My friend has been complaining these days that a new manager arrived at the department—a "big data fanatic" who evaluates employee performance and achievements through numbers and reports. While this approach is certainly helpful for quantifiable things like revenue and reports, applying it to people is truly ridiculous.
"What is the logic behind calculating your own growth rate?" This is the interview question this new manager asked them to prepare. And the preparation materials were requested just before dawn the day before—not only was there insufficient time to prepare, but the wording itself was incomprehensible at first glance.
This manager actually expects his subordinates to come up with a formula for calculating their own growth rate, treating them like machines and quantifying themselves with numbers. The expectation is to assess how an employee has grown and the extent of that growth. When I heard this, I found it absolutely absurd—and this is happening at a well-known large company.
Honestly, I really can't figure out how to calculate my own growth rate. Because growth is relatively intangible; there's no direct proportion or formula that can objectively assess my own development. Moreover, what I really want to say is: "Employees are people, not machines."
As the saying goes, leadership is about touching hearts, not just managing processes. Employee effort, dedication, values, and initiative come not only from personal persistence and nature, but also—in large part—from the influence of the manager's leadership style.
Many companies have performance metrics and KPIs to quantify results, which is completely different from asking employees to come up with their own formulas. Demanding that employees calculate their own efforts like robots is nothing short of dismissing their dedication. With inconsistent standards, all you'll do is turn the team into chaos.
