prazna slama

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

Ken BlanchardCoauthor, The One Minute Manager®

Robert Lorber, Ph.D.Shows How the One Minute Concepts

Work in Real-Life Situations

Puttingthe

MinuteManager

toWorkHow to Turn the 3 Secrets into Skills

dm\'UI

Makes a Difference Where It ReallyCounts-In Performance

USA £20.00

CANADA 026.95

"An outstanding blueprint on how to putThe One Minute Manager to work."

—DAVID C. JONES, General, U.S.A.F. (Ret.)Former Chairman, The Joint Chiefs of Staff

"If you can only read two books this year,read this one twice!"

—Robert A. Elliott

Former President and CEO, Shiley, Inc.,subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc.

Putting the©nc Minute Manager®

to WorkKen Blanchard

Robert Lorber, Ph.D.

The One Minute Manager, published in 1982,took the world by storm. More than 13 millioncopies have been sold in this country and it hasbeen translated into more than 25 languages,making it one of the most influential books aboutbusiness management ever written. The secondbook in this record-breaking series, Putting theOne Minute Manager to Work, turns the threesecrets of One Minute Management into day-today skills and shows how they work in real-lifesituations. By going straight to boardrooms andassembly lines for their examples, the authorsput the One Minute concepts into workingsystems that directly affect a company's bottomline. Here is the next step in the revolutionary,simple, and uniquely effective system that ischanging how the world runs business.

Putting(s)ne

AUnuteManager

to Work

Also by Ken BlanchardSelf Leadership andtheOne

Minute Manager (with SusanFowler and Laurence Hawkins),

2005

The Secret (with Mark Miller),2004

Customer Mania! (with Jim Ballardand Fred Finch), 2004

The Leadership PiU (with MarcMuchnick), 2003

FullSteam Ahead! (with JesseStoner), 2003

The Servant Leader (with PhilHodges), 2003

The One Minute Apofogy™ (withMargret McBride), 2003

Zap theGaps! (with DanaRobinson andJimRobinson),2002

Whale Done!™ (with ThadLacinak, ChuckTompkins, andJimBallard), 2002

High Five! (with Sheldon Bowles),2001

Management ofOrganizationalBehavior: Utilizing HumanResources (with Paul Hersey),8,hedition, 2000

Big Bucks! (with Sheldon Bowles),2000

Leadership by the Book (with BillHybelsand Phil Hodges), 1999

TheHeartof a Leader, 1999Gung Ho!9 (with Sheldon Bowles),

1998

Management by Values (withMichael O'Connor), 1997

Mission Possible (with TerryWaghorn), 1996

Empowerment Takes More Than aMinute (with John P. Carlos andAlanRandolph), 1996

Everyone's a Coach (withDonShula), 1995

We Are the Beloved, 1994Raving Fans9 (with Sheldon

Bowles), 1993Playing the Great Game ofGolf

1992

The OneMinute Manager BuildsHigh Performing Teams (withDon Carew and Eunice Parisi-

Carew), 1989The One Minute Manager Meets

theMonkey (withWilliamOncken, Jr., andHal Burrows),

The Power of Ethical Management(with Norman Vincent Peale),1988

TheOne Minute Manager Gets Fit(with D.W. Edington andMarjorie Blanchard), 1986

Leadership and the OneMinuteManager (with Patricia Zigarmiand Drea Zigarmi), 1985

Organizational Change ThroughEffective Leadership (withRobert H. Guest and Paul

Hersey), 2nd edition,1985The OneMinute Manager9 (with

SpencerJohnson), 1982The Family Game: A Situational

Approach to Effective Parenting(with PaulHersey), 1979

Putting

MinuteManager

to WorkKen Blanchard

Robert Lorber, Ph.D.

*J2*£

WILLIAM MORROW

An Imprint of HarperCoUinsPubliahers

putting THE ONE minute MANAGER TO work (newedition). Copyright © 1984,2006 byBlanchard Management Corporation and RLLorber Family Trust. Allrights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this bookmay be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without writtenpermission except inthe case ofbriefquotations embodied incritical articles andreviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, 10East 53rd Street,New York, NY 10022.

HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or salespromotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department,HarperCollins Publishers, 10East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

Printed on acid-free paper

Library of Congress Catalog Number 83-63021

ISBN-13: 978-0-06-088167-2

ISBN-10: 0-06-088167-4

08 09 10 rrd 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

The SymbolThe One Minute Manager'ssymbol—a one-minute readoutfrom the face ofa modern digitalwatch—is intended to remindeach ofus to take a minute out ofour day, every now and then, tolook into the faces of the peoplewe manage. And to realize thatthey are our most importantresources.

Introduction

In the last episode of The One Minute Manager,the bright young man who was searching for aneffective manager learned the One MinuteManager's three secrets. He immediately realizedthat they were the key to effective management.

The young man learned his lessons well.Eventually he became a One Minute Manager.

He set One Minute goals.He gave One Minute Praisings.He delivered One Minute Reprimands.In this second episode of The One Minute

Manager, a veteran manager wonders whetherusing the three secrets on a day-to-day basis willreally make a difference where it counts—inperformance. He seeks the answer from a new OneMinute Manager. In the process he learns how toput One Minute Management to work in asystematic way to achieve excellence.

This book is meant to be a companion to theoriginalbook. It is a practical toolthat canbe usedindependently to implement the three secrets butwill probably be a richer experience if you havefirst read The One Minute Manager.

We hope you apply and use what the veteranmanager learns and it makes a difference in yourlife and in the lives of those who work with you.

Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D.Robert Lorber, Ph.D.

Putting

MinuteManager

to Work

Foreword

Today more than ever its obvious that the gapbetween learning anddoing is much bigger thanthegap between ignorance and knowledge, particularlyin the areas of leadership and management. As wesay in Putting the One Minute Manager to Work,"Most companies spend all their time looking forthe next new management concept and neverfollow up on what they just taught their people."Recently I gota call from a company that told methey had Steve Covey speak last year and theywanted me to speak this year. I said, "That's great.Fll call Tom Peters and see what hes doing nextyear."

Knowing the reality ofthe gap between learningand doing, I went to Bob Lorber about writingPutting the One Minute Manager to Work.Everybody loved The One Minute Manager andthought itwas great, but I was fearful theywouldn'tput theconcepts into practice. Formanyyears Bobwas one of the top productivity improvementexperts in the country. He built his own consultingfirm, Lorber Kamai, and helped companies ofevery size and shape keep their commitments andfollow through on their good intentions.

That's what Putting the One Minute Manager toWork is all about. If you love The One MinuteManager andreally want to use the three secrets of

Foreword 19

One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praising,andOneMinute Reprimands inyour organization,you're going to find out exactly how to do that inthis book. I've gotten so cocky about the conceptsin Putting the One Minute Manager to Work that Ihave offered companies a five-to-one money-backguarantee.

What I mean by a five-to-one guarantee is this:If the company doesn't return to their bottom linefive times the amount they pay us to implementthe concepts in this book, we'll make up thedifference. People say to me, "How didyou get sococky?" I say, "It's real easy. Nobody ever follows upon anything." How many diets does it take to loseweight? Only the one you stick to. Putting the OneMinute Manager to Work is a book that hasconcepts you ought to stick to. If you believe inthem andfollow them, they'll make a difference inyourorganization and in your people.

One ofthe joys inwriting this book was workingwith Bob Lorber, whom I've known for more thantwenty-five years now. Not only is Bob anaccomplished professional, he is a first-rate humanbeingaswell. I amproudto have worked with himon Putting the One Minute Manager to Work. Wewrote this book together more than twenty years agoandare excited about reissuing this edition, whichis probablymore relevant nowthan it was then. Soenjoy, apply, and use. If you don't, then give me acall so I can give you a One Minute Reprimand.

—Ken Blanchard

TO

Our wives, Margie and Sandy,

for their constant love

and support throughout

the highs and lows

of our lives

Contents

The Question 13The One Minute Manager 15Easier Said Than Done 20

The ABC's of Management 24A Basic Course in ABC's 27

The ABC's of Management: A Summary 28Managing Winners 44Effective Reprimanding 46Theory into Practice 54Setting the Stage for PRICE 57The PRICE System 60Pinpoint the Performance 61Record Current Performance 62

Involve People 65Coach for Performance 74

Evaluate Progress 79The PRICE System: A Summary 84Hank Pays the PRICE 86Some Final Thoughts 99Making a Commitment 101Putting the One Minute Manager to Work 102

Concept Praisings 105Personal Praisings 106About the Authors 110

Services Available 112

The Question I 13

WhHEN the veteran manager finishedreading The One Minute Manager, he put the bookdown on his coffee table. He leaned back with a

questioning look. He had first read the book at theoffice but had brought it home to give it anotherreading.

"Even after a second time through/' he thoughtto himself, "I cannot argue with the logic of thethree secrets of the One Minute Manager. But if Ipractice them, will I actually become a moreproductive manager?"

14 I The Question

The veteran manager decided to do somethingabout his question. The next morning he wouldcall a manager in a town a few hours away whohad, in recent years, turned a troublesomecompany into a very profitable enterprise. Theveteran had read a newspaper interview with thismanager in which he had credited much of hissuccess to practicing One Minute Management. Infact, he now called himself a "One MinuteManager."

The One Minute Manager I 15

T,.HE next morning when the veteranmanager got to his office, he called the new OneMinute Manager. He introduced himself andasked the manager if he could see him sometimethat week and talk about One Minute

Management. The veteran had been warned whatthe answer might be but he was still surprisedwhen the One Minute Manager actually said,"Come anytime except Wednesday morning.That's when I meet with my key people. To behonest with you, I don't have much else scheduledthis week. You pick the time."

"Fll be over tomorrow morning at ten," said theveteran manager, chuckling to himself. When hehung up the phone he thought, "This ought to beinteresting. Fm sure Fll get my questionsanswered."

16 I The One Minute Manager

When the veteran manager arrived at the OneMinute Manager's office, the secretary said, "He'sexpecting you. Go right in."

As he entered the room, he found a man in hislate forties standing by the window looking out.

The veteran manager coughed and the OneMinute Manager looked up. He smiled and said,"Good to see you. Let's sit down over here." He ledthe manager to a conversation area in the cornerof the room.

"Well, what can I do for you?" the One MinuteManager asked as he sat down.


"I have read The One Minute Manager and sohave my people," the veteran manager began.Tm enthusiastic right now and so are they, butthat has happened before when a newmanagement system has been introduced. Myquestion is how do you put One MinuteManagement to work in a way that turns thesecrets into usable skills and makes a differencewhere it really counts—in performance?"

"Before I attempt to answer that question," saidthe One Minute Manager, "let me ask you one.What do you think the message of One MinuteManagement is?"

"It's quite simple," said the veteran manager."If you have a sheet of paper I'll write it down foryou."

The One Minute Manager went over to his deskand got a pad. He gave it to the veteran manager.Without pausing the veteran manager wrote:

*

People Who ProduceGood Results

Feel Good

About Themselves

*


"That's an interesting twist," said the OneMinute Manager, gesturing to a plaque on thewall behind his desk. It read: people who feelGOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES PRODUCE GOOD

results. "Why did you change it?""I think it better represents the essence of One

Minute Management," insisted the veteranmanager, "and besides, it's more consistent withwhat you teach."

"Consistent?" questioned the One MinuteManager.

"Yes," responded the veteran manager firmly."You say that one of the key ingredients to a OneMinute Praising is to be specific—to tell theperson exactly what he or she did right."

"That's true," said the One Minute Manager."Then praisings, which help make people feel

good about themselves, are not effective unlessthose people have done something positive first,"smiled the veteran manager, feeling he had theOne Minute Manager trapped.

20 I Easier Said Than Done

.OU'RE a tough man," laughed the OneMinute Manager, "and you really have a handleon One Minute Management. I think I can learn afew things from you. Fll feel goodabout sharing asmuch as I can too."

