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Confucius advises, “The essence of knowledge is, having it, to use it.”
In these changing times, he thought, the most effective managers manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the people and the organization profit from their presence.
“To succeed sooner, managers must be both results-oriented and people-oriented. “How on earth can we get results if it’s not through people? So I care about people and results, because they go hand in hand.
“helping people feel good about themselves is a key to productivity.”
“Do you see how many customers that restaurant has?” The young man saw people lined up outside the restaurant door. “Must be a good location for a restaurant,” he observed. The Manager asked, “If that’s true, why aren’t people lined up in front of the other restaurant two doors away? Why do people want to eat at the first restaurant and not at the second?” The young man replied, “Because the food and service are better?” “Yes. It’s pretty simple. Without giving people a quality product and the service they want, you won’t stay in business for long. “It’s easy to miss the obvious.
“For example, instead of setting our goals for us, he listens to our input and works side-by-side with us to develop them. After we agree on our most important goals, each is described on one page. “He feels that a goal and its performance standard—what needs to be done and by what due date—should take no more than a paragraph or
two to express, so it can be read and reviewed in about a minute.
“Once we’ve written the goals out concisely, it’s easy to look at them often and stay fo...
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We believe in the 80/20 rule. That is, 80% of your really important results will come from 20% of your goals. So we set One Minute Goals on only that 20%—that is, our key areas of responsibility—maybe three to five goals. Of course, in the event a special project comes up, we set special One Minute Goals.”
“because we know what our job is. Our Manager makes sure we know what good performance looks like because he shows us. In other words, expectations are clear to both of us.
“‘If you can’t tell me what you’d like to be happening,’ he said, ‘you don’t have a problem yet. You’re just complaining. A problem only exists if there is a difference between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening.’
“Being a quick learner, I suddenly realized I knew what I wanted to be happening. After I told him, he asked me to talk about what may have caused the discrepancy between the actual and the desired. “After I did that, he said, ‘Now, what are you going to do about it?’ “‘Well, I could do A,’ I said. “‘If you did A, would what you want to happen actually happen?’ he asked. “‘No,’ I said. “‘Then you have a lousy solution. What else could you do?’ he asked.
That’s fantastic. Thanks so much. You solved my problem for me.’ “‘I did not,’ he insisted. ‘You solved it yourself. I just asked you the kinds of questions you can ask yourself in the future.’
ONE MINUTE GOALS WORK WELL WHEN YOU:
Plan the goals together and describe them briefly and clearly. Show people what good performance looks like. 2. Have people write out each of their goals, with due dates, on a single page. 3. Ask them to review their most important goals each day, which takes only a few minutes to do. 4. Encourage people to take a minute to look at what they’re doing, and see if their behavior matches their goals. 5. If it doesn’t, encourage them to re-think what they’re
doing so they can realize their goals sooner.
“He said it would be a lot easier for me to do well if he gave me crystal-clear feedback on how I was doing. He said it would help me succeed—that I had talent and he wanted to keep me. He also wanted me to enjoy my work and to be a big help to the organization. “Then he said he would let me know in very specific terms when I was doing well and when I wasn’t. He cautioned me that it might not be very comfortable at first for either of us.”
“When he notices you have done something right, he tells you precisely what you did right, and how good he feels about it.
Then he reinforces the praise by encouraging you to keep up the good work.”
First, I get a Praising soon after I’ve done something right.” Paul leaned forward and confided, “I don’t have to wait for a performance review, if you know what I mean.”
Second, since he specifies exactly what I did right, I know he knows what I am doing and is sincere. Third, he is consistent.”
He praises me when I’m doing my job well and deserve it, even if things are not going well for him personally or here at work. I know he may be annoyed about things happening elsewhere. But he responds to where I am, not just to where he is at the time. I really appreciate that.”
Remember, you don’t have to praise someone for very long for that person to know you notice how they’re doing. It usually takes less than a minute.”
“In time,” Paul added, “you begin to catch yourself doing things right. You start praising yourself. You wonder when he might praise you again—which he sometimes does—and that keeps you going even when he’s not around. It’s uncanny. I’ve never worked so hard at a job in my life. Or enjoyed it so much.
“Here’s why: I know when I get a Praising, I’ve earned it. I’ve seen how it builds confidence, which turns out to be very important.” “Why do you think that’s so important?” “Because confidence that is earned helps you deal with all the changes that are occurring. We’re expected to be confident enough to innovate in order to stay ahead.”
