Zeng Guofan pointed out. Distinguishing rewards and punishments is an essential quality for a leader. Leaders must not be jealous of their subordinates who have outstanding performance and contributions. This will dampen their enthusiasm. Only by rewarding their subordinates based on their merits can they fully mobilize their enthusiasm.
Zhuge Liang said: "Rewards are used to encourage meritorious deeds." That is to say, rewards are used to encourage meritorious deeds. Rewarding those who have made meritorious deeds can stimulate people's sense of honor and cultivate people's ambition. Therefore, some successful people do not hesitate to reward their subordinates with large sums of money to maintain their high morale. After Napoleon defeated Tsarist Russia and conquered Prussia in 1807, he gave very generous rewards to all civil and military officials. After Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, settled the world, the first thing he did was to reward his subordinates based on their merits to keep their subordinates' high morale. However, in the process of rewarding subordinates, certain methods and methods must be paid attention to, otherwise it will have the opposite effect.
First of all, "rewards must not be unfair." That is to say, rewards must be fair. The so-called fairness means giving different rewards according to the size of the merit, with big rewards for big merits and small rewards for small merits. Liu Bang paid attention to fairness when giving rewards. He rewarded Xiao He the most and ranked him first in the evaluation ranking. This is pragmatic. In Liu Bang's process of pacifying the world, Xiao He's role cannot be replaced by anyone. After Liu Bang led his army into Xianyang, the generals were busy competing for gold, silver and beauties, but Xiao He was the first to obtain the documents of King Qin, which helped Liu Bang unify the world. It provides help to grasp the geographical and humanistic conditions of the country. At the same time, during the conflict between Chu and Han, Xiao He guarded Guanzhong, appeased the people, replenished soldiers, food and grass for the front, and enabled Liu Bang to turn dangers into safety again and again. Precisely because Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty used facts as a basis and reflected the differences in rewards according to differences in merit, the ministers still maintained positive motivation.
Clear rewards and punishments are a very effective incentive method for managing and employing people. Modern enterprises must not only have rewards and punishments, but also have a clear understanding of rewards and punishments, especially rewards, which are material and spiritual incentives, and are also the way to cultivate talents.
The recommended system adopted by Honeywell Security Systems and Aviation Branch located in Apollos, USA is a strong proof. In 1979, the factory received 18,000 employee suggestions (3.66 per capita). In order to encourage everyone to make more suggestions, Honeywell gives physical rewards to employees who make suggestions three or more times. The more suggestions, the more actual rewards they will receive. The more valuable the suggestion, the greater the bonus. "Rewards based on merit", and at the same time, employees are also given spiritual rewards. Any employee who has made suggestions 3 times (or more than 3 times) will have his or her photo hung on the "Superstar" recognition column organized by the department; if the suggestions brought about a certain amount of financial savings, the employee's photo will be displayed on the "Superstar" recognition column of the department every week. Photos of two such employees were posted on the company's recognition board along with their suggestions. In addition, it is also introduced with great fanfare in the company's internal publications, department newsletters and factory reports. In this way, a healthy competitive atmosphere has been formed within the company that strives to tap the potential and fully explore the talents of each person, thus greatly increasing the company's efficiency and profits.
Every successful entrepreneur understands that people need incentives, so they use various incentive methods to mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of employees. This is a fundamental measure for whether business operations can achieve outstanding results. The task of business managers is to find out what motivates their employees. Subordinates work for their own needs and purposes, not at the mercy of their supervisors. Supervisors should find out the goals and needs of their employees and learn more about whether these needs and purposes are aligned with the company's purposes. When motivating subordinates, overemphasis on certain strengths may have the opposite effect. If a supervisor overemphasizes certain strengths, it may create a burden on subordinates.
Japan’s Panasonic Corporation is very good at using incentives to motivate employees.
Panasonic will convene a discussion meeting with managers from all departments every quarter to understand each other's operating results. Before the meeting, all departments were divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D from high to low according to the completion of tasks. At the meeting, A-level departments report first, followed by B and C-level departments, and D-level departments last. This approach takes full advantage of people's competitive mentality, because no one wants to be ranked last.
