Monday, 9 a.m., in the auto repair shop's conference room, the weekly meeting, attended by all middle-level managers, is about to begin.
This meeting is also part of the auto repair shop's efforts to strengthen internal management. It requires each department head to report on the previous week's work summary and the current week's work plan every Monday, with comments from the supervisor in charge, so that the shop leaders and department heads can keep track of the overall work situation of the shop.
Initially, the department head, unfamiliar with this process, began giving lengthy reports from a handwritten notebook, with only a small portion actually covering the specifics of the work. Xu Damao later emphasized the need for conciseness, omitting unnecessary details and focusing directly on the work itself.
It's not time for that yet. Xu Damao's style is very popular with these cadres. If it were a few years later, Xu Damao wouldn't dare to make that request.
The heads and deputy heads of more than a dozen departments had all arrived, as had Gao Yan and Zuo Chang'an, and were waiting for Xu Damao to come over. A short while later, led by Li Tong, Xu Damao entered the conference room and took his seat.
In later years, Xu Damao always hated the way the leaders arrived late to meetings, thinking they were pretentious. But now, he had become the very thing he used to hate.
It wasn't that he wanted to pretend; it was just that when he entered the meeting room, if everyone was there, the meeting could start immediately. But if not everyone was there, the meeting couldn't begin, and everyone was eerily silent. As the main leader, he couldn't join in the laughter and chatter, so he simply arrived a little late.
"Alright, everyone's here, let's start the meeting. We'll begin with the administrative departments, keeping it simple; the workshops can go into more detail later, and then the relevant supervisors will give their comments. Time is limited, so let's start with the office staff." Xu Damao chaired the meeting.
Despite Li Tong's seemingly unreliable demeanor, after nearly a year of training since the preparation began, she has developed a more and more leadership presence, performs her work well, and her reports are clear in terms of prioritization and logical flow.
After Li Tong's report, the personnel department, logistics department, and other departments began their reports one by one. Some reports lasted four or five minutes, while others were only a few sentences long. Whenever they said anything repetitive, Xu Damao would interrupt them.
Upon arriving at the workshop, after each workshop manager reported, Huang Shu, as the overall workshop manager, began his report.
"Distinguished leaders, our auto repair shop has developed rapidly since its establishment. Our personnel and technical reserves are second to none in our district and are among the best in the city."
To encourage everyone to continue to delve into technology, I suggest holding a skills competition in the factory, with material and spiritual rewards for the top winners.
"This is my work plan," Huang Shu said.
Xu Damao carefully examined the proposal Huang Shu handed him. Huang Shu had verbally briefed him on this activity before, only mentioning a workshop competition to boost morale. Xu Damao had said at the time that it was too small-scale and that there should at least be rewards. He hadn't expected Huang Shu to come up with such a simple proposal so quickly.
"Huang Shu, your plan isn't bad, but it's still too simplistic," Xu Damao said after looking at it for a while.
Huang Shu was completely bewildered. In his mind, if a few people in the workshop organized a competition and the factory gave them some rewards, everyone would be very motivated; if there was a dinner party after the competition, everyone would be even happier.
"Factory manager, how about adding another bonus?" Huang Shu continued to ask.
"What bonus? Huang Shu, let me ask you, in your own estimation, where do you stand in the district and the city in terms of car repair skills? If you were to compare with others, could you beat them?" Xu Damao asked.
"Factory director, I'm not bragging, but those small factories in our district are no match for us at all; in the city, there are a few slightly larger factories, and a military repair shop, whose technology is quite good."
"If we compare ourselves to them, our chances of winning are about 50/50." Huang Shu spoke loudly at first, but then his voice became a little unsure.
“A 50% chance of winning would be good. How about this, if our factory takes the lead in organizing a city-wide auto repair industry skills competition, what do you think?” Xu Damao asked.
Starting in the 1950s, in order to improve labor productivity, many factories and mines across the country launched skills competitions and technical contests, ranging from small-scale competitions to nationwide grand events.
Inspired by this, Xu Damao also plans to promote skills competitions in the auto repair industry. Such competitions would benefit both the skill development of auto repair shop workers and the reputation of the repair shops themselves. If a national competition isn't feasible, a city-wide one should be possible, and if that's not possible, a district-wide one would also work.
Upon hearing about the city-wide competition, the workshop leaders in the conference room were all incredibly excited and eager to participate. People of this generation had just emerged from an era of poverty and weakness; although they still faced difficulties, their spirits were high—positive, healthy, and determined to strive.
Deputy factory directors Zuo Chang'an and Gao Yan were surprised that Xu Damao could think so far ahead; he could even elevate an internal competition to a city-wide contest. For them, the city-wide competition wasn't just about improving their skills; it was an opportunity to impress the leaders.
So, everyone from department heads to factory leaders started discussing it in the conference room, and the atmosphere became quite lively. Xu Damao didn't stop them, but listened quietly to everyone's comments.
Any organization that remains stagnant will eventually lose its vitality, so it is necessary to give the organization some stimulation when necessary.
"Alright, everyone, please quiet down. This is just our initial idea, and we still need to report to the leaders of the steel rolling mill, the ministry, and the city. Whether it will ultimately be successful is still a question."
However, let's refine the plan first, and then we'll approach the leadership to advocate for it. So, Director Gao and Director Zuo, you two will divide the work and work together to finalize the competition plan.”
Xu Damao assigned the tasks to the two deputy factory directors. One was in charge of logistics and the other was in charge of production, so he always had to find things for them to do, otherwise they would have too many ideas over time.
Gao Yan was a bit better off, as she was basically one of their own. But Zuo Chang'an was capable and competent, and had good relationships with many leaders, yet Yang Zhenhua had him placed in the position of deputy director of the auto repair shop.
Several times Xu Damao suppressed his ideas, so now he's cooperating with Xu Damao. But you can't just suppress them all the time; you have to give them some incentives at the right time. Besides, this kind of person doesn't care about feelings; you have to let them see the benefits for the cooperation to last.
"Factory Director, don't worry, I will definitely work with Factory Director Gao to strictly oversee the process and ensure the plan is perfect, so that the leadership is satisfied," Zuo Chang'an said excitedly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