"I doubt if you will learn much from me," saidthe veteran manager. "I'm just a 'street fighter'who has survived."

"Can't take a compliment, huh?" mused the OneMinute Manager. "Most people can't quite acceptbeing praised."

"I would imagine that's because we've nevergotten much practice receiving praisings," saidthe veteran manager. "And it's not easy to dosomething that you're not used to doing, even ifyou believe in it."

"Right," said the One Minute Manager. "One ofthe reasons it's hard to implement One MinuteManagement is that people will have to changesome of their old behavior. And focusing on andchanging how people treat each other inorganizations is something that gets only lipservice. Most top managers think thatmanagement training is just a fringe benefit—anice little frill they can give all their employeesevery year. That's why I have that saying on thewall," he added as he gestured to a plaque on theother side of the room. It said:

*

Most CompaniesSpend All Their TimeLooking For AnotherManagement Concept

And

Very Little TimeFollowing Up The OneThey Have Just Taught

Their Managers

22 I Easier Said Than Done

"That's so true," said the veteran manager."And people do the same thing. They're alwayslooking for the next quick fix rather than usingwhat they have already learned. They go from onediet program to another diet program, oneexercise plan to another, without following thelast program."

"Then they wonder why they don't lose weightor build up their hearts," said the One MinuteManager. "It reminds me of a story of the manwho slipped and fell off a cliff while hiking on amountaintop. Luckily he was able to grab abranch on his way down. Holding on for dear life,he looked down only to see a rock valley somefifteen hundred feet below. When he looked up itwas twenty feet to the cliff where he had fallen.

"Panicked, he yelled, 'Help! Help! Is anybody upthere? Help!'

"A booming voice spoke up. 'I am here and I willsave you if you believe in me.'

"'I believe! I believe!' yelled back the man."'If you believe me,' said the voice, 'let go of the

branch and then I will save you.'"The young man, hearing what the voice said,

looked down again. Seeing the rock valley below,he quickly looked back up and shouted, 'Is thereanybody else up there?'"

Easier Said Than Done I 23

"That's a good one," laughed the veteranmanager. "That's exactly what I don't want todo—hold on to the branch and keep looking foranother system. One Minute Management is theway I want to manage and be managed. All I wantto know is how to put it to work so that it lasts andmakes a difference."

"Then you came to the right place," said the OneMinute Manager. "What problems have you beenhaving using the three secrets?"

"I think the main difficulty I have had," said theveteran manager, "has been turning the secretsinto skills. That is, knowing when to do what. Forexample, I think that sometimes I'mreprimanding when I should be goal setting and atother times Fm goal setting when I should bereprimanding."

"I had the same trouble," said the One MinuteManager, "until I learned my ABC's."

"I know you're not talking about the ABC's ofschool days," said the veteran. "So what do youmean?"

24 I The ABC's ofManagement

O, I'm not referring to the alphabet, butthe ABC's are a way of getting back to basics.They've helped this organization make thetransition from secrets to skills. We knew the

three secrets of One Minute Management, and wewere really enthusiastic, but they weren'tinfluencing performance significantly until welearned the ABC's of management," said the OneMinute Manager. Turning to the blackboard onhis office wall he wrote:

A = Activators

B = Behavior

C = Consequences

Then he began his explanation:"A stands for activators. Activators are those

things that have to be done by a manager beforesomeone can be expected to accomplish a goal. Bstands for behavior or performance. It is what aperson says or does. C stands for consequences orwhat a manager does after someone accomplishesor attempts to accomplish a goal. If managers canlearn to understand and deliver the necessaryactivators (A) and consequences (C), they canensure more productive behavior (B) orperformance."

"So learning your ABC's is a good key togood performance," said the veteran.

The ABC's ofManagement I 25

"It certainly is," said the One Minute Manager."A number of companies have realized that theycan experience significant performanceimprovement by following up and getting theirmanagers to actually use the ABC's and otherimplementation strategies I'll teach you."

"Could you tell me more about them?" said theveteran manager.

"I think what's interesting about thesecompanies," said the One Minute Manager, "isthat they are from a variety of businesses andindustries, but in every case real bottom-lineimprovements were experienced. They worked onsuch things as productivity (both quality andquantity), safety, retention, sales, costs, andprofits."

"You've got my interest," said the veteranmanager. "I think I'd better learn more about theABC's if I want to put One Minute Management towork and make those kinds of differences."

"Why don't you go see one of our people, TomConnelly," said the One Minute Manager. "Heincreased retention and made major performanceimprovements in one of our departments. He cantell you all about the ABC's."

26 I The ABC's of Management

"I'd love to meet him," said the veteranmanager. "But before you call him, let me ask youone more thing. Do you always talk in threes?First three secrets and now ABC's."

"Not always," smiled the One Minute Manager."But I believe in the KISS method: Keep It Shortand Simple. I don't think people can remember awhole lot of things, particularly if they are goingto use what they have learned."

"Isn't KISS usually Keep It Simple, Stupid?"wondered the veteran manager.

"Yes," admitted the One Minute Manager. "Butsince One Minute Management is a positiveapproach to managing people, we use a positiveway to express the concept."

"I knew you'd have a good explanation," smiledthe veteran. "I'm looking forward to meetingConnelly."

The One Minute Manager dialed a number andsaid, "Tom, I have an experienced manager herewho wants to learn his ABC's. Are you free?"

Although the veteran could not hear everythingclearly, he smiled as he thought he heardConnelly say, "Send him over. I've just gottenback. I was out having fun catching my peopledoing things right."

"Stop back when you are finished talking withTom," said the One Minute Manager as he led theveteran manager to the door.

"Sure will!" said the veteran manager. "Thanksfor your time."

A Basic Course in ABC's I 27

WhHEN the veteran manager got toConnelly's office, he found a sharply dressed manin his mid-forties.

As Connelly got up from his desk andintroduced himself, the veteran manager got rightto the point: "Your boss told me you could give methe real lowdown on the ABC's of management."

"Fll try," said Connelly. "Let me start off bygiving you this summary that we use so everyonecan remember the ABC's." He handed the veteran

manager a chart.

28 I The ABC's ofManagement: A Summary

TheABCsofManagement:A Summary

The term:

A B c

ACTIVATOR BEHAVIOR CONSEQUENCE

What it means:

What a manager doesbefore performance

Performance: Whatsomeone says or does

What a manager doesafter performance

Examples:

One Minute GoalSetting

• Areas of

Accountability

• Performancestandards

• Instructions

• Writes report

• Sells product

• Comes to workon time

• Misses deadline

• Types letter

• Makes mistake

• Fills order

One Minute Praising

• Immediate, specific

• Shares feelings

One MinuteReprimand

• Immediate, specific

• Shares feelings

• Supports individual

No Response


The veteran manager read the chart verycarefully. When he finished reading he looked up,smiled, and said, "So One Minute Goal Setting isan activator?"

"Yes," said Connelly. "An activator is like anante in poker. It gets things started."

"If goal setting is an activator," said theveteran, "then you're not in the managementgame unless your people are clear on their keyareas of responsibility (accountability) and whatgood performance in each of those areas looks like(performance standards)."

"That's why goal setting is the most importantactivator for managers to remember," saidConnelly. "It starts the whole managementprocess."

"Sounds good," affirmed the veteran manager."Once people are activated, then they are ready toperform."

"They certainly are," said Connelly. "It's thatperformance that managers need to watch. Onceyou have asked someone to do something, whatthey say or do while trying to accomplish thedesired task is their performance or behavior—the B of ABC's."

"Is what people think or feel consideredbehavior?" asked the veteran manager.

"No," said Connelly. "While thoughts andfeelings are important, since they often determinewhat people do, they are not considered behaviorbecause they are behind the eyeballs."

"In other words," jumped in the veteran, "youcannot see them."

30 I A Basic Course in ABC's

"Right," said Connelly. "Once you get intothoughts and feelings, there's lots of room forcomplications and misunderstanding. If we stickto behavior, things are clearer because behaviorcan be observed and measured. As you can seefrom the chart, writing a report, selling a product,coming to work on time, missing a deadline,typing a letter, making a mistake, and filling anorder are all behaviors."

"From that list, it seems that behavior can beeither desirable or undesirable," commented theveteran manager.

"Right," said Connelly. "And how easily you areable to distinguish between the two depends onthe goal-setting process. You see, if One MinuteGoal Setting is done properly, the desiredperformance is stated in behavioral terms—thatis, it can be seen (observed) and counted(measured). That is important because when youobserve someone's behavior you want to be able todetermine whether it is contributing toward theaccomplishment of the goal (they are doing thingsright), or taking away from goal achievement(they are doing things wrong). That gives you anidea of how to respond as that person's boss."

"Respond?" said the veteran manager."Responding has to do with consequences," said

Connelly. "The C in our ABC's. They are theresponses managers give to people when theyeither perform a task or attempt to perform a task.Consequences follow or come after someperformance."


"One Minute Praisings and One MinuteReprimands are obviously consequences," said theveteran manager.

"A One Minute Praising is an example of apositive consequence or response," said Connelly,"while a One Minute Reprimand is an example ofa negative response. Whether positive ornegative, the consequence has to be appropriate."

"Appropriate?" wondered the veteran manager."If you want people to stop doing something,

give them a negative response like a One MinuteReprimand," said Connelly. "But if you wantpeople to keep on doing something, or to improveor to learn something new, give them a positiveconsequence like a One Minute Praising."

"I find that using praisings and reprimandsappropriately is not always easy," said theveteran manager.

"It certainly isn't," said Connelly. "One of theproblems is that many managers seem to praise orreprimand their people depending on how theythemselves feel on any given day, regardless ofanyone's performance. If they are feeling good,they pat everyone on the back, and if they are in abad mood, they yell at everyone."

"And I would imagine that if managers startdoing that—that is, praising and reprimandingindiscriminately—their credibility will soon beshot," said the veteran manager.

32/ A Basic Course in ABC's

"Good point," commented Connelly. "It remindsme ofthe stoiy about the blindmanwho iswalkingdown the streetwith his Seeing Eye dog. Theygetto a corner andwhile they arewaiting for the lightto change, the dog lifts his legand urinates on theblind mans pants. When that happens, the blindman reaches into his pocket and takes out a dogtreat. Then he bends down and looks as if he isabout to give it to the dog. A bystander who hasseen this whole thing can't contain himself anylonger so hegoes uptotheblind man andsays, 'Sir,its probably none ofmy business but I noticed thatyour dog relieved himself on you and now you areabout togive him atreat. Doyou think thatisreallya good idea?' The blind man smiles and says, Tmnotabout to give my dog a treat. I justwant to findout where his head is so I can kick him in the tail.'"

"That's beautiful," laughed the veteran. <0Whenpeople see a manager isn't credible, that isconfusing to them. If the blind man gave the doga treat for inappropriate behavior like that andyelled at him when he really wasn't doing anythingwrong, the dog would soon become confused andnot know what to do. I have seen confusion likethat in organizations. Therefore I'd better makesure I understand about consequences."

"Good idea," said Connelly.


"As I told the One Minute Manager," continuedthe veteran manager, "my problem is moreconfusion about when to be reprimanding andwhen to be goal setting than any difficultybetween reprimanding and praising. Do you haveany suggestions?"

"Yes," said Connelly. "Remember, you caneffectively reprimand only winners because youcan then end your negative feedback with apraising like: Tou're one of my best people—thisrecent performance is so unlike you.' You can't dothat with people who are learning to perform andtherefore have no past good performance history."

"So what do you do when people who arelearning make a mistake?" queried the veteran.

"I would go back to goal setting and ante upagain. You can summarize it this way," saidConnelly, writing on his pad of paper:


When to Reset Goals

AND

When to Reprimand

If a person:

CAN'T DO something ^Go Back to Goal Setting(A Training Problem)

If a person:

WON'T DO something » Reprimand(An Attitude Problem)


"That's very helpful," said the veteran. "So younever reprimand learners."

