Their minds focused on busyness and research, Cheng Su’s company has produced a new jam, seven sets of plans, seven glass jars, each jar labeled with a number, filled with red cherry jam, as if the air was tinged with sweetness.
Each of them tasted the jam and wrote its pros and cons on a homemade large blackboard, for example, the pros and cons of Jam Number One, writing them separately, then marking with tally marks; Jam Number Two’s pros and cons were noted similarly, and so on, repeating where necessary.
Next, they gathered all the factory employees, handing out disposable small bowls and spoons, lining up to taste the jam, marking their tasting experiences as tally marks under the respective numbers. If they had additional thoughts, they registered them with Mai Yanmei.
Cheng Su herself tasted carefully, tasting bit by bit, while noting the sensations on her taste buds in her notebook.
By midday, the blackboard was filled with tally marks, and separate ideas noted by Mai Yanmei also included many personal impressions.
Next came the statistics, the best in taste was Jam Number Seven, balanced sweet and sour, not cloying, which was Cheng Su’s jam.
The second in taste was Jam Number Three, made by Technician Zhu, who chose fully sweet fruits but added citric acid, hence the taste was also refreshing.
As for the others, while sweet enough, they were too cloying if eaten in excess, but the one with the best consistency was Jam Number Four, and the one with the most fragrant fruit aroma was Jam Number Five.
Upon reviewing it all, Cheng Su had a clear idea in mind, noting the pros with the most tally marks. It was a coincidence as several advantages were spread across four individuals, with Technician Zhu’s Jam Number Three having captured two pros.
"As I said earlier, whoever’s plan is used to make the jam and wins an award will be rewarded. Now that we’ve gathered the pros together, there are advantages and disadvantages. So everyone, don’t rush, we’ll refine the formula proportions and ingredients, and when we win the award, everyone will be rewarded," Cheng Su said.
"President Cheng, rewards are secondary. The main thing now is the competition; can our company’s jam rank? What I mean is, everyone shouldn’t fight for credit; working together to make the best jam is the real success. I admire Old Liu and Old Zhu greatly," Technician Zhu said with a smile towards his colleagues.
Both humbly glanced at Cheng Su and said, "Xiao Zhu is right, President Cheng, rewards can wait. For now, let’s focus on making the jam great!"
Cheng Su appreciated this kind of enthusiasm; the most important aspect of a team is unity. If one strives for personal credit at the expense of the overall picture, this team will not succeed.
Conversely, when the entire team works in perfect unity, integrating strengths and weaknesses, they achieve more with less effort.
"Great, it’s best if you think this way. I stick to what I said; once the award is won, everyone will share in it," Cheng Su encouraged.
Everyone responded in unison with agreement.
"Let’s continue the meeting. First, our jam; I believe we should first adopt these pros, then redesign a plan to make the jam. Also, I’ve tasted Friendly’s recently launched orange jam, which is their best-selling jam. Have a look..." Cheng Su reviewed her notebook, sharing her thoughts with everyone for discussion.
In the office, everyone engaged in intense discussions and reviews around the jam-making process, and workers passing by dared not tread heavily for fear of disrupting their thoughts.
Some passing by overheard and showed a knowing smile; with such a team, why worry about the company’s development?