"Akio Morita,
the founder of Sony, had a clear mission after World War II - to make Japan
famous as a country of quality production. Not Sony, but Japan. It seems
strange, but at that time Japan was a country of cheap production, and this
mission not only motivated its employees - it changed the image of the whole
country.
Lithuania still too
often competes with lower price instead of higher quality. Do we have the
courage, talent, capital and... good management to repeat the success of other
countries in competing with high quality?
It is management that
I want to emphasize, because I see too much serf-like thinking and too much
tsarist-serf management in Lithuania.
The Evolution of
Management: From Serfdom to Meaning and Benefit
Serfdom is the principle
of using the sticks
The most primitive
form of management is punishment. That's why Lithuanians are only punished.
This ineffective form
of management has been known for millennia. Although abolished in theory, it
still applies in practice in Lithuania.
Mr. Leader punishes,
and the people then act like serfs, i.e. attempt not to achieve the result, but
to avoid the stick:
Avoids indicators;
Shifts responsibility
to others;
He does only as much
as he is told and no more.
You can't expect
investment, innovation or progress here. A punished person shrinks and closes.
Does not suggest or think about how to do better.
Meanwhile, in
Lithuania, only 18% of employees answer that their teams have a normal attitude
towards mistakes, i.e. in Lithuania, we still punish mistakes. We look for the
guilty and how to punish them, not how to learn and do better.
The numbers are even
worse in the public sector and among older workers.
This is related to
the fact that we were the last in Europe to abolish serfdom, and the Soviet era
brought it back - took away private property, forced us into collective farms
and punished those who wanted to trade or earn more.
Although we have been
independent for 30 years, we still have too many master-slave relationships.
Where the master
thinks and the serf just does what he is told.
The worst thing is
when people get used to thinking: "My boss makes me think - what does he
get paid for?!" - a real quote from an outraged employee.
We need more free,
independent and responsible people for themselves and their environment, who do
not need to be made to think, who think for themselves.
It requires less
servitude and more benefits at work.
Capitalism is the
principle of profit
F.W. Taylor, an
American engineer famous for his management methods that increased industrial
efficiency, as early as 1911. The US formulated the need to measure and reward
those who do more and/or better.
After more than 100
years, only about 30% of public sector workers in Lithuania agree that they will get more if
they do a good job. Most do not see the financial benefit of trying harder.
Certainly not
everyone sees a direct connection between the result and benefits in business.
How common is it with us to share the company's profits?
And when there is no
incentive to do more, there is an incentive to do less.
Therefore, both
business and the public sector need less punishment, but more goals and
indicators. Measure and motivate those who do more, rather than punish those
who fall short.
After all, only those
who don't make mistakes - NBA star Kobe Bryant is the most overlooked
basketball player!
Do you think we would
have heard about him if the coaches had penalized him for missed shots instead
of encouraging him to make them?
The profit system is
tested and works great, although it has a couple of drawbacks:
Employees stop doing
what matters when they are not measured and rewarded;
Encourages short-term
targets (quarterly/yearly) rather than long-term success.
The aforementioned
problems can be avoided if, in addition to goals and indicators, the
organization has a mission even greater than itself.
Mission is the
principle of meaning
Today, the most
competitive business is increasingly talking about a mission that is bigger
than the company's profit:
Tesla doesn't just
make cars, it's their mission to fight climate change;
SpaceX doesn't just
send satellites into space, their mission is to send people to Mars.
And this is not
surprising, because research by psychologists reveals that employee happiness
and productivity are directly related to three essential elements:
Meaning at work;
Opportunity to
improve;
Independence.
Companies that create
these conditions achieve exceptional results. They not only attract the best
specialists, but also help them to reveal themselves, because such employees:
Actively looks for
ways to help colleagues and customers
Constantly improving
his skills
Solves problems
independently
Creates innovations
A mission greater
than a company's profits inspires not only employees, but also investors and
regulators to contribute to the success of its operations.
Such organizations
inspire and achieve the impossible.
It's time for Lithuania
to move from competition, based on smaller price, to higher quality than the
competition.
Moving from
punishment to benefit and meaning."
1. If prices in Lithuania are similar to those in the West,
and salaries are twice as low, it means that Lithuanian "businessmen"
steal half of our salary every month:
"People ask all
the time how Lithuanians can live here. We say that Lithuanians save and become
poor," said Jakob Wöllenstein, a German living in Lithuania. This year,
the average monthly salary in Germany ranges from 2,500 to 2,800 euros "in
hand". At the same time, the average wage in Lithuania, after taxes, is
about half as much - about 1,300 euros. "It is strange that there is such
a difference in the salary level, how much people earn in Germany and
Lithuania, but still the prices are very similar. If you go to a store, it
often happens that certain things, goods are even more expensive in Lithuania
than in Germany," said J. Wöllenstein."
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