"No," said Connelly, "or you will immobilizethem and make them even more insecure."

"So reprimands do not teach skills," observedthe veteran manager. "They can just changeattitudes—get skilled people back to using theirabilities."

"Precisely," said Connelly. "After you resetgoals with someone you are training, you don'tleave that person alone. Observe the performanceagain and then either praise progress or go back togoal setting once more."

"It seems to me from what you're saying,"commented the veteran, "that there are five stepsto training a learner to be a good performer:

1. Tell (what to do)

2. Show (how to do)

Then

3. Let the person try

4. Observe performance

And

5. Praise progressor

Redirect


"You're on the money," said Connelly. "That's agood summary of how to train someone."

"What if you keep redirecting some of yourpeople again and again and they just don't showany progress?" questioned the veteran manager.

"You talk to such a person about careerplanning," laughed Connelly. "In other words, heor she just might not be in the right job."

"Given the importance of redirecting intraining," said the veteran, "why don't you list itas a consequence on your ABC chart?"

"That's a good question," said Connelly. "Iheard you were sharp. Redirecting certainly doesfollow behavior. But I never thought of it as aconsequence. I'll have to add it."

"I do see from the chart, though," said theveteran, "that you have 'no response' listed as aconsequence."

"It's the most popular with Americanmanagers," said Connelly. "So often managerssimply ignore their people's performance, and itdoesn't work."

"What do you mean?" said the veteranmanager.

"What happens if you get no response afterperforming a task?" asked Connelly. "Yourmanager doesn't do or say anything."

"In the beginning, I'd try harder," said theveteran. "Fd think, If only I try harder maybe myboss will notice.'"


"What if your boss still doesn't notice orrespond?" asked Connelly.

"After a while, I'd start doing it 'half-fast,'"smiled the veteran, getting into the humor thatthe One Minute Manager and his people seemedto enjoy. "Since no one seems to care whether I dothis or not, why kill myself?"

"Unless you were doing something that wasmotivating to you in and of itself," said Connelly.

"If that occurred you would be confused aboutthe difference between work and play," said theveteran manager.

"That's an interesting way to put it," saidConnelly. "If you are doing what you enjoy atwork, you will continue to do it well regardless ofwhether anyone notices and pats you on the back.But generally, no response to good performance,like a negative consequence, tends to decrease thepossibility of that performance being repeated."

"Let me see if I have all this straight," said theveteran manager as he showed Connelly his notes:

*

OnlyPositive

Consequences

EncourageGood

Future

Performance

*


"That's the headline," said Connelly, "and yet,what are the most frequent responses managersgive to the performance of their people?"

"Negative or no response at all," said theveteran manager. "As we both know, theAmerican way of managing seems to be: Whenpeople perform well, their managers do nothing.When they make a mistake, their managers 'hit'them."

"It's the old 'leave alone-zap' technique," saidConnelly with a smile. "Not a very effective way ofmotivating people."

"But a very easy habit to fall into," said theveteran manager. "I've done it myself. I can seenow that if I'm going to manage my people, I'dbetter learn to manage consequences."

"That's an important lesson to learn," saidConnelly. "Most people think that activators havea greater influence on performance thanconsequences. And yet, only fifteen to twenty-fivepercent of what influences performance comesfrom activators like goal setting, while seventy-five to eighty-five percent of it comes fromconsequences like praisings and reprimands."

"You're saying that what happens after aperson does something has more impact thanwhat happens before?" questioned the veteranskeptically.


"That's it," said Connelly. "Performance isdetermined mainly by consequences. That's whythe One Minute Manager is so vehement aboutthe importance of follow-up. We believe youshould spend ten times as much time following upyour management training as it took to plan andconduct an initial program. Otherwise people willrevert back to old behavior within a short period."

"Yes, but if you don't set goals, the chances arelow that people will do what you want them todo in the first place," interjected the veteranmanager.

"Right," said Connelly. "But all the goal settingin the world without any managing ofconsequences—praising good performance andreprimanding poor—will only get things startedand provide short-term success for a manager. Inother words, managers will get the performancethey want only when they are there, but whenthey are not there, people may or may not engagein the behavior the manager wants. We have asaying that emphasizes the importance ofmanaging consequences," said Connelly as hepointed to a plaque on the wall.

*

As A ManagerThe Important ThingIs Not What HappensWhen You Are There

But

WhatHappens WhenYou Are Not There

*


"That's so true," said the veteran. "I can alwaysget the performance I want from people, even frommy kids at home, when I am there. But I'm notaround all the time. In fact, I think I spend asmuch, if not more, time at work with my peers (atthe same level in the organization) and with myboss as I do with my subordinates."

"So the way you can really tell how good amanager you are," said Connelly, "is not by whathappens when you are there, but by what happenswhen you're not there. And the secret to gettinggood performance from your people when you'renot there is how effectively you deliverconsequences when you are there—both praisingsand reprimands."

"It is clear to me now," said the veteranmanager, "what you meant when you saidactivators are important for starting goodperformance—getting it done the first time—butwhat really determines and influences whetherthat desired performance will be repeated whenyou are not there is what happens after theoriginal performance. The 'leave alone-zap'approach just frustrates and alienates people."

"The whole purpose of teaching our people theirABC's," said Connelly, "is to ensure that theysequence One Minute Goal Setting, One MinutePraisings, and One Minute Reprimands in theproper order. It's a behavioral reminder."


"You have certainly shown me how to begin toturn the secrets into skills," said the veteran. "Idon't think I'll ever forget when to do whatanymore. But let me ask one more question. Youhave been emphasizing the importance of clear,good goal setting, followed by One MinutePraisings for good performance. I seem to havelost the idea of the effective use of One Minute

Reprimands. Could you share with me some ofthepositive uses of reprimands again?"

"You might want to talk to the One MinuteManager about the effective use of One MinuteReprimands," said Connelly. "He loves to teachthat secret, and besides, he would be willing toanswer any questions you have about One MinuteGoal Setting and One Minute Praisings as well."

"That's a good idea," said the veteran manager."I certainly have taken up enough of your time."

"That's OK," said Connelly. "I have enjoyed it.Besides, knowing my ABC's has really helped mefree up a lot of my time."

"I hope it does the same for me," said theveteran.

44 I Managing Winners

A S the veteran manager left Connelly'soffice, he found his mind going a mile a minute.Connelly had been quite helpful. As heapproached the One Minute Manager's office, themanager's secretary smiled. "Did you have a goodmeeting with Tom Connelly?" she asked.

"I sure did," the veteran manager replied,returning her smile. "Could I see the boss?"

"Go right in," she said. "He was wondering ifyou were coming back."

As the veteran entered the office, he found theOne Minute Manager looking out his favoritewindow. He turned as he heard the veteran

manager enter.

"You were with Connelly for quite a while. Thetwo of you must have gotten along quite well," hesaid.

"It was most helpful," said the veteran. "But Ihave some concerns about the use of reprimands,"he went on. "In teaching me the ABC's, Connellyseemed to stress the importance of praisings butdownplayed the use of reprimands. I know youbelieve in delivering bad news sometimes. MaybeI just need some reorientation."

"The best way for me to respond to yourconcerns about reprimanding," replied the OneMinute Manager, "is to start by talking aboutmanaging winners—people with proven trackrecords. Winners are easy to supervise. All youhave to do is ante up One Minute Goals and thenthey are off."

Managing Winners I 45

"That fits with my experience," said the veteranmanager. "While everyone likes a pat on the backonce in a while, you don't have to praise winnersvery much. They usually beat you to the punch.Besides not praising winners very much, you don'toften have to reprimand them either, do you?"

"No!" said the One Minute Manager. "Goodperformers are usually self-correcting. If theymake a mistake, they fix it before anyone elsenotices."

"But everyone makes a mistake sometimes thathe or she is unaware of," stated the veteranmanager.

"Then you may have to reprimand," said theOne Minute Manager. "However, if they know thethree secrets, good performers don't resent itbecause of the way you deliver that reprimand."

"I assume you are talking about ending thereprimand with a praising," commented theveteran manager.

"Precisely," said the One Minute Manager."Connelly cleared up for me why you don't

reprimand a learner, but I still have troubleunderstanding why you praise someone at the endof a reprimand," said the veteran manager.

"Remember, you only reprimand when youknow the person can do better," the One MinuteManager reminded him. "When you leave yourpeople after a reprimand, you want them to bethinking about what they did wrong, not aboutthe way you treated them."

"I don't understand," the veteran hesitated.

46 I Effective Reprimanding

"L'ET me see if I can explain it this way," saidthe One Minute Manager. "Most people not onlydon't end their reprimands with a praising, theygive the person a parting shot: 'If you think you'regoing to get promoted, you have another thinkcoming.' Now when you leave that person,especially if there is a co-worker within earshot,what do you think these folks will be talkingabout? How you treated the person you werereprimanding or what the person did wrong?"

"How you treated the person," said the veteranmanager.

"Precisely," said the One Minute Manager."They're talking about what an SOB you are. Andyet that person did something wrong. If you endyour reprimand with a praising, you will betelling the person, 'You are OK but your behaviorisn't!' Then when you leave, the person will bethinking about what he or she did wrong. If forany reason he tries to badmouth you to coworkers, they will stop it by saying, 'What are yougetting so excited about? He said you were one ofhis best people. He just doesn't want you to makethat mistake again.'"

"I think I understand what you're saying aboutending with a praising," said the veteranmanager. "See if this is a good summarycomment." He showed his notes to the One Minute

Manager. They said:

When You

End A ReprimandWith A Praising

People ThinkAbout

Their Behavior

Not

Your Behavior


"That's very well put," said the One MinuteManager. "I'm reminded ofa personal experience Ihad that proves your point. One Friday night mywife said to me, 'Great manager of people . . .'Whenever she says that I know our kids have donesomething wrong and I am about to get theproblem dumped in my lap. She had just caughtKaren [our fifteen-year-old daughter] sneakingout of the house with a bottle of vodka on the wayto the football game.

'"I think I will kill her,' said my wife. 'Could youtake over?'

"I have a lot of respect for single parentsbecause there is no one in the bullpen they cancall on. We have always had a strategy: If one ofus is out of control, we throw the ball to the other.

"Since I had just learned about the reprimand, Ithought this might be a good opportunity to see ifit worked. I said, 'Where is Karen?' My wife said,'She's in the kitchen.' So I went right out to thekitchen and found Karen standing there lookinglike she was about to be sent to the dungeon. Iwalked right up to her and put my hand gently onher shoulder. I said, 'Karen, Mom tells me she justcaught you sneaking out ofthe house with a bottleof vodka. Let me tell you how I feel about that. Ican't believe it. How many times have I told youthe way kids get killed is to have some kiddrinking and driving. And to be sneaking aroundwith a bottle of vodka . . .'

EffectiveReprimanding I 49

"Now I knew that the rule of the reprimand wasthat you only have about thirty seconds to shareyour feelings."

"I bet you wanted two hours," said the veteran."You better believe it," laughed the One Minute

Manager. "Some parents take a whole weekend.Your child does something wrong on Friday nightand you chew the kid out. A half hour later yousee the same kid and you say, 'Let me tell you oneother thing. . . .' Then you see the kid the nextmorning and you say, 'Let me tell you about yourfriends too. . . .' You spend the whole weekendmaking everyone miserable overonemisbehavior.

"The rule about the reprimand is that you onlyhave thirty seconds to share your feelings, andwhen it's over—it's over. Don't keep beating onthe person for the same mistake.

"Recognizing all this, I had to come to ascreeching halt in sharing my feelings withKaren. It was at this point that I realized theimportance of pausing for a moment of silence inbetween sharing your feelings and the last part ofthe reprimand. It permits you tocalm down and atthe same time lets the person you arereprimanding feel the intensity of your feelings.So I took a deep breath while Karen wasswallowing hard. Then I said, 'Let me tell you oneother thing, Karen. I love you. You're a realresponsible kid. Mom andI normallydon'thave toworry about you. This sounds like some other kid.You're better than that. That's why Mom and I arenot going to let you get away with that kind ofbehavior.'


