Why won't the 'top' move? The contradictions seen from the front lines and our reality
Monday, May 6th. Raining.
It was a sky that left a sense of melancholy on the last day of the long holiday. With the rain drizzling steadily since the morning, my heart felt a bit damp as well.
On this rainy day, something that had been stuck in my chest for a long time suddenly came to mind. It is about the 'distortion' within the company's structure.
I work at a sales office. I am in a position that is, if anything, on the lower end of the middle. I spend my days going around the field, sometimes going out for sales, and sometimes buried in packing work.
However, I just cannot accept a phrase that is often said lately.
'Get out and sell more!' 'Go get new business!'
Such words are frequently spoken by the upper management, that is, the department managers and deputy managers. Certainly, if we don't bring in new work, the company has no future. I have felt this firsthand since I started sales, and I believe I have a greater sense of crisis than anyone else.
But, I suddenly wonder.
Why don't the people who 'do the telling' go out into the field?
For the past quarter-century, I have been in the delivery field at this company. I have lived seriously, like a machine, following the rules. And I believed in the backs of my seniors, respected them, and thought they were 'amazing people.' (At least until I became a salesperson...)
But I realized something.
That many of those backs were 'a sham.'
Shouldn't people in positions like department manager or deputy manager be at the forefront of the organization?
But in reality, it was different.
The people who order us to 'go out and sell' were watching YouTube at their desks.
They focus only on themselves and do not even try to see the hardships of the front lines.
No, if I consult them, they will take some measures.
But that is all.
When the field work is finished, we change out of our dirty clothes, put on suits, and go out for sales with business cards in hand. While handling travel time, document creation, and preparation, we continue to do grassroots sales, looking for even the smallest opportunity.
On the other hand, I have almost never seen a department manager or deputy manager go out and do sales. I don't really know what they do all day, but I have seen them sitting at their desks, watching YouTube, or fiddling with their smartphones many times.
I think.
Why do 'people who don't move' tell others to 'move'?
Of course, I understand that job duties differ depending on the position. I also understand that the higher the position, the more responsibility, coordination, and management tasks there are. But when the front lines are in a state of emergency, is it wrong to want them to look at the front lines even a little and speak from the same perspective?
'The words of a person who does not move do not reach the heart.'
I remembered the words a senior said when I was a newcomer.
I don't mean to sound arrogant. Now that I am in my 50s, there are things I have finally come to understand.
Just saying 'do your best' to a subordinate suffering in the field doesn't resonate. Showing it with your own back, getting covered in mud, and sometimes bowing your head together—isn't that the responsibility of those who stand at the 'top'?
I am not yet a person at the 'top.' But now that I have noticed this contradiction, I want to say it.
For the 'top' of an organization to be truly strong, they must listen to the voices of the 'bottom.'
How desperately the people standing on the front lines are moving. As long as they remain indifferent to that effort, the company will not change. If managers and deputy managers showed us that they were standing at the forefront and moving, we would trust them more, and everyone would follow them more.
That is the 'honest opinion' I feel on the front lines right now.
At first, I felt anger at the state of such an organization.
But now, I have a slightly different way of thinking.
'The person who notices should be the one to change it.'
Blaming the past or lamenting someone else won't change anything.
What is important is how we build the 'future.'
If I am the one who noticed, I should be the first one to act.
It has been less than four weeks since I started the job of sales.
But I have started to see it.
The essence of what a company is, what an organization is, and what a human being is.
To you who are reading this article.
This might be the story of my sales office. But I am sure many people are working while carrying similar 'darkness.'
'Why are we the only ones being made to move?'
'Why won't the people above try to go out to the front lines?'
'Does this organization have a future?'
To everyone who has such questions.
I am continuing to ask these questions now, but I am still looking forward.
And I am wishing.
That someday, we can create the scenery we want to see with our own hands.
The rain is still falling.
But there is no point in waiting for someone to hold an umbrella for you.
I will open my own umbrella and keep walking today.
On this strange, harsh, but hope-filled path called sales.
#I want to deliver the voices of the front lines
#What does it mean to move for the company
#The reality of sales
#The agony of middle management
#Grassroots sales
#Time to rethink how we work
#note writing
#Business contradictions