Not long ago, I chatted with a senior student and advised him to interview more big companies.
The friend who followed me really did not study less, and asked me: What do you think of the illness of a big company?
I complained at the time: “Large companies catch colds, but generally speaking, when the industry giants start to catch colds, most of the small companies are already in ICU.”
I thought about it, but decided to write an article.
I don’t like the term “big company disease” very much.
Large companies have their own systems, but any system always has drawbacks. It’s not necessarily sick. The so-called “big company disease” is a bit alarmist. Even if it is a disease, it is a disease of wealth.
In fact, many large companies now have solutions for the “big company disease” identified in the traditional sense.
01
Poor communication.
The traditional corporate pyramid structure has many levels, which will lead to poor communication. The voices from the top and the information below will be lost, and the feedback below will not be transmitted to the executive level.
I wrote an article on “Three Tips for Communicating with Leaders” (replying to “Leadership” to review the original text) and mentioned the concept of a communication funnel:
If a person is thinking 100% in his mind, when he transmits the message, he has missed 20%, and only 80% is left.
When these 80% of the things enter the ears of others, due to the difference of personal background and thinking style, the other party can only receive 60% of the information, of which only about 40% can be digested and understood.
That’s 40%. After 3 days, you will forget half. If you ask again after three months, you will find that he only remembers 5%.
In today’s large companies (from the perspective of consulting companies and Internet companies that I know better), there are enough means to maintain frequent information interaction between the grassroots and the high-level.
bottom up:
Basically, large companies have a CEO Day. They collect information from frontline employees on a quarterly or monthly basis, and then provide feedback through offline seminars attended by the CEO, answering employees’ doubts on the one hand, and demonstrating the equality of the company on the other.
Even for foreign companies, CEOs who value the Chinese market will visit China every year, or at least every other year (CEOs who have given up on Bezos’ strategy in China are not counted).
From top to bottom:
Too many tools, all-staff email, corporate WeChat group, intranet…
For example, Zhang Yiming’s letter from all employees a while ago, not to mention the employees of BYTE, has been reviewed by all Chinese netizens.
The actions of Internet companies are particularly obvious. In ByteDance, employees can only call each other their names, not teachers or general managers. And this year, Ali also concealed the ranks of employees in the communication software.
Where there are levels, there are gaps; where there are gaps, there is a lack of information.
02
Lack of innovation
Everyone often mentions Kodak and Nokia to complain about the lack of innovation of large companies, and start-up companies are full of innovative spirit.
However, in fact, many large companies do not lack innovation. What they lack is the decision to implement innovation.
Kodak was the first company to develop digital cameras, and Nokia was one of the first companies to develop smart phones.
Large companies also have innovation, but when innovation starts to collide with inherent systems and systems, it is difficult to say that they will definitely win.
So what is the system?
I wrote an article for young companies to choose careers for large companies vs. small companies: How much youth do you have that can be abandoned in a startup?
It mentioned “why choose a big company”:
In a small company, you may do a lot of miscellaneous work, but does this amount to growth and improvement?
Large companies have mature work processes (knowing how to do it) and mature systems for training new people (knowing how to teach young people to do it). The projects that you can participate in, the budget you manage, and the teams you have worked with are all things that small companies cannot provide.
This is the power of the system. The system fully supports you when you want to adapt to the system.
But for senior professionals who are 30+ years old and want to make some achievements, they often need the power to fight the system
In 2013, when I was in Mercer, I wanted to make a company’s WeChat official account. The marketing leader just disagreed, and I emphasized that social media is risky… I have to do a business plan. I am speechless too.
In 2015, Monet’s painting exhibition was held in Shanghai. I applied for the purchase of 10 tickets to give to journalists and friends who are familiar with it. The US headquarters replied:
Among the media you listed, those with investment background in state-owned enterprises are regarded as national civil servants in our statistical caliber. They send cash equivalents to national civil servants (I’ll take it, a ticket is 89 on the public comment, and it’s like I sent a JD card. ), need to go through the approval process separately.
In 2016, the company wanted to open up new business and applied for headcount. The headquarters replied “The law does not say that we are allowed to do this business, so we can’t do it”…
Well, domestic companies are doing it, why don’t you let us do it?
The intuitive feeling is that the system of large companies is trying to create trouble for people who want to do things as much as possible.
Later, a leader from the United States had dinner with me, and when he talked about this, he broke it in one sentence:
You need to think differently and put yourself in the position of CEO of a multinational company-your focus should be on the overall company-wide market of several hundred million dollars.
Is there any new business in China that can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars more? unimportant.
The important thing is: As a branch, China differentiates itself from stabs, does not violate regulations, and does not touch any potential risk points. Otherwise, if it is exposed, the position of the CEO will not be guaranteed.