"Then I gave her a hug and said, 'Now get off tothe game but remember, you're better than that.'"

"I'mnotsure I would have let hergo to the gameafter something like that," said the veteran. "I betshe couldn't believe it herself."

"She couldn't believe it," confirmed the OneMinute Manager. "But I told her, 'Now you knowhow I feel about teenage drinking and sneakingaround. I know you're not going to do that again,so have a good time.'

"In the past, before I knew about the OneMinute Reprimand, not only would I not haveended her reprimand with a praising, I wouldhave sent her to her room, screaming somethinglike 'You're not going to another football gameuntil you're twenty-five.'

"Now, if I had senther toher room, what do youthink she would have been thinking about? Whatshe did wrong or how I had treated her?" asked theOne Minute Manager.

"How you had treated her," said the veteranmanager. "I bet she would have been on the phoneimmediately, telling her friends what a monsteryou were. Teenagers love to share parent stories."

"Absolutely," said the One Minute Manager."And then shewould have been psychologically offthe hook for what she had done wrong, with allher attention focused on how I had treated her."

Effective Reprimanding I 51

"What happened next?" asked the veteran,feeling he was in the middle of a soap opera.

"The next morning," continued the One MinuteManager, "when I was eating breakfast, Karencame downstairs. Wondering how I had done, Iasked her, 'Karen, how did you like the way Idealt with the vodka incident last night?'

'"I hated it,' she said. 'You ruined the footballgame for me.'

'"I ruined the football game for you?'"'Yes,' she said. 'Because all throughthe game I

kept thinking about what I had done and howmuch I had disappointed you and Mom!'

"I smiled to myself and thought, 'It worked! Itreallyworked! Shewas concentrating onwhat shehad done wrong and not on how I had treatedher.'"

"That was a very helpful, clear example," saidthe veteran manager. "I think I've gotthat partofthe reprimand, but I'd like to ask you a couplemore things about the One Minute Reprimand."

"Fire away," said the One Minute Manager."Most of the questions we get about One MinuteManagement have to do with the reprimand."

"What if the person you are reprimanding—Karen, for example—starts to argue with you?"asked the veteran.


"You stop what you are saying right then," saidthe One Minute Manager, "and make it very clearto that person that this is not a discussion. 'I amsharing my feelings about what you did wrong,and if you want to discuss it later, I will. But forright now this is not a two-way discussion. I amtelling you how I feel.'"

"That's helpful," said the veteran. "One otherthing. If I buy praising someone at the end of areprimand, why not begin a reprimand with apraising? When I did reprimands in the past, Iused the 'sandwich approach': Pat 'em on the back,kick 'em in the butt, pat 'em on the back."

"I know that style well," said the One MinuteManager, "but I've learned that it is veryimportant to keep praisings and reprimandsseparate. If you start a reprimand with a praising,then you will ruin the impact of your praising."

"Why?" asked the veteran manager."Because when you go to see a person just to

praise him," said the One Minute Manager, "hewill not hear your praising because he will bewondering when the other shoe will drop—whatbad news will follow the good."

"So by keeping praisings and reprimands inorder, you will let your people hear both moreclearly," summarized the veteran. "What aboutmore tangible punishments like demotion, beingtransferred, or some other penalty? Are they everappropriate?"

Effective Reprimanding I 53

"Our experience with the One MinuteReprimand," said the One Minute Manager,"suggests that you usually do not need to addsome additional penalty. It is an uncomfortableenough experience."

"That was beautifully illustrated with Karen,"said the veteran manager. "I think you reallycleared up my questions about reprimands. Andalso, I can now see how learning the ABC's helpsmanagers take their knowledge of One MinuteManagement and translate it into action. But howcan you integrate One Minute Management into atotal organizational program for performanceimprovement?"

"You have to pay the PRICE," said the OneMinute Manager with a smile.

"What is PRICE?" asked the veteran manager."The PRICE system," said the One Minute

Manager, "goes beyond the ABC's by providingmanagers with five easy-to-follow steps that caninvolve everyone in improving performance."

"It sounds fascinating," said the veteran, "butmy head is already swimming from all that I havelearned today."

"Why don't you stay overnight locally and wecan get together at nine in the morning? I'll askmy secretary to make a reservation for you at theOsborn Hotel. The manager there is really excitedabout One Minute Management and hasimplemented a unique praising programdesignedto catch his employees doing things right. I thinkyou will find it most interesting."

"Sounds good to me," said the veteran.

54 I Theory into Practice

W,HEN the veteran manager arrived at thehotel, he went straight to the registration desk. Ashe was checking in, the receptionist said, "Ourcustomers are important to us. I wonder if I canask you to do us a favor during your visit."

"Sure," said the veteran. "What is it?""We'd like you to take this book of 'praising

coupons.'* If any of our employees treats you theway you like to be treated, would you tear off acoupon, write on the back what the employee didright, find out what his or her name is, and turn itin at the manager's office?"

"So all your customers are catching youremployees doing things right," laughed theveteran. "I bet a praising comes with each couponthe manager receives."

"You readthe Book," exclaimed the receptionistwith a smile.

"I did. Your hotel really seems to be putting OneMinute Management to work," said the veteran.

"It's a fantastic system!" responded thereceptionist enthusiastically. "Have a niceevening."

*Drew Dimond, former district director of Holiday Inns,Inc., in Nashville, Tennessee, got excited about The OneMinute Manager and decided to implement a praising-coupon program in one of his hotels. Gary Wood, the hotelmanager, ran with the ball. Th£ results described here aresimilar to those they have observed in this Holiday Inn.

Theory into Practice I 55

After an early dinner, the veteran went straightto his room to relax. He was amazed by how wellhe had been treated by all the hotel employees. Hehad already given out three coupons—to thebellman, his waitress, and the maitre d'. Catchingpeople doing things right was changing his wholeattitude toward this hotel. The praising couponsmade it his job as a guest not to complain but tocompliment.

The next morning, the veteran manager packedhis bags and headed downstairs. After havingbreakfast he checked out. On his way out of thehotel, he stopped by the manager's office to dropoff his praising coupons. The manager happenedto be there.

As he handed the manager his praisingcoupons, the veteran manager said, "I think thispraising program of yours is a great idea. It'sa very practical way to put One MinuteManagement to work. Have there been anytangible bottom-line effects of the program?"

"While we have only had the system in place forabout five months," said the hotel manager, "wehave already seen significant reductions inabsenteeism and turnover. Our employees lookforward to coming to work now because they areanxious to see if they can be caught doingsomething right. And we have not been giving anyfinancial payoffs for coupons—just a pat on theback for a job well done."

56 I Theory into Practice

"Do you think this program has changed thecustomers' attitudes, too?" wondered the veteran.

"Absolutely!" said the hotel manager. "Ourgreatest improvement has been in guestinspection scores. Our guests are asked to rate thehotel on an ABCDF scale on such items as

value/cost, appearance, service, and friendliness.Prior to the praising program fewer than seventypercent of the guests who filled out the guestinspections cards rated the hotel in the A to Brange. After the first five months of the program,the scores are averaging over ninety percent A'sand B's and we are getting three times as manyreturned cards."

"So your praising coupons are paying highdividends for you, your customers, and youremployees," said the veteran manager.

"Yes," said the hotel manager. "Putting the OneMinute Manager to work pays a good return oninvestment."

As the veteran manager shook hands with thehotel manager, he smiled and said, "My stay herehas been very profitable to me too!"

Setting the Stage for PRICE I 57

W„HEN the veteran arrived at the One

Minute Manager's office, he found him in hisusual pose by the window. When he sensed theveteran standing in the doorway, the One MinuteManager turned around and greeted him with afriendly handshake and offered the veteran achair at the conference table.

"Well, did you enjoy your stay at the OsbornHotel last night?" the One Minute Manager askedas he sat down.

"I certainly did," responded the veteran, "andyou were right—it was unique!"

"I wanted you to experience," confided the OneMinute Manager, "an attempt to put One MinuteManagement to work before we talked today. Ithought it would help you understand our PRICEsystem better."

As the veteran manager was listening to theOne Minute Manager, he noticed a new plaque onhis desk. It read:

*

Don't Just Do Something-

Sit There

*

Setting the Stage for PRICE I 59

The veteran manager smiled because he knewhow the usual frantic, yet inefficient, pace of mostorganizations demanded the opposite.

"My key people gave it to me," said the OneMinute Manager, when he saw the veteranlooking at the plaque. "They thought itsymbolized the importance of goal setting as ameans of avoiding the 'activity trap.'"

"The activity trap?" wondered the veteranmanager.

"That's where people are running around tryingto do things right before anyone has stopped tofigure out the right things to do."

"Talking about doing things right," said theveteran, "What's the best way for me to learnPRICE?"

"Why don't you go and talk to Alice Smith,"suggested the One Minute Manager. "She's one ofour most creative managers. She helped usdevelop the PRICE system. Since she took overour sales operation, sales have skyrocketed."

As the One Minute Manager was calling AliceSmith, the veteran manager was smiling tohimself. He thought, "They certainly have takenall the mystique out of managing people. I'll betPRICE is really quite simple, but powerful."

"Well, Alice is all set to see you," said the OneMinute Manager. "You can head over to her officeright away. She is in the same building asConnelly but on the third floor."

60 I The PRICE System

W»HEN the veteran manager got to AliceSmith's office, he found her working quietly at herdesk. He thought to himself, "At last a OneMinute Manager who seems to be doing somework."

She smiled as he entered. "So you want to knowif the PRICE is right," she said as she beckonedthe veteran to sit down.

"Corny but true," said the veteran. "I'm anxiousto get started."

"That's important because the PRICE system isthe nuts and bolts of how to put the One MinuteManager to work and make a difference every dayin the performance and satisfaction of people onthe job. But you have to listen carefully becausenow we take the three basic skills and turn them

into five important steps."Smith immediately went to the small

blackboard behind her desk and wrote:

Pinpoint

Record

Involve

Coach

Evaluate

Pinpoint the Performance I 61

wpJLlNPOINT is the process of defining key

performance areas for people in observable,measurable terms," began Smith. "In essence, it isthe performance areas that you would identify asOne Minute Goals."

"Suppose I told you I was concerned about mywork group," said the veteran manager, "and Iwanted to rekindle commitment from my people.Would that be specific enough?"

"No," said Smith. "We can't improve morale,poor attitude, laziness, or things like that withoutmore information."

"Isn't it important to deal with morale problemsin organizations?" asked the veteran manager.

"Sure it is, but I would have to pinpoint whatyou mean by poor morale," explained Smith. "Doyou mean people are coming to work late, orquality rejects are frequent, or people arebickering at work? What do you mean by poormorale?"

"So we need to stop managers from sayingthings are good or bad," said the veteran, "and getthem to identify specifically what is happening."

"That's what pinpointing is all about," saidSmith, pleased by the veteran's ability to learnquickly. "Establishing the areas you are going tomeasure and how you are going to measurethem—for example, in quantity, quality, cost (onor off budget), or timeliness."

"Where does that bring us?" interrupted theveteran.

62 I Record Current Performance

JLyirIRECT to RECORD," answered Smith."Once you have pinpointed an area forimprovement or a One Minute Goal, you want tobe able to measure present performance and trackprogress in that area. You will notice I talk aboutareas that you want to improve, not problems.People have trouble admitting there are problems,but everyone has an area he or she would like toimprove."

"You mean you would gather actual data onhow often people are late to work, how frequentlyproducts are rejected because of quality, and thelike?" asked the veteran.

"That's right," said Smith. "You want to takethe guesswork out of performance improvement."

"What if someone says, Tou can't measureperformance in my job!'" wondered the veteranmanager.

"When a person tells us that," said Smith, "wesuggest that maybe we should eliminate theposition and see if we've lost anything. It'samazing how interested they suddenly get inestablishing ways to identify goals and measureperformance in their jobs."