Panasonic reserves 40% of the profits made by each department for its own disposal. The retained profits are mainly used for the welfare of employees in the department, replacement or expansion of equipment, etc. Therefore, the more profit each department accomplishes, the more profit is retained.
This internal management method in which income and effort are closely linked prompts each department to work hard for their own interests. Panasonic issued a call in 1966: within five years, productivity would double, wages would double, and employees over 35 years old would be guaranteed to have their own housing. Such a promise has greatly stimulated the production enthusiasm of all employees. By 1970, these goals were fully achieved, including housing through the provision of low-interest loans to workers repaid over 15 years. The employees worked extra hard to obtain certain material means of living, and Panasonic developed into Japan's largest electrical appliance company.
“Treat others as you would like others to treat you.” This is a famous saying in the Bible. This is a golden rule that applies to the past, present and future. This golden rule is about people's attitude towards dealing with others, but it is also a perfect leadership code of conduct for business leaders who must get along with their subordinates. Unfortunately, in modern society, many people regard this maxim as a cliché. In fact, this principle is the most applicable key in management.
Ms. Mary Kay, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics Company in the United States, treats people according to this principle.
Ms. Mary Kay worked in several direct selling companies before starting her company. As a subordinate of others, she knew very well what it was like to work for others.
When she was preparing to start her own business, she vowed to establish a management method that could inspire the enthusiasm of staff and never let the management mistakes she had experienced in others be repeated in her own company.
When facing a subordinate, she always thinks first: "If I were the other person, what kind of attitude and treatment would I want to receive?" Whenever there is a personnel problem that must be solved, she Always ask yourself this first. And as a result of such consideration, no matter how difficult the problem is, it can often be solved quickly.
Mary Kay Company has avoided rigidly specifying sales ranges for direct sales personnel and beauty consultants from the beginning. Mary Kay knew the unfairness of this approach from her experience working for several direct selling companies.
For example, one year they had to move from Houston to St. Louis because her husband was taking a new job. Before that, she had spent eight years building her own sales network in Houston, earning a monthly commission of $1,000. And once she moved, all the efforts and costs in the past were in vain. This incident made her feel deeply unfair. For eight years, she worked hard day by day, recruiting and training a group of sales people, and worked hard to build this network, but the person who took her place could take over the entire network effortlessly overnight.
At Mary Kay, we do not use scope designation. In this way, a dealer manager living in Chicago can recruit new people locally while vacationing in Florida or visiting friends in Pittsburgh. No matter where she lives in the United States, she can get a commission from the head office based on the sales generated by recruiting other new people. On the other hand, the dealer manager who lives in Florida must be responsible for training the new people recruited by the Chicago manager. These new recruits must participate in sales meetings hosted by the Florida manager and local sales competitions. Although the person in charge of Florida spent a lot of time and effort training new recruits, the commission was not paid to her, but to the recruiter, the person in charge who lived in Chicago. Mary Kay calls this approach "the adoption system."
Next, new entrants in Florida can continue to recruit new entrants. In the future, no matter where she lives, she will be another recruitment core for the original recruiter. As long as both the recruiter and the recruite are actively serving the company, the recruite can also receive sales commissions from the company on the sales she earns from recruiting new people in the future.
Mary Kay Company *** has more than 5,000 distribution leaders, most of whom train and encourage out-of-state personnel in their sales units. Some directors recruit beauty consultants in a dozen or more different states.
Some people often criticize: "Your adoption system is impossible to succeed." In fact, this method is successful. Each distribution manager makes a profit by recruiting people from all over the country, and she is also helping others recruit new people.
People from other companies often ask: "Since everyone has to train the new people recruited by others, why can't I collect commissions? Why do I have to work hard to train the people you recruit? When the training is successful, you I get all the commissions, so what do I get?" But in the company, many dealers have more than 100 "adoptees", but these people don't think so. On the contrary, they think: "We are helping these newcomers, but others are also helping my newcomers in other places."