A ONE MINUTE PRAISING WORKS WELL WHEN YOU:
THE FIRST HALF-MINUTE 1. Praise people as soon as possible. 2. Let people know what they did right—be specific. 3. Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps. PAUSE 4. Pause for a moment to allow people time to feel good
about what they’ve done. THE SECOND HALF-MINUTE 5. Encourage them to do more of the same. 6. Make it clear you have confidence in them and support their success.
“One of the most remarkable things he does differently now is how he responds to us when we’ve done something wrong.”
“Well, mistakes do happen. If I or someone on my team makes a significant mistake, that’s when I may get a One Minute Re-Direct.”
“While I don’t always like someone pointing out my mistakes, a Re-Direct can help me get back on track and achieve my goals. And that helps both me and our organization succeed.
“First, he makes sure he’s made the goal we’ve set clear. If it isn’t, he takes responsibility for that, and clarifies the goal. “Then he provides me with a One Minute Re-Direct in two parts. In the first half he focuses on my mistake. In the second half he focuses on me.”
“As soon as he becomes aware of the mistake. He confirms the facts with me and we review what’s gone wrong. He’s very specific. “Then he tells me how he feels about the mistake and its possible impact on our results, sometimes in no uncertain terms.
“After he tells me how he feels, he’s quiet for a few seconds to let it sink in. That quiet pause turns out to be surprisingly important.”
“Because a quiet moment gives me time to feel concerned about my mistake and think about the impact it might have on me and the organization.”
“In the second part of the Re-Direct, he reminds me that I’m better than my mistake and that he has confidence and trust in me. He says he doesn’t expect a repeat of that mistake and looks forward to working with me.”
“It sounds to me that the Re-Direct makes you think twice about what you’ve done.”
IF THE GOAL IS CLEAR, A ONE MINUTE RE-DIRECT WORKS WELL WHEN YOU:
THE FIRST HALF-MINUTE 1. Re-Direct people as soon as possible. 2. Confirm the facts first, and review the mistake together—be specific. 3. Express how you feel about the mistake and its impact on results. PAUSE
4. Be quiet for a moment to allow people time to feel concerned about what they’ve done. THE SECOND HALF-MINUTE 5. Remember to let them know that they’re better than their mistake, and that you think well of them as a person. 6. Remind them that you have confidence and trust in them, and support their success. 7. Realize that when the Re-Direct is over, it’s over.
“Using the Three Secrets probably represents only 20% of the activities we engage in, yet they help us achieve 80% of the outcome we’re looking for. It’s the old 80/20 law.”
“With most of the organizations I worked in, I often didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing. No one bothered to tell me. If you asked me whether I was doing a good job, I would say either ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I think so.’ If you asked why I thought so, I would reply, ‘I haven’t been chewed out by my boss lately’ or ‘No news is good news.’ It was almost as if my main motivation was to avoid punishment.”
“Because they don’t know where the pins are—what they’re aiming at. I get it. How long would they want to bowl if they couldn’t see the pins?”
“I believe many managers assume wrongly that the people on their team know what to aim for. “When you assume that people know what’s expected of them, you are creating an ineffective form of bowling. You put the pins up, but when the bowler goes to roll the ball, he notices there is a sheet across the pins. So when he rolls the ball and it slips under the sheet, he hears a crack but doesn’t know how many pins he knocked down. When you ask him how he did, he says ‘I don’t know. But it felt good.’
“It’s all because the number one motivator of people is feedback on results. They want to know how they’re doing.
“When the bowler goes to the line to roll the ball, the pins are still up and the sheet is in place but now there is another ingredient in the game—a supervisor standing behind the sheet. When the bowler rolls the ball, he hears the crash of falling pins, and the supervisor holds up two fingers to signify he knocked down two pins. Actually, do most managers say, ‘You got two’?” “No,” the young man said with a smile. “They usually say, ‘You missed eight.’”
“I remember one time when visiting my son’s school, I observed a fifth-grade teacher giving a geography test to her class. When I asked her why she didn’t allow the kids to use maps during the test, she said, ‘I couldn’t do that because all the kids would get 100%.’ As though it would
be bad for everyone to do well and get an A. “Everyone might not do a great job of using the resources at hand, so they may not get an A, but why not set it up so that everyone has a chance to be a winner?”
Everyone Is A Potential Winner. Some People Are Disguised As Losers. Don’t Let Their Appearances Fool You.
“I understand you have them write down only their major goals and responsibilities and not every aspect of their job,” the young man said. “Yes. That’s because I don’t want a lot of goals filed away somewhere and looked at only once a year when it’s time for a performance review or setting next year’s goals.