"Could you give me an example," said theveteran, "of a performance-improvement area youran through the PRICE system?"

Record Current Performance I 63

"Yes," said Smith. "When I took over thedepartment, the old sales manager told me,'Phone contact needs improvement around here.Salespeople never make appointments withcustomers by phone. They think they have to beon the road all the time. When they get to thecustomer, he's often out for the morning, or he'sbusy and can't be interrupted. They have to waitto see him so they end up spending all their timein coffee shops. If they made appointments, they'dget twice as much done in half the time.'

"I asked, 'How do you know phone contact needsimprovement?'

"1 just feel everything starts there,' he replied.That's always been an issue in this company.'

"Then I asked, 'Have you counted it? Is thereany way to tell exactly the number of phone callssalespeople make to customers?'

"'Well,' he said, 'I could check their phone logs.Each salesperson is required to keep a daily log ofcalls right by his or her phone.'

"When I put a count to it, I found that makingappointments was not a crucial issue for everyone.In fact, only three salespeople were delinquent intheir phoning," Smith stated.

"By recording or measuring performance," saidthe veteran, "you attempt to make sure the needfor improvement is real and not just a feeling. Youdon't want to 'fix what ain't broken.'"

64 I Record Current Performance

"Precisely," said Smith. "It's most effective toplot the information on a graph," she explained asshe pulled a folder from her desk file. "Here's aninitial graph I made of appointment calls for oneof my salespeople, Jack.

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9 •

8

7

6

5

4

3 *2 / \ A A.1 / Y \ A / X0 i V V >•

1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12

Weekdays in May

"On any of the graphs we use, we put timeacross the bottom or horizontal axis, and thepinpointed behavior along the side or the verticalaxis," explained Smith. "The time element forJack was weekdays in May for a two-week periodand the behavior was the number of appointmentcalls made each day.

Involve People I 65

•FTER I made the graph I calculatedJack's mean number of daily appointment calls.Over two weeks, he averaged one call a day. Iknew improvement was needed since there was adifference between actual performance and what Ithought was desired performance. I was ready forthe INVOLVE step in PRICE."

"Is that when you informed Jack about hisperformance problem?" questioned the veteran.

"Yes," said Smith. "Once you are awareimprovement is needed, you share thatinformation with whoever is responsible(accountable) for that area and/or can influenceperformance in it—in our example it would beJack."

"I bet when you've graphed all this performancedata on Jack and it shows clearly that he is notdoing what you think he shouldbe doing, there's areal temptation to let Jack have it," observed theveteran. "Give him the old 'leave alone-zap.'"

"There often is," said Smith, "but you need tocontrol yourself. The time for reprimanding hasn'tcome yet. In fact, it is important to remember thatgraphs are not meant to be used as weapons, or asevidence in a managerial prosecution. They aredesigned to be used as training tools as well asnonjudgmental methods of feedback."

"So how do you share your graph with Jack?""Without judgment," said Smith. "And in a

spirit of learning. You want Jack to learn, and youassume that Jack wants to improve. You know thesaying around here:

*

Feedback

Is The

BreakfastOf

Champions

*

Involve People I 67

"How true that is," affirmed the veteran. "Buttell me, how do you involve someone like Jackbesides giving him feedback on results?"

"You involve him in establishing theactivators," said Smith. "That is, in deciding whathas to be agreed uponbefore Jack canbe expectedto improve his performance to the desired level."

"Besides goal setting, what other agreements doyou have to ante up?" smiledthe veteran, enjoyingthe opportunity to show off what he had alreadylearned.

"Coaching and evaluation strategies," answeredSmith. "You need to agree about how you aregoing to supervise Jack as well as how he will beevaluated and what payoff he can anticipate forimproved performance."

"Do you always involve your people inestablishing One Minute Goals?" wondered theveteran manager.

"Yes, in most cases," said Smith. "One MinuteManagement just doesn't work unlessyou share itwith your people. Otherwise they will think youare trying to manipulate them. That isparticularly true with goal setting. Shared goalsetting tends to get greater commitment frompeople and guarantees the setting of a realisticgoal for the performance area."

"A realistic goal?" puzzled the veteranmanager.

68 I Involve People

"A realistic goal is moderately difficult butachievable," explained Smith. "It's acceptable toyou as a manager and it's possible for your peopleto accomplish. Let's go back to Jack. He has beensetting up one appointment a day by phone. Howmany appointment calls are acceptable to you?How many are attainable by Jack?"

"How many does the best salesperson make?"inquired the veteran manager.

"Comparing Jack to the best won't encouragehim. It will only discourage him," answeredSmith. "Remember, we're using this method as atraining tool, not as a punishment."

"What goal would you set?" asked the veteran,shrugging his shoulders.

"I'd probablysay, 'Jack, let's see if you can makethree appointment calls a day next week. Howdoes that sound?'"

"So you have to be specific about the numberand the time frame," commented the veteran.

"Exactly," said Smith. "What do you supposewould happen if I simply said to Jack, Td like youto make more appointment calls. I don't think youhave been making enough lately'?"

"He'd probably say OK," said the veteran, "andthen not take it seriously."

"That's why I'd make a graph with Jack by myside," said Smith. "Then he'd know I was seriousand know exactly what he had to do to get backinto my good graces."

Involve People I 69

She removed another graph from the file shehad gotten from her desk. "This was Jack's firstgoal-setting graph," said Smith as she handed theveteran the graph.

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I

9

8

7

6

5

4

3 X X X X X

2

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015 16 17 18 19

Weekdays in May

X Jack's short-term goal

- Jack's past meanperformance

"You see, we plotted Jack's past meanperformance (one call a day) and his short-termgoal (three calls a day). That way he could see thedifference between where he'd been and where hewas headed," explained Smith.

70 I Involve People

"Why wouldn't you say you wanted Jack tomake an appointment call for every sales visit hewas going to make?" wondered the veteran.

"That might have been an appropriate goal inthe long run," said Smith, "but in the short runyou couldn't expect that kind of turnaroimd inbehavior because Jack had obviously gottenhimself into some bad work patterns. Just as youcan't expect to lose twenty-five pounds today, butyou do want some change. So we had to set a short-term goal with Jack, like three appointment callsa day."

"Short-term goal?" wondered the veteran."It's a first step," said Smith. "When you set up

a performance-improvement programwith people,remember not to set the end-result goal (in thiscase an appointment call for every sales visit—about six or seven calls per workday) as the goalthat has to be reached before someone can feel asense of accomplishment and deserve a praising;otherwise you might have to wait forever."

"I remember that concept now," said theveteran. "In the beginning, when working onperformance, you need to set things up so you cancatch people doing things approximately right(short-term goal), not exactly right (final goal)."

"Precisely," said Smith. "The journey to exactlyright is make up of a whole series ofapproximately rights."

Involve People I 71

"So Rome can't be built in a day," said theveteran. "As a result, what you want to do is keeptrack of progress from present performance to thedesired level. What's the best way to do that?"

"By involving people in coaching," said Smith."As you know, once people are clear on what theyare being asked to do, coaching is essentiallyobserving their performance and giving themfeedback on results. But the whole coachingprocess is set up by agreeing ahead of time withyour people when and how you are going to givethem feedback. That part of coaching is doneduring the Involve step."

"I would imagine," interrupted the veteran,"that by designing, with your people, the feedbacksystem you are going to use, you are increasingthe chances of their winning—accomplishingtheir goals."

"Exactly," said Smith. "Setting up a goodfeedback system through performance graphs iscrucial if you hope to do any day-to-day coaching.That's why, with Jack, we agreed that for the firstweek I'd stopby his desk every day andreviewhisphone log. Fd graph his performance and share itwith him."

"What other coaching agreements did you makebesides your daily visits?" asked the manager.

"Recording performance every day can be time-consuming," said Smith. "So we agreed to meetagain after the first week to evaluate when Jackcould begin to administer his own feedback."

"Administer his own feedback?" repeated theveteran.

72 I Involve People

"If I am having a performance problem withJack, what I want todo is setupagraph that Jackis able to use. He can put his own check marks,stars, or whatever on the graph."

"Then he's able to say, 'Hey, I'm doing better,'or Tm doing worse,'" suggested the veteranmanager. "He can even begin to praise orreprimand himself."

"Yes," said Smith. "Feedback that is self-administered can be immediate—as close to theperformance as possible."

"At this point, what else did you involve Jackin?" asked the veteran.

"All I had left to do in the T step in the PRICEsystem was to involve Jack in performanceevaluation," said Smith.

"How did you intend to do that?" asked theveteran manager.

"When we set up the graph, Jack knew how hisperformance was going to be evaluated, but tocomplete his involvement in performanceevaluation, we still had to decide what was in itfor Jack if he improved," said Smith.

"What do you mean?" asked the veteran."What positive consequence will happen for

Jack if he reaches his goal," Smith answered."Did I hear you say that you and Jack had to

decide together? Didn't you just tell him?"responded the veteran.

Involve People I 73

"If Jack had been less capable and committed, Iwould have determined the rewards. But Jackknew best what rewards would motivate him,"explained Smith. "I asked Jack, 'What willmotivate you to make more calls?' He said, If Imake my quota, write me a note. I collect thosethings. I have every letter of commendation I'vereceived since high school. But don't have yoursecretary type me some form letter. Write it byhand.'

"I thought that was a great idea. I said, 'Whatifyou don't meet your quota?' He said, 'Come andtell me I deserve a reprimand. You probably won'teven have to deliver it. But just knowing that youknow I am slipping back to old behavior will getme back on track.'"

"Did you keep track ofthe praisings versus thenumber of reprimands?" laughed the veteran.

"It might sound funny," said Smith, "but I didexactly that. I started a log of praisings andreprimands. It worked beautifully. Now I keep apraising/reprimand log* on all my employees. It'sjust a list of names with P's and iJ's after eachname with a shorthand note about whathappened. It keeps me ontrack with One MinuteManagement."

*Ted Fletcher, manager, training and development, forthe Nestl6 Company, shared One Minute Management withone of his division managers, Ed Dippold. Now they arekeeping praising and reprimand logs on each oftheir peoplein their NewJersey plant. Edreports, "It really works! Withunion employees and foremen who rotate on shifts, it haskept communications clear and open."

74 I Coach for Performance

"T..HAT makes sense," said the veteranmanager. "So prior to actually coaching orevaluating performance, the consequences forgoal accomplishment have to be agreed upon inthe Involve (I) step of the PRICE system."

"In Jack's case," said Smith, "he knew what thegoals (short- and long-term) were, how I wasgoingto supervise or coach him, and how hisperformance would be evaluated, including theconsequences he could expect for poorperformance as well as for improvedperformance."

"Now that all those things were settled,"interrupted the veteran, "Jack was ready to startimproving his appointment-call behavior."

"Yes," said Smith. "And at that point, my rolechanged from involving Jack in decision makingabout establishing the necessary activators toobserving his performance and managing theconsequences."

"That's what coaching is all about," said theveteran. "Observingbehaviorand giving feedbackon results—both praisings and reprimands. Andthat's when you began the 'C or COACH step inPRICE."

Coach for Performance I 75

"You've got it. Now I can show you how wellJack did," said Smith. "Here's his graph from thefirst week."

9

8OT 7<C

O 6*>*

c 5 #^

I 4 -^ AnC -V /a

3 X X\ X/ X x X Jack's short-term goalCL

< 2 ^

1- Jack's past mean per

formance

0

15 16 17 18 19

Weekdays in May

"That's great. He bettered his goal except on thethird day," commented the veteran manager as heread the graph. "When did you tell him about hisimprovement, at your planned meeting at the endof the week?"

76 I Coach for Performance

"Absolutely not," said Smith. "Remember abasic rule of feedback is that it should beimmediate and specific. If the data flow is vagueand delayed, it is not an effective training tool.And besides I had made an agreement with Jackthat during the first week I'd stop by his deskdaily, review his phone log, graph hisperformance, and share it with him."

