the impetuous, those who fear uncertainty, as well as those who are eager to see results quickly. Society is already too impetuous; everyone is eager to achieve \"success\" and get rich overnight. In the office, such people who are eager to take credit and lack consistency in their work can easily undermine teamwork and balance, and they may also encourage others to rush through tasks in the same way, thereby neglecting steady, gradual progress. Regardless of the stage of development a company is in, such people definitely won’t be favored. 4. It is most likely to turn into coldness in the office – a lack of warmth; cold interpersonal relationships within a team have a significant negative impact on team building. It is manifested as a deliberate lack of cooperation in teamwork, distancing oneself from colleagues, and even intentionally creating obstacles for them. If indifferent issues are not addressed in a timely manner, they can evolve into a “cold atmosphere” within the team. This leads to deteriorating interpersonal relationships, loss of team cohesion, and a lack of combat effectiveness, thereby significantly impacting overall team performance. Many people feel immense pressure due to the “cold brutality” in the office; when they can no longer bear it, they choose to quit. Clearly, this is another major reason for talent attrition in companies. 5. The weakest and most ineffective manifestation of cowardice – low self-esteem. Due to fears of offending others in the team and being criticized by superiors for making mistakes, such people act timidly and dare not take on any important responsibilities. Such people are not really popular either; in team work, everyone prefers to work with confident and responsible individuals. For the boss, your lack of self-confidence is likely seen as a lack of competence, which will surely make it difficult for him to rely on you in the future. 6. Jealousy is what most severely hinders one’s own development – why was this opportunity given to him again? He’s already in charge; what more does he want? In a society that values success above all else, competition at work often turns into jealousy. The progress and advantages of others dim one’s own shine, instantly giving rise to resentment. In competition, there are always differences in strength, but to enhance one’s overall competitiveness, it is necessary to start by working on oneself. Focusing solely on being hostile toward others’ progress and advantages will only lead to negative emotions, which is detrimental to one’s own development. 7. Eliminate the blind pursuit of appearance – competition. Even a fake Hermès bag can spark open or hidden conflicts within a team. In the office, women compete over handbags and brand names, while men compete over cars, watches, and even mistresses. If it’s a competition at work, there is a certain positive sense of competition, but it’s meaningless to just compare material things. In fact, from the perspective of career development, these material things all fall under the category of external aspects of a career; blind competition only leads to neglecting the improvement and development of one’s internal aspects, and it can easily foster impatience. 8. What most easily affects team harmony is suspicion: “The boss hasn’t given me any tasks lately; did I do something wrong?” “Li made fun of me today; maybe it’s because I didn’t cooperate well on that previous task, and that’s why he’s targeting me on purpose?”... There is a lack of trust among colleagues and between superiors and subordinates, with constant suspicions that the actions of others have hidden motives. Working women, due to their sensitivity and heightened awareness of emotions and changes in interpersonal relationships, are more prone to developing suspicion. In fact, the root of suspicion lies in work pressure; individuals should learn to adjust their work pace, maintaining a balance between work and rest, so as to prevent suspicion from turning into paranoid delusions that undermine team harmony and cooperation. Faced with high-pressure work, a mountain of tasks, intricate interpersonal relationships, and fierce business competition, professionals are in a state of constant struggle every minute they work. If you find yourself trapped in \"negative energy\" for an extended period with no way out, it is essential to reevaluate your career orientation, analyze the pros and cons, and make slight adjustments to your personal career plan so that it keeps up with the pace of development, thereby enabling you to handle things more easily. If you realize that you really don’t like this job, it’s necessary to reassess your career path, re-evaluate your core strengths, and find a new direction before moving forward.