An important value of the system is to prevent employees from stabbing people by creating trouble.
for example:
In 1995, Nick Leeson, the trader of Baring Bank with the longest history in the United Kingdom, stationed in Singapore “unauthorized” purchases of futures on the promising Japanese Nikkei Stock Index. The ups and downs caused the Bank of Bahrain to lose 1.4 billion US dollars and fell into bankruptcy.
Therefore, I think opening a new social media account is risky, and a complete business case must be established. The review mechanism for publishing content is the focus of the business case;
Therefore, I want to send a few tickets to reporter friends. In the eyes of the company, there is a risk of bribery. After all, independent review is conducted;
Therefore, when a company wants to start a new business, the senior executives first look at whether there are legal risks.
With the system in place, people in the workplace of large companies will be restrained and can’t run away; but there are also benefits, and they won’t go wrong.
However, sometimes, an overly powerful system will indeed stifle innovation.
This is also the direct cause of the sinking of big companies.
Nowadays, large companies also have countermeasures: “Corporate culture that encourages innovation + buy, buy, buy”
Take Google as an example:
Google uses the 80/20 rule to encourage employees to explore new businesses internally (80% of the time to do their own work, 20% of the time to try other things of interest), the system, Google’s transfer conditions are very loose:
Employees who have worked in a team for 2 years can be transferred unconditionally. As long as the team wants you, the original leader shall not be restricted.
Later, Google also established the Area 120 incubator to incubate entrepreneurial projects for employees.
The purchase is also indispensable. Although gmail is an internally innovative project, there is an internal system that can always stifle innovation, but we can buy it. Google bought YouTube and Facebook bought Instagram.
This is only a success, and projects that fail after the purchase abound.
Large companies spend money to ensure innovation.
Those companies that don’t have the money to buy innovative companies either have their bosses too frustrated and can’t incubate them after buying a bunch of them, or they are not actually big companies and have no money themselves.
03
Redundant staff, unclear powers and responsibilities
It is easy to set a target for one person, but it is difficult to set a target for 100 people.
Large companies have redundant staff, which is nothing new.
How to control redundancy and overcrowding?
Large companies use a system. The complete recruitment process needs to be reviewed by multiple parties, the hiring team is required to bear the cost, and the budget and process are used to limit redundancy.
Most traditional companies have a pit for every turnip. They are “matched to the job”. Only when there is a pit (headcount) can turnips (talents) be recruited. Large companies use this solid system to limit redundancy.
Add two simple concepts:
Matching people for post: If a post is vacant and needs to be filled, go to the market to find suitable talents. This is a relatively common recruitment method for enterprises;
Setting up posts due to people: I found outstanding talents, but did not have suitable positions on hand, but in order to reserve for the future, or to prevent talents from being poached by competitors, a new post was created specifically for talents.
Those who have worked in management positions know about it: budgets are made every year, and the personnel budget includes two aspects: the first is personnel costs, and the second is Headcount.
These two parts of the boss and the HR team will never completely let the team leader make his own decisions.
The domestic Internet has been popular for a while: “Set up posts for people”
I am very familiar with the owner of an Internet startup company. He is very interested in my resume and wants me to join.
But they now have a complete structure, so they are willing to set up a new position for me. After getting to know me, I am still very moved and feel recognized (and then rejected…).
It is very difficult to “set up posts for people” in large companies. HR will ask:
Why is this person this post?
On what basis do you judge it is appropriate to do so?
When talents of the same type appear in the future, will this process be copied?
In this way, HR once again regulates your innovations into the system through rules and systems. If a large company unrestrainedly engages in innovation based on staffing, it may lead to redundancy.
Of course, innovation is not always right. You will also see many startups hiring people, and then layoffs in batches.
Write at the end
Write dim sum words for people in the workplace:
For newcomers in the workplace, the so-called big company disease has nothing to do with you.
In most high-quality large companies, newcomers to the workplace can obtain endorsements from first-class companies, learn systematic knowledge, and improve work experience through training and practical operations, which will greatly help future growth.
But after reaching the age of 35, we need to rethink: The system that helped us grow may now become the enemy of our continued development.
Those who are familiar with foreign companies, especially well-known multinational companies, know that large companies often don’t die from rivals but die from internal problems.
Because the system of a large company is too powerful, many employees follow the system unknowingly. But the system sometimes limits our continued growth and also limits the company’s progress.
Professional managers in their 30s who wish to make a career in a foreign company often spend most of their energy on fighting the system. Strive for more resources and rights for China.
There is another option at this time.
It might not be a good choice to break away from the system, join a startup company, and spend energy in a more promising direction to climb the mountains that are more worthy of our climb.
There is never a fixed path to success in career development. We need to review the relationship between the company and us at any time.