"How specific would you be?" wondered theveteran manager.

"I'd actually use numbers," said Smith. "I'd say,'You made your goal,' 'You bettered your goal byone,' or 'You missed your goal by one.'So oncethegoal is set, feedback relates specifically to thegoal."

"OK. I see how the daily feedback with Jackwent," said the veteran, "but how did you handlethe meeting at the end of the week when youplanned to evaluate whether Jack could begin toadminister his own feedback or not?"

"I was happy with Jack's progress that firstweek," said Smith, "so I was willing to listen toany suggestions he might have about how I shouldmonitor his performance and give him feedback.Remember, as people improve, you want togradually turn over to them more and more of theresponsibility for monitoring their ownperformance.

Coach for Performance I 77

"Jack was very aware of his needs," observedSmith proudly. "He said, 'Look, if you leave meentirely alone, I'm going to feel abandoned. But Idon't want you coming to my desk every day. Itmakes me nervous. For the next month let me dothe daily graph myself and you come by onFridays to check it out. If I need some help duringthe week, I'll come see you/"

"So you worked out a new agreement with him,"said the veteran. "Did you keep doing that untilhe performed like a winner in that part ofhis job?"

"Absolutely," said Smith. "I want to supervisemy people closely only if they need it. As soon asthey can perform on their own, I am ready to letgo. In coaching you want to schedule fewer andfewer feedback meetings as people movegradually from their present level of performanceto the desired level of performance. We have anexpression that we use here that I think would beimportant for you to learn." She wrote on her pad:

*

AchievingGoodPerformance

Is

A Journey—Not

A Destination

*

Evaluate Progress I 79

JLhAT'S well put," said the veteran."Many managers just shout out destinations(goals) and then sit back and wait for people toreach them. What's helpful about the PRICEsystem is that it suggests that coaching is aprocess of managing the journey. I'm ready tomove on to EVALUATE (E), the last step in thePRICE system. Are you?"

"Why not?" said Smith. "After all, evaluationand coaching go hand in hand. In fact, every timeyou give someone feedback you are evaluating.You want to continually determine how wellperformance is going in pinpointed areas. Are yougetting the results you want? If not, why not?"

"If evaluation and coaching go hand in hand,"said the veteran manager, "why do you haveEvaluate as a separate step in the PRICEsystem?"

"Because most organizations have actual formalperformance-review sessions," said Smith. "Thesesessions are held quarterly, semiannually, or onlyonce a year. In the PRICE system we recommendthat you graph and track performance inpinpointed One Minute goal areas for no longerthan six weeks without having a formalevaluation session. Unless the person is a provenwinner."

"What do you discuss in these sessions?"wondered the veteran.

80 I Evaluate Progress

"Nothing new," said Smith. "All we do is reviewwhat we have been talking about throughout thecoaching progress. "It is a way to formallyrecognize progress and a time to evaluate futurestrategies. Can the manager turn over thesupervision of the PRICE project(s) to the peopleinvolved or is direction and help still needed?"

"While evaluation in the PRICE system is acontinuous process," said the veteran, "I don't getthe feeling it is a punitive process. A One MinuteManager does not try to trip people up."

"David Berlo, one of the most thoughtfulteachers and consultants I have ever met," saidSmith, "gave me the best expression of thatphilosophy. He got interested in the training ofwhales. One day he asked some of his trainingfriends in Florida whether they actually trainedthe whales by using some of the concepts we havebeen talking about in the coaching process. Theysaid, 'Yes, with one addition.'"

"What was that?" wondered the veteran.

"Before they attempted to train the whales to doanything," said Smith, "the trainers told David,'We feed them and make sure they're not hungry.And then we jump in the water and play with thewhales until we have convinced them . . .'"

"Convinced them of what?" wondered theveteran manager.

"Let me write that down for you," said Smith,"because it underlies everything that One MinuteManagement stands for." She reached over andborrowed the veteran manager's note pad andbegan to write.

*

We

Mean

Them

No

Harm

82 I Evaluate Progress

"That's a powerful statement," said the veteranmanager as he read what Alice Smith hadwritten. "That's all about trust, isn't it?"

"It sure is," said Smith. "David is writing a bookentitled / Mean You No Harm because he feelsthat most of the performance review andevaluation systems that companies set up in ourcountry suggest the very opposite."

"Now that you mention it," said the veteran,"that is so true. Most evaluation systems suggestthat there always have to be winners and losers."

"That's just not part of the philosophy of theOne Minute Manager," said Smith.

"So, when you talk about evaluation in thePRICE system," said the veteran, "you are alwaystrying to find out whether you are getting thedesired results. If you are, your people getrecognized and praised. And if you're not, they getredirected or reprimanded depending on whetherthe problem is one of ability or motivation. Arethere any other reasons why you wouldn't begetting the desired results?"

Evaluate Progress I 83

"Performance can break down at every step ofthe PRICE system," responded Smith. "You mighthave pinpointed an irrelevant area. Or you mightbe recording data ineffectively. In involving yourpeople you might have agreed upon too low or toohigh a goal, your feedback might be erratic, oryour consequences not sufficiently motivating."

"So you are taking some significantresponsibility for ensuring that your peopleperform well," said the veteran manager.

"Most definitely," said Smith. "My job as amanager is not just to sit back, cross my arms,look stern, and evaluate. It's to roll up my sleevesand be responsive to people and what they need toperform well."

"So you have to keep your eyes and ears open,"interjected the veteran. "I would imagine youoften go back to Pinpoint and start the processagain. So PRICE is a continuous process."

"Exactly," said Smith. "That's why we like toshow PRICE almost like a dial on the telephone."She pointed to a plaque on the wall. It read:

84 I The PRICE System: A Summary

Putting theOne Minute Manager to Work

A Summary ofthe

PRICE SYSTEM

ThePRICE System: A Summary I 85

JLhAT'S great. Now I can dial P forperformance," said the veteran with a smile.

"Let me emphasize one last thing aboutPRICE," said Smith. "You can use it to achieveexcellence in all parts of your life. Set up a PRICEsystem for losing weight orrunning. Set one up foryour kids' chores or school grades. If you involveyour family you can make a New Year's resolutionbecome a reality rather than another unfulfilledpromise to yourself and others."

"It gives me another way to take what I knowabout One Minute Management and really put itto work in an organized fashion," said the veteranmanager.

"It certainly has been key to our performance,"said Smith.

"Have you ever had anyone resist paying thePRICE?" asked the veteran manager.

"Why don't you ask the One Minute Managerabout Hank?" smiled Smith as she got up and ledthe veteran to the door.

"Yes, I guess I have taken enough of your time,"said the veteran manager. "I've found this verypractical and I appreciate your willingness toshare your secrets with me."

"They're only secrets," responded Smith,"because people act as though they never knewthem. Actually they're just common sense put touse."

86 I Hank Pays the PRICE

xTu>S the veteran walked back to the OneMinute Manager's office, he was amazed at howtrue that phrase was—common sense put to use.

When he got to the One Minute Manager'soffice, the veteran was greeted with a warm smile."The PRICE is right, isn't it?" the One MijiuteManager laughed.

"It sure is," said the veteran manager. "It reallymakes sense, but I have one question. Who isHank?"

The One Minute Manager began to laugh. "Ithought it was only a matter of time beforesomeone told you about Hank. Why don't you sitdown," said the One Minute Manager, "so I cantell you about him.

"When I first came here I heard about Hankfrom Steve Mulvany, a productivity-improvementconsultant who had worked with our company.Steve said, 'Watch out for Hank when you starttraining the foremen about One MinuteManagement. He's one tough guy.' I got theimpression that converting Hank to One MinuteManagement would be like persuading a chargingrhino to rethink his strategy.

"The stories about Hank were widespread. Hewas almost a legend in his own time. For instance,I was told that one morning he got so mad at one ofhis people that he literally (I checked it out laterwith Hank and it was true) picked him up andhung him by his overalls on a nail and left himthere until lunch."

Hank Pays the PRICE I 87

"Now, how could anybody do that?" asked theveteran manager.

"Hank is about five feet nine by five feet nineand strong," said the One Minute Manager."When he sits at the end of our thirty-inch-wideconference table he is about as wide as the table.He has arms as big as my thighs. His head sits onhis shoulders as if he literally had no neck."

"He doesn't sound like a real attractive humanbeing," said the veteran.

"No, he's not or at least he wasn't," said the OneMinute Manager. "His eyes were bloodshot, hehad an old grumpy voice, and he walked like abear on the prowl.

"I first met Hank," continued the One MinuteManager, "at a training session. When I camehere and began to implement One MinuteManagement, I initially did most of the trainingmyself. I arrived early to the session where I metHank. While I was setting up training materialsin the front of the conferenceroom, I suddenly gotthe feeling somebody was watching me. I turnedaround and there was Hank sitting alone at theother end of the conference room."

"How did you know it was him?" asked theveteran manager.

"I just knew," said the One Minute Manager."Especially when I got no response to a smile. Icould just feel his eyes looking through me."

"What did you say?" interrupted the veteran. "Ifeel as if I'm in the middle of another soap opera."


"Nothing then," said the One Minute Manager,"but I knew he was watching my every move. Atleast I sensed he was. When I started my sessionhe sat quietly until I said, 'One of the keys tomotivating your people is to catch them doingsomething right. When that occurs,' I asked, 'whatshould you do as a manager?' Everyone saidreward or praise them, except Hank."

"How did you know he didn't agree?" said theveteran manager.

"Hank raised his hand," said the One MinuteManager, "and I thought to myself, 'Well, thesession is over. Pack your bags.' He said, 'I want tosay something,' and I said, 'Sure!'

"Hank said, 'I just want you to know that I usepunishment and it works.'

"I looked at him and thought to myself, 'I'll betit does.' What are you going to say to someone likeHank? He could have said that the sky was greenand I would have agreed fight there that the skywas green.

"When I got my composure, I said, 'That'sinteresting, Hank. Would you be willing to sharethe pros of punishment with the group?'

"He said, 'Sure! There are three: It's easy. It'sfast. And it makes me feel good.'

"Looking at his size, I said to myself, 'I'll bet itworks for you.' Then I said, 'If those are the pros,Hank, are there any cons to using too muchpunishment?'


"Hank smiled and said, 'I can't think of one.'"I said, T can think of three areas too much

punishment can affect—efficiency rates,absenteeism, and turnover.'

"Hank stared at me because he knew what I was

thinking. He had the lowest efficiency rates in theplant. Now he knew that but I had heard hisexcuses: 'I have the toughest department' and 'I'mon a swing shift and everyone knows that swingshifts traditionally have the lowest productivity.'

"Absenteeism—Hank consistently had twentypercent of his people absent so he had eight out often at work most days. The personnel folks jokedthat without Hank's department they would haveto lay off one staff member. They were busy everyday processing transfer requests, terminations, orhiring for his department.

"Turnover—his was the highest in the plant.But I had heard him say, 'I manage the worstdepartment there is and everyone likes to transferout.'

"When it was obvious I was baiting him, Hanksaid, 'OK, boss. What do you expect me to dodifferently with bums like Fve got? They live topay for their booze. And besides, I don't like themand they don't like me.'

"I said, 'Hank, Iknow you probably think thesesessions are a waste of time. But will you give mea chance?'


"'OK!' Hank said. 'But I'm not counting onanything.'

"After I had talked about the need to start anyperformance-improvement program withpinpointing the problem and then recordingpresent performance, I shared the importance ofthe daily printout from the computer for trackingprogress and giving people feedback. You see, inour operation the foremen get good information onperformance."

"As you were speaking, what was Hank doing?"asked the veteran manager.

"He just sat there with his arms crossed," saidthe One Minute Manager. "There was noexpression on his face."

"After the meeting, much to my surprise, Hankcame up to me and said, 'Look, I think this stuff isprobably useless. But I'd like to increase myefficiency rate. Any smart ideas?'

