3 Secrets of the One-Minute Manager

It’s been almost ten years since I first co-authored The One Minute Manager with Spencer Johnson. I still get feedback from people who say it has changed the way they work, parent or coach. Companies which have put its principles into practice are finding significantly improved morale and productivity. The advice is as valuable for the ’90s as it was for the ’80s. Here are the initial three secrets again:

The First Secret: One Minute Goals.

All good performance starts with clear goals. If we were going to improve the performance of people all over this country, the simplest and easiest way would be to make sure people have clear goals.

I had breakfast recently with Lou Holtz, Notre Dame’s head football coach. He showed me a little book he had for himself and for each of his players in which everyone writes individual goals and team goals for each season. Why does he use these books? He says, “Of all my experiences in managing people, the power of goal setting is the most incredible.”

Here’s the secret of One Minute Goals. Create a model for good behavior by agreeing on your goals up front. Make sure you write out each of your goals. Limit the number of goals to five. Write down what the present level of performance is on each goal and then what level you want.

The discrepancy between the actual and the desired goal becomes the area for improvement.

Give yourself a deadline for reaching that new level. Make several copies of your goals for home and work so you can refer to them daily. Look at your goals, then look at your behavior and see if your behavior matches your goals.

The Second Secret: One Minute Praisings.

Of all the things I’ve taught over the years, I can’t say enough about the importance of praising. The key to developing people will always be to concentrate on catching them doing something right instead of blaming them for doing something wrong. Yet most managers persist in basically leaving their people alone until they make a mistake that’s noticeable. Then the manager criticizes. I call that a “leave-alone-zap” management style or “seagull management.” Seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, and then fly out.

Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing. Then emphasize three main things with praisings. First, be immediate. Don’t save praisings for a holiday.

Second, be specific. Just saying to people, “Good job,” is nice but is not very helpful because they do not know specifically what is good so that they could do it again.

Third, share your feelings about their work. Tell people how good you feel about what they did that was right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there. Stop for a moment to let them enjoy “feeling” how good you feel. End with a reaffirmation and encourage them to keep up the good work.

Remember to praise progress even if it is only approximately right. Perfect behavior is a journey that happens one step at a time. A manager’s job is to manage the progress toward the goal. A good manager thus constantly looks for opportunities to praise progress or to redirect.

The Third Secret: One Minute Reprimands.

What do you do when people do not perform well or make limited or no progress toward their goals? You have to hold them accountable.

The first remedy for poor performance should be redirection, which means going back to goal setting, trying to find out what went wrong and getting them back on track. Never reprimand or punish a learner. You’ll immobilize him.

If you are dealing with somebody who knows better, who has performed a similar task well in the past, then a One Minute Reprimand might be appropriate.

Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know in no uncertain terms how they are doing. Reprimand people immediately. Tell people exactly how you feel about what they did wrong.

Then pause. This helps you make the transition from your feelings in order to set up the last and probably the most important part of a reprimand: reaffirmation.

Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation. You want to get them back on course, not to try to make them feel bad. Remind them how much you value them. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it’s over.

One of my favorite thoughts on management comes from Dan Ferguson, chairman of the board of the Newell company, a billion-dollar manufacturing company in the home supply field. He told me he is most effective as a manager when he thinks of himself as the sixth man on a basketball team. When they want to call him into the game he is happy to play, but if they don’t need him he is also happy to stay on the sidelines and cheer.