The following contains excerpts from the book, Putting the One Minute Manager to Work (Ken Blanchard, Robert Lorber, Ph.D.).
The ideas in this book augment the original One Minute Manger book, showing processes in how to apply the principles more effectively.
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we believe that music is more than sound, it is relationships. One of the key components to understanding relationships is the subject of Leadership. Learning how to inspire a community to greatness is definitely part of understanding the role of the artist.
An opening chapter asserts, “People who feel good about themselves produce good results.”
The first section of the book deals with “the ABC’s” in getting back to basics. As an acronym, A stands for activators. “Activators are those things that have to be done by a manager before someone can be expected to accomplish a goal. B stands for behavior or performance. It is what a person says or does. C stands for consequences or what a manger does after someone accomplishes or attempts to accomplish a goal.”
It is difficult to give praise for thoughts and feelings, as it is unmeasurable. “If we stick to behavior, things are clearer because behavior can be observed and measured.”
One of the most helpful things we can offer students in our music school in Odessa, Texas is objectivity, providing feedback to the developing student.
A manager has to know when to reset goals and when to reprimand:
- If a person can’t do something, then go back to goal-setting (this is a training problem).
- If a person won’t do something, then reprimand (this is an attitude problem).
5 Steps to training a learner to be a good performer:
- Tell (what to do)
- Show (how to do)
Then - Let the person try
- Observe performance
And - Praise progress or redirect
We endeavor to be successful role-modes for the students in our music school in Odessa, Texas. As teachers, we also are performers and can guide students based upon our own personal experiences.
“Only positive consequences encourage good future performance…only fifteen to twenty-five percent of what influences performance comes from activators like goal setting, while seventy-five percent of it comes from consequences like praisings and reprimands.”
“As a manager the important thing is not what happens when you are there, but what happens when you are not there…and the secret to getting good performance from your people when you’re not there is how effectively you deliver consequences when you Are there- both praisings and reprimands.”
“When you leave your people after a reprimand, you want them to be thinking about what they did wrong, not about the way you treated them.”
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we hope to give our students training and coaching in a positive environment, in which they feel valued.
The authors discourage the positive-negative-positive approach, “I’ve learned that it is very important to keep praisings and reprimands separate. If you start a reprimand with a praising, then you will ruin the impact of your praising…because when you go to see a person just to praise him, he will not hear your praising because he will be wondering when the other shoe will drop- what bad news will follow the good. So by keeping praisings and reprimands in order, you will let your people hear both more clearly.”
The next section of the book discusses the PRICE principle: Pinpoint, Record, Involve, Coach, Evaluate.
“Pinpoint is the process of defining key performance areas for people in observable, measurable terms. In essence, it is the performance areas that you would identify as One Minute Goals.”
“Direct to Record. Once you have pinpointed an area for improvement of a One Minute Goal, you want to be able to measure present performance and track progress in that area…You want to take the guesswork out of performance improvement.”
“It is important to remember that graphs are not meant to be used as weapons, or as evidence in a managerial prosecution. They are designed to be used as training tools as well as nonjudgmental methods of feedback.”
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
“A realistic goal is moderately difficult but achievable. It’s acceptable to you as a manager and it’s possible for your people to accomplish.”
As teachers at our music school in Odessa, Texas we aim to give our students goals that are achievable yet require the student to stretch to attain.
“When you set up a performance-improvement program with people, remember not to set the end-result goal…In the beginning, when working on performance, you need to set things up so you can catch people doing things approximately right (short-term goal), not exactly right (final goal).”
“Coaching is essentially observing their performance and giving them feedback on results. But the whole coaching process is set up by agreeing ahead of time with your people when and how you are going to give them feedback. That part of coaching is done during the Involve step.”
“So prior to actually coaching or evaluating performance, the consequences for goal accomplishment have to be agreed upon in the Involve step of the PRICE system.”
“That’s what coaching is all about, observing behavior and giving feedback on results- both praisings and reprimands. And that’s when you began the ‘C’ or Coach step in PRICE.”
“Remember a basic rule of feedback is that it should be immediate and specific. If the data flow is vague and delayed, it is not an effective training tool.”
“I want to supervise my people closely only if they need it. As soon as they can perform on their own, I am ready to let go. In coaching you want to schedule fewer and fewer feedback meetings as people move gradually from their present level of performance to the desired level of performance.”
“Many managers just shout out destinations (goals) and then sit back and wait for people to reach them. What’s helpful about the PRICE system is that is suggests that coaching is a process of managing the journey…Every time you give someone feedback, you are evaluating. You want to continually determine how well performance is going in pinpointed areas. Are you getting the results you want? If not, why not?”
It is important in evaluations that the learner is convinced that you mean them no harm. “Most evaluation systems suggest that there always have to be winners and losers.” Instead, “you are always trying to find out whether you are getting the desired results.”
“Performance can break down at every step of the PRICE system. You might have pinpointed an irrelevant area. Or you might be recording data ineffectively. In involving your people you might have agreed upon too low or too high a goal, your feedback might be erratic, or your consequences not sufficiently motivating. So you are taking some significant responsibility for ensuring that your people perform well.”
“My job as a manager is not just to sit back, cross my arms, look stern, and evaluate. It’s to roll up my sleeves and be responsive to people and what they need to perform well…So you have to keep your eyes and ears open.”
“We find it more constructive to have people competing against themselves and a performance standard rather than competing with each other.”
Remember in coaching, that “Anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly- at first.”
“Employees needed to know: what they were being asked to do (accountability system); what good behavior looked like (performance-data system); how well they were doing (feedback system); and what they would get for good performance (recognition system).”
The PRICE projects can be set up within the One Minute Goal. “The goals themselves identified the pinpointed areas of interest. Present performance on each of these goals was recorded. Then each employee was involved in goal setting, as well as in establishing coaching and counseling strategies. Then coaching began. Managers were responsive to their people’s needs for supervision. Everybody wanted the others to win. When evaluation came around, progress was reviewed and new goals set.”
It is our goal at our music school in Odessa, Texas to bring the student to a place of full autonomy, where they are self-aware enough to learn, grow, and develop on their own, apart from an outside source. This is when the student reaches maturity and is now able to replicate the process by becoming a teacher and coach of others.