"'Every day you get a printout from thecomputer on the efficiency of each of yourmachines for the day before,' I replied. 'Since youhave a one man per machine operation, thisinformation tells you how each of your guys isdoing. All I want you to do is make a graph foreveryone and at the beginning of every morning,fill in the efficiency ratings on the graphs and thenwalk around and show each guy what hisefficiency was from the day before. That's all Iwant you to do.'

"'OK,' said Hank. 'I'll give it a try even though Idon't think it will work.'


"The next morning, I went down to see whathappened," continued the One Minute Manager."Hank got the printout from the computer andtransferred the information to graphs for each ofhis people and then walked over to his first guyand said, 'Listen, don't give me any crap about thenumber on here. Just look at it.' And then he

showed the guy his efficiency rating."I thought to myself, 'This is going to be a

disaster,' so I said to Hank, 'Just show them thenumber and don't say anything else. Just say,"You got eighty-six percent efficiency yesterday.""You got ninety-four." "You got seventy-five.'"

"When he said to the next guy, 'You got eighty-three percent efficiency yesterday,' the guy said,'Hank, get out of here and get away from me.We're going to call the union. Knock this stuff off.Leave us alone. You've left us alone for yearsunless we did something wrong, so just get out ofhere.'

"Hank said to me, 'I told you they don't like me.'"I said, 'Hank, keep trying.'"Hank kept showing his guys their efficiency

rates even though they were giving him a hardtime and not even looking at their graphs. Thenafter about four days I could see them starting tolook when he came along showing them theirscores. They were starting to look at the graphsbecause they were beginning to get feedback andwere able to compare how they did yesterday tothe day before, and the day before that."


"And the comparisons were against themselves,not the other guys," interrupted the veteran.

"Yes," said the One Minute Manager. "We findit more constructive to have people competingagainst themselves and a performance standardrather than competing with each other."

"What happened next?" interrupted the veteranmanager, anxious to get back to hearing aboutHank.

"Hank told his people, 'Listen, you guys, I'mgetting sick and tired of giving this feedback toyou all. From now on, anybody with eighty-fivepercent or higher efficiency, I'll come and showyou your rating. But if you didn't get eighty-fivepercent, you don't deserve to talk to me.'"

"Let's see if I can fit this story into the PRICEsystem," suggested the veteran. "When Hank saidhe wanted to improve efficiency he waspinpointing the problem. That's T.' When hemade the graphs from the computer printout hewas into 'R' for record. And when he beganshowing his folks their efficiency ratings in thebeginning he was involving them, even ifhe was alittle autocratic. That's *I.' Now by deciding to talkonly with people with eighty-five percent orhigher efficiency, it sounds as if Hank wasbeginning to manage consequences and to coach.That's 'C That decision was made at his own kindof evaluation session: 'E.'"

"Exactly!" said the One Minute Manager. "Youreally learned the PRICE system quickly!"

"I just love the simplicity of it all," said theveteran manager.


"It was funny to see Hank," continued the OneMinute Manager, "walk up to a guy and then,reading that his efficiency rate was below eighty-five, walk right by him without showing him hisgraph or saying a word. The expression on thatperson's face was priceless. He acted as if Hankhad stabbed him in the back."

"I bet pretty soon everyone was getting overeighty-five percent efficiency," said the veteranmanager.

"You better believe it," said the One MinuteManager. "After a week or so Hank called themall back together. He said, 'Ninety-five percentefficiency or I don't come to your machine.' It wasamazing how their efficiency scores climbed."

"That's amazing, considering that all Hank wasdoing was giving them the information," said theveteran.

"Right," said the One Minute Manager. "Hedidn't say they did well; he didn't say they didbadly. Just the fact that Hank would show up attheir machines was important to them.

"He did this," continued the One MinuteManager, "for some time. Then, after about amonth he gave each of them his own graph andstopped coming to their machines but he wouldleave the printout from the computer on his desk.I swear to you, nine out often guys would run overthere on their break time to see what they got andgo back and fill in their graphs.


"Then he started to circle in red the guys whogot ninety-five percent. Can you believe it? Abunch of hard-nosed guys like this talking aboutwhether they got a red circle that day. Theythought it Was really something special if they gota red circle."

"What was happening to the performance inHank's department all this time?" asked theveteran manager.

"It was going up like a spaceship on the graph,"said the One Minute Manager. "At the same timehis absenteeism and tardiness were going downtoo. The other foremen didn't believe it. Theythought Hank was cheating on the data. I knew hewasn't because I was watching the data all thetime."

"What did he do next?" asked the veteran

manager.

"One day," said the One Minute Manager, "hebrought all his guys together and said, 'You guyshave really been increasing your efficiency. I'lltell you what I'll do. My wife makes the finestpumpkin bread you've ever tasted, so if every guyin this department gets one hundred percent, I'llhave her bring in pumpkin bread at lunchtimetomorrow for everyone.'

"I wasn't at the meeting but I heard about itfrom the grapevine. I went to see him. I said,'Hank, pumpkin bread as a motivator? It's notgoing to work.'

"He said, 'That's what you think. Let me do it.'"I said, 'Hank, you can do anything you want'—

as if I could stop him."


"Hank didn't even walk around and watch

them," continued the One Minute Manager. "Theymonitored themselves. For example, if someoneleft his machine to get something or do something,one of the guys would yell, 'Hey, where are yougoing? You get back to work.'"

"Did everyone get one hundred percentefficiency?" asked the veteran manager.

"You better believe it," said the One MinuteManager. "No exceptions. So at lunchtime thenext day Hank's wife brought in these platters ofpumpkin bread. You never saw anything go sofast in your life. They loved it.

"I thought that was something, so I tried toreplicate what Hank did for all of thedepartments.

"I called in my key people and told them I wouldbe willing to buy lunch the next day for everydepartment that got one hundred percent inefficiency on any given day."

"What did your people think?" asked theveteran.

"Everyone thought it was a great idea," said theOne Minute Manager. "We had these littlecoupons printed up that the employees could useon the 'roach coach.'"

"The roach coach?" wondered the veteran.

"That's an affectionate name for the food truck

that goes around to plants, selling all kinds ofgoodies," said the One Minute Manager. "Ourfolks often wait to eat lunch until it stops here.


"While I thought my plan was a good idea, itwent over like a lead balloon. In fact, people gothostile. They were saying things like: This isridiculous!' 'Don't have us do five hundred dollars

more productivity in exchange for a two dollarfood coupon. We're insulted.'"

"What happened?" asked the veteran manager."I was confused," said the One Minute Manager,

"so I asked Hank to come see me."

"So Hank's now a consultant to topmanagement," laughed the veteran.

"It took courage to admit I needed advice fromHank," confessed the One Minute Manager.

"What did Hank think of the program?"wondered the veteran manager.

"He had elected not to do the coupon program,"said the One Minute Manager. "In fact, he wasone of the leaders of the revolt. That's why Iwanted to talk to him—to find out why hewouldn't participate in the coupon program.

"When Hank arrived at my office, I asked him,'Why aren't you involved in the coupon program?'

"Hank leaned over to me and put his fingerright in my face and said, 'You tried to bribe theemployees. You offered them two dollars on theroach coach to increase productivity. Let me tellyou how I and the other men felt about that. Wewere damn mad. We felt used and insulted.'


"Then he took his finger away from my face,paused, and stared in my eyes for what seemedlike an endless moment. 'Let me tell you one otherthing,' Hank said as he broke the silence. 'You'regood. You've done a tremendous job putting theOne Minute Manager to work here. We thinkyou're better than that kind of bribery stuff.'

"Then Hank smiled and said, 'How's that for aOne Minute Reprimand?'

"I'll have to admit that being on the end of areprimand from Hank wasn't the mostcomfortable experience I've ever had," said theOne Minute Manager.

"After I got my composure back, I said, T realizemy mistake, but howwaswhat I diddifferent fromyour pumpkin bread?'

'"My wife made that pumpkin bread,' saidHank.T put myself out and so did she. You offeredto give us two dollars to use on the roach coach.That's an insult and a bribe.'

'"So my lunch coupon,' I said, 'was insultingbecause it wasn't personal and it didn't involveany emotional commitment from me?'

"'Right,' said Hank. 'You have done a fantasticjob around here introducing your concepts of OneMinute Management and teaching us the ABC's.Most of us are willing to pay the PRICE to getgood performance. The people you have workingfor you are Winners and you shouldn't take theball away from them. Don't try to sprinklemotivation from on high.'

'"I understand what you are saying, Hank,' Ireplied, 'and I appreciate your honesty.'

,98 I Hank Pays the PRICE

"That's OK,' said Hank. 'I've learned a lot hereand there's no reason why I can't help you learn,too.'

"We both smiled and shook hands.""Hank's quite a guy, isn't he?"* said the veteran

manager.

"He certainly is," said the One MinuteManager. "It's people like him who have reallymade our efforts worthwhile here."

"And he's taught me to put the things I'velearned here into a human perspective,"added theveteran. "Speaking of the things I've learned, I'dlike to sum it all up for you. I want to be certainI've got it all straight."

"Go right ahead," said the One MinuteManager.

*The Hank story is based on a real character. He modelscharacteristics of many of the outstanding supervisors wehave worked with over the years. Steve Mulvany, presidentofManagement Tools, Inc., in Orange, California, originallydeveloped the story while Bob Lorber was president andSteve was senior vice-president of PSI, a productivity-improvement company that conducted a project in Hank'splant. Steve supervised this project and since then has immortalized Hank as "Sid" in his seminarsand presentationsaround the world.

Some Final Thoughts I 99

tt]CJTlRST, I cleared up some questions I had

about the three secrets of One MinuteManagement: One Minute Goal Setting, OneMinute Praisings, and One Minute Reprimands,"remembered the veteran manager. "Second, I'velearned that the ABC's of Management (theActivators, the resulting Behavior, and theappropriate Consequences) help sequence thosesecrets in a way that makes them usable. Andthird, the PRICE System gives me a good handleon how to put the One Minute Managerto work ina systematic way that can be shared witheveryone. It turns the secrets into skills andmoves the application of One MinuteManagement beyond individuals to work groupsand the organization as a whole."

The One Minute Manager smiled at he listenedto the veteran. He loved to see the excitement thatlearning new things sparked in people.

"Sounds as if you have everything prettystraight," commented the One Minute Manager.

"I think I've got it," said the veteran. "I can'tthank you enough for sharing with me what youknow and have learned about management."

"It's my pleasure," said the One MinuteManager. "All that knowledge is to be shared. Letme leave you with one last thought. The best wayto learn to be a One Minute Manager and to usewhat you have learned is to start to do it. Theimportant thing is not that you do it right, butthat you get under way. We have a saying here:

*

AnythingWorth Doing

Does Not

Have To Be Done

Perfectly—At First

*

Making a Commitment I 101

ttnrX HAT'S so true," said the veteran. "I'm

really committed to getting started.""It's not your commitment that I'm worried

about," said the One Minute Manager. "It's yourcommitment to your commitment. For example,people say diets don't work. Diets work just fine—it's people who don't work. They break theircommitment to their commitment to lose weight. Idon't want you to do that with putting the OneMinute Manager to work."

"What you're saying makes sense of what afriend of mine told me," said the veteran. "He toldme I should give up trying. I should either do it ornot do it."

"That's just what I was getting at," said the OneMinute Manager. "To illustrate it, would you tryto pick up that pen on the desk?"

The veteran went over to the desk and picked upthe pen.

"I told you to try to pick up the pen. I didn't tellyou to pick it up," said the One Minute Manager.

The veteran smiled.

"You got it," said the One Minute Manager."You're either going to do it or not going to do it.Saying Til try' just sets up all your past patternswhich will result in your not doing it."

"Thanks for that final advice," said the veteran."I certainly don't want to be the guy hanging on tothe branch on the side ofthe mountain, yelling, Isthere anybody else up there?'"

