The core of e-commerce team management: Focus on standards, not on micromanagement! A practical guide to building an automated team.

Honestly, I've seen too many bosses who are constantly busy putting out fires.

I arrived at the office in the morning and was immediately dragged into a meeting. I barely caught my breath in the afternoon before employees came running in asking how to do this and how to do that. When I got home in the evening, I had to review the mess from the day, and then continue the process the next day.

They seem incredibly dedicated, don't they?

But if you think about it carefully, what exactly is he doing?

It's not about management, it's about problem-solving. And most of these problems arise spontaneously because the standards are unclear.

When employees fail to perform their duties, the boss blames it on their attitude. When work results are unsatisfactory, the boss blames their lack of ability. When the same mistakes keep happening, the boss can only criticize and train them again and again.

Over time, the boss felt that these people were impossible to teach, no matter how he tried. The employees felt that the boss's requirements were always changing, and nothing they did was right.

Both sides were exhausted and felt wronged.

But often, it's not that employees are unwilling to do a good job, but rather that they simply don't know how to do it or what level of performance is considered good.

My own feeling is that instead of spending time repeatedly correcting people, it's better to establish standards first.

This sounds simple, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is the underlying logic of management.

What is a standard?

It's not as simple as telling employees "do this well." That's meaningless because everyone's understanding of "good" is different.

The standard needs to clearly define six things: who is responsible, when it will be completed, what the specific actions are, what the acceptance requirements are, who will inspect, and under what circumstances adjustments are needed.

For example, if a company wants to launch a short video ad, it can't just ask employees to "make the ad campaign perform well." That's too vague, and employees will still be confused.

You need to clarify who is responsible for topic selection and copywriting , and who is responsible for review. What standards should the videos be filmed and edited according to? When should the data be checked after publication? What metrics should be met to allow for further scaling, and what situations should lead to stopping? Finally, who will conduct the post-mortem analysis?

The clearer these requirements are, the more justifiable the employees will be when implementing them, and the more effective the managers will be when conducting inspections.

Think about it: without standards, employees can only act based on their own understanding. Ten people might have ten different approaches, and then the boss has to point out what went wrong when the results aren't satisfactory.

Over time, employees will feel that the boss's requirements are always changing, and the boss will feel that the employees can't be taught no matter how hard they try.

As both parties communicated and revised repeatedly, management costs naturally increased.

The cost of standards existing only in the boss's mind

Sometimes I feel that many companies don't lack judgment criteria, but rather that these criteria only exist in the boss's mind and haven't been translated into processes that the team can execute.

The boss knows which products are worth developing, which copywriting is acceptable, and under what circumstances investment should be increased. However, these judgments are not written down, nor are they formalized into processes or case studies. When employees encounter problems, they still have no choice but to go back to the boss.

If experience cannot be accumulated and replicated, the stronger the boss's problem-solving ability, the more dependent the company may become on the boss personally.

Is this a good thing? In the short term, yes; in the long term, absolutely not.

From individual capabilities to organizational capabilities

Establishing standards means transforming the proven experiences of bosses and outstanding employees from individual capabilities into organizational capabilities.

For every frequently encountered problem solved, document the solution. For every effective strategy validated, clearly write down the rationale behind the decision. For every excellent action discovered, transform it into a process that the team can replicate.

Let me tell you, this process might be a bit clumsy at first, and it takes longer than simply telling employees what to do.

But after a few weeks of consistent practice, you'll find that you're saving more and more time, and your team is gaining a deeper understanding of the standards.

Looking back a few months later, you'll find that you no longer need to keep an eye on everyone every day.

Standards must also evolve with business needs.

Of course, establishing standards does not mean that standards will never change.

The e-commerce industry is changing rapidly. Platform rules, traffic structure, competitive environment and customer needs are constantly changing, and standards must also be iterated along with the business.

Therefore, companies not only need to have implementation standards, but also need to clarify who is responsible for updating the standards, how new experiences can be incorporated into SOPs, and under what circumstances old methods should be phased out.

Good standards do not restrict employees' thinking, but rather reduce low-level repetitive trial and error.

The implementers steadily complete their work according to the current best practices, while the strategists continue to explore new opportunities and methods, and then update the standards with the proven effective experiences.

In this way, companies can execute steadily while continuously evolving.

Clear standards enable management to be truly implemented.

Management certainly involves communication, motivation, and talent development, but all of these should be based on clear standards.

Without standards, managers can only rely on their feelings to evaluate employees. With standards, employees know what they should do, supervisors know what they should check, and the company knows how to improve.

Truly effective management is not about making the boss spend more time monitoring everyone, but about making the right work methods clear, implemented, checked, and continuously iterated.

As standards are gradually established, management can shift from "the boss constantly solving problems" to "the organization solving problems according to the system."

Think about it, it's like going from one person carrying the load to a group of people following a map.

The road is still the same road, but whether you walk it steadily or not depends on how clear the route map is.

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