With that said, the veteran got up and put hishand out to the One Minute Manager. "I'm goingto do it," he said with sincerity.

102 I Putting the One Minute Manager to Work

HEN the veteran manager left the OneMinute Manager's office, he was excited aboutimplementing what he had learned. He wascommitted to his commitment.

The next day he began to do just that. He did notwait until he could do everything he had learnedexactly right. He knew if he waited he wouldnever get started, so he shared what he hadlearned with all his people, and they in turnshared it with their people. Everyone supportedeach other's efforts to put One MinuteManagement to work.

As he worked with his people, the veteranmanager learned that four systems needed to beset up in the organization to make One MinuteManagement pay off. Employees needed to know:what they were being asked to do (accountabilitysystem); what good behavior looked like(performance-data system); how well they weredoing (feedback system); and what they would getfor good performance (recognition system).

Pretty soon, everyone in the veteran'sorganization set up PRICE projects for each OneMinute Goal. The goals themselves identified thepinpointed areas of interest. Present performanceon each of these goals was recorded. Then eachemployee was involved in goal setting, as well asin establishing coaching and counselingstrategies. Then coaching began. Managers wereresponsive to their people's needs for supervision.Everybody wanted the others to win. Whenevaluation came around, progress was reviewedand new goals set.

Putting the One Minute Manager to Work I 103

Pretty soon the inevitable happened:

THE VETERAN MANAGER WAS SUCCESSFUL IN

PUTTING THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER TO WORK

AND IT MADE A DIFFERENCE —

People not only felt better, they performedbetter. And more important, putting the OneMinute Manager to work made a difference whereit really counted—on the bottom line. Productionincreased, quality improved, sales skyrocketed,and retention and attendance of employeessurpassed all the companies in the area.

Everywhere the veteran manager went heshared what he had learned with others. OneMinute Management soon became known asTheory W. The One Minute Manager said, "Youcan have your Theory X, Theory Y, and Theory Z.We call One Minute Management Theory Wbecause it works."

Wherever the veteran manager went, he alwaystold people who had learned how to put the OneMinute Manager to work . . .

*

Keep YourCommitment

To

Your Commitment

And

Share

It

With

Others

*

Concept Praisings I 105

Concept PraisingsWe would like to give a public praising to the

following people whose conceptual contributionswere invaluable to us in preparing this book:

David Berlo for his thoughtful analysis of whyorganizations are not good places for people to be.

Tom Connellan, Aubrey Daniels, and LarryMiller for teaching us many things aboutproductivity improvement.

Werner Erhard for what he taught us aboutmaking life work and keeping your commitments.

Paul Hersey for his creativity and ability tointegrate applied behavioral science theory.

Spencer Johnson for attaching the One Minuteconcept to praisings and reprimands.

Fred Luthans and Robert Kreitner for one of the

first conceptualizations of the ABC's.David McClelland for his pioneer work on

achievement motivation.

Gerald Nelson for developing the One MinuteScolding, the forerunner of the One MinuteReprimand.

George Odiorne for his work on goal setting(MBO) and the "activity trap."

B. F. Skinner for his classic work on

reinforcement theory.Rick Tate for coining the phrase "Feedback Is

the Breakfast of Champions."

106 I Personal Praisings

Personal PraisingsWe would like to give a public praising to a

number of the important people in our lives whohave influenced and supported us.

Ken Blanchard would like to praise:

Spencer Johnson, my co-author of The OneMinute Manager, for being my writing partner,publishing mentor, and friend.

Kelsey Tyson for his creative marketing of theoriginal version of The One Minute Manager andfor his untiring dedication and devoted friendship.

Margaret McBride for being my literary agent,friend and mediator, and constant support.

All the folks at William Morrow and Company,Inc., particularly Pat Golbitz and Larry Hughes,for believing in Spencer and me and The OneMinute Manager, and Al Marchioni and his peoplefor distributing and selling the book.

The following top managers who believed in meand The One Minute Manager and gave us thekind of support that helped make the dream of abest-selling book a reality:

Roy Anderson Dave Hanna Bud RobinsonRhett Butler David Jones Mike Rose

Jim DeLapa Lou Neeb Don SmithBob Davis Ernie Renaud Jere Thompson

Personal Praisings I 107

Michael and Nina Shandler, two very talentedwriters and trainers, who literally lived with themanuscript during the middle drafts, and workihgwith me, helped this book begin to change from agood book to what I think is a "super" book.

Ken Haff, Laurie Hawkins, Drea Zigarmi, andPat Zigarmi, my colleagues and friends, for theirever-present love, support, and helpful feedback.

Paul Hersey for being my mentor, friend, fatherand brother—all wrapped up in one.

Eleanor Terndrup for being my talentedsecretary and second mother. From start to finishof this manuscript Eleanor was always there waybeyond the call of duty.

Bernadette McDonald for her unfailing devotionand commitment to quality work. Without hertyping and clerical skills during the middle drafts,this book would never have become a reality.

Lynette Grage for worrying about where wewere going to get the money to pay for all mydreams.

Regina Rule, Pat Nekervis, and Donna Hagenfor their constant hard work and caring about TheOne Minute Manager.

A special thanks to my mother and father,Dorothy and Ted BJanchard. Mom has been aconstant inspiration and joy all my life butespecially since Dad's passing. While he has notbeen here to share this One Minute Managerphenomenon with me, I have felt his support.

108 I Personal Praisings

Bob Lorber would like to praise:

Gordon Anderson for giving me the opportunityto form my new Productivity ImplementationCompany and for teaching me that the UnitedStates is only one part of the world.

Linda Belton for her loyalty and extraordinarycompetence as my assistant during many of theproductivity-implementation years.

Gene Bryan for making the computer come aliveand computer-aided management a reality. Andfor being my co-author in our new book The ProfitGap.

Fred Chaney for being a mentor and for givingme the opportunity to found and buildPerformance Systems Improvement (PSI).

Bob Elliott for taking a risk, believing in me,and letting me personally implement our firstproductivity-improvement program.

Ethan Jackson for his exceptional business andpersonal advice and unconditional friendship. Formodeling the critical balance of family andbusiness and opening my eyes to the spiritual sideof life.

KefKamai for being my partner, friend, andcompadre and for making me pay attention to myhealth and physical fitness. For being Trade'sgodfather and always being there when I needhim.

Larry Miller for being an invaluable colleagueand friend. And for being my East Coast partnerin our productivity-improvement business.

Personal Praisings I 109

Jim Morrell for his guidance, friendship, andinfluence on my career path.

Pat Murray for being my partner in planning,top-management team building, and crisisresolution and for teaching me the full meaning ofintegrity.

Bud Ogden for opening the world of the coalindustry and all its beauty, hardships, and realpeople, and for the major opportunities hepersonally provided.

Mark Rosen for being my first colleague inproductivity implementation and for the manyyears of being a brother and friend.

Carl Samuels for his unselfish love, advice, andopenness.

Donna Sillman for helping Ken and me edit thefirst draft of our book, and for staying inCalifornia to support the formation of our newcompany.

Fran Tarkenton for his energy, inspiration, andcontributions to the field of productivityimprovement.

Ed Winguth for always believing in me and inhis continued help on complex career decisions.

A special thank you to my mother and father,Rose and Jules Lorber. They always understandme, support me, express their love, and practicethe principles we have written about in our book.

About the Authors

Few people have made a more positive andlasting impact on the day-to-day management ofpeople and companies than Ken Blanchard. Heis the author ofseveral bestselling books, includingthe blockbuster international bestseller The OneMinute Manager and the giant business bestsellersLeadership and the One Minute Manager, RavingFans, and Gung Ho! His books have combinedsales ofmore than eighteen million copies in morethantwenty-five languages. Ken isthechiefspiritualofficer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, aworldwide human resource development company.He is also cofounder of the Lead like JesusMinistries, a nonprofit organization dedicated toinspiring andequipping people tobe servant leadersin the marketplace. Ken andhis wife, Margie, live inSan Diegoand work withtheir son Scott, daughterDebbie, and Debbies husband, Humberto Medina.

Dr. Robert L. Lorber is president of TheLorber Kamai Consulting Group, a firm formed in1976. The organization has implementedproductivity improvement systems for companieson five continents and its client roster includes

Kraft Foods, Gillette, American Express, Mattel,Wells Fargo, Pillsbuiy, Pfizer, and many othermidsizeand Fortune 500 companies.

About the Authors I 111

Dr. Lorber is an internationally recognizedexpert and published author onexecutive coaching,performance management, leadership, teamwork,culture, and developing strategy. He is one of theleading resources worldwide onexecutive coachingwith chiefexecutive officers and company presidents.As a professional speaker, Dr. Lorber has deliveredpresentations for profit and nonprofit audiencesthroughout the world. He isalso the coauthor, withRiaz Khadem, of One Page Management

Dr. Lorber works with numerous boards of

directors on governance and effective boardparticipation. Currently he serves as chairman ofthe Deans Advisory Council for the GraduateSchool of Management at the University ofCalifornia at Davis, the UC Davis School ofMedicines Board of Visitors, and many othercorporate and not-for-profit boards.

Dr. Lorber is an associate professor at his almamater—the Graduate School of Management atUC Davis—where he teaches courses on

leadership. Dr. Lorber received a masters degreein sociology and a doctorate in organizationalpsychology. He lives in Davis, California, with hiswife, Sandy, and their three daughters, Tracie,lindie, and Kaylie.

Services Available

The Ken Blanchard Companies®—a globalleader in workplace learning, productivity,performance, and leadership effectiveness—offerssituational leadership programs that show peoplehow to excel as self-leaders and as leaders ofothers.Many Blanchard® programs for teams, customerloyalty, change management, and leadershipeffectiveness blend the use of assessments withinstructor-led and online learning. Blanchard®continually researches and shares bestpractices forimproving performance in the workplace, while itsworld-class trainers and coaches drive sustainabilityof these approaches into all levels of organizationsand help people make the shift from learning todoing. To learn more, visit www.kenblanchard.com,or contact us at +1.800.728.6000 from the U.S., or+1.760.489.5005 from anywhere.

Lorber Kamai Consulting isa firm specializingin productivity and performance improvement. Italso focuses on CEO and senior executive team

coaching, executive team development, andstrategic planning implementation. Robert Lorberalso consults with large family businesses regardingsuccession and transition. For more information visit

www.lorberkamai.com, contact [email protected],or contactby phone at +1.530.758.6443.

KEN BLANCHARD is a prominent, gregarious,sought-after author, speaker, and businessconsultant. He is the coauthor of The One

Minute Manager® and forty other books,including the perennial bestsellers Raving Fansand Gung Ho! Ken is the Chief Spiritual Officerof The Ken Blanchard Companies, a full-serviceglobal management training and developmentcompany that he and his wife, Dr. MarjorieBlanchard, founded in 1979.

ROBERT LORBER, Ph.D., an internationallyrenowned expert in performance improvement,is president of The Lorber Kamai ConsultingGroup. Under his direction, output, quality,safety, and efficiency performance improvementprograms have saved millions of dollars forFortune 500 companies throughout the world.

www.kenblanchard.com

Visit www.authortnieker.eom for exclusive information

on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Jacket design by Barbara Levine

WILLIAM MORROW

An Imprint ofHarperCollinsPwWiArs

www.harpercollins.com

Praise for

Putting the ©tie MinuteManager® to Work

'Tutting the OneMinute Manager to Work is a classic guide to day-today management. It's easy to understand and powerful to implement.

Read it and share it with a colleague—they'll thank you for it."—TOM DEBROWSKI, Executive VP, Worldwide Operations, Mattel Inc.

"A must-read book that gives managers real-world tools to enhancepeople's productivity, communication, and enthusiasm."—NED GU1LLET, Senior VP, Human Resources, Gillette

"Putting the One Minute Manager to Work suggests some'high touch' strategies for our 'high tech' environment that can

make a difference in both performance and satisfaction."—JOHN Naisbitt, Author, Megatrends

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