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Why One Minute Goals Work

“YOU want to know why setting One Minute Goals works,” the Manager echoed. “Fine.” He got up and began to pace slowly around the room.

“Let me give you an analogy that might help. I’ve seen a lot of unmotivated people at work in the various organizations I’ve been employed in over the years. But I haven’t seen that many unmotivated people after work.

“One night, years ago, I was bowling and I saw some of the ‘problem employees’ from my previous organization. One of the real problem people, who I remembered all too well, approached the line and rolled the bowling ball. Soon he started to hoot and holler and jump around. Why do you think he was so happy?” “Because he knocked down all the pins.”

“Exactly. Why do you think he and other people don’t have that same level of excitement at work?” The young man gave it some thought. “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?” “Right,” said the One Minute Manager. “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 like playing golf at night. A lot of my friends have given up golf, and when I asked them why, they said, ‘Because the courses are too crowded.’ “When I suggested they play at night, they laughed, because who would ever play golf without being able to see where to hit the ball?

“It’s the same with watching team sports. How many people would watch two teams compete if there was no way to score?” “Yeah. Why is that?” asked the young man.

“It’s all because the number one motivator of people is feedback on results. They want to know how they’re doing.

“In fact, we have another saying here that’s worth noting: Feedback Is the Breakfast of Champions. It’s feedback that keeps us going.

“Unfortunately, even when some managers learn that feedback on results is the number one motivator of people, they usually set up a third form of bowling.

“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.’” “That’s right! The question I always used to ask was, ‘Why doesn’t the manager “lift up the sheet” so both of you can see the pins?’ The answer was that he had the great business tradition of performance review coming up.” “Because he had performance review coming up?” wondered the young man aloud.

“Why is it,” the Manager asked, “that most people don’t know how they’re doing until they go through their performance review, and learn all the things they didn’t do right?

“Then when the person is told they are not up for a bonus or a promotion, how does that person feel? How long will it be before they start wishing they worked somewhere else?” “I know the answer. One minute!” the young man joked.

The Manager laughed.

“Why do you suppose managers would put someone through that?” asked the young man.

“So they can look good,” said the Manager.

“What do you mean?”

“How do you think you would be viewed by your boss if you rated everyone that reported to you at the highest level on your performance review scale?” “Probably as a soft touch—someone who can’t discriminate between good performance and poor performance.” “Precisely,” said the Manager. “In order to look good as a manager in most organizations, you have to catch some of your people doing things wrong. You have to have a few winners, a few losers, and everyone else somewhere in the middle.

“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?” The Manager continued, “I remember once reading that back when practically everyone knew their own phone number, someone asked the genius Albert Einstein what his number was and he went to the phone book to look it up.

“He said he never cluttered his mind with information he could find somewhere else.

“Now, if you didn’t know better, what would you think of someone in those days who had to look up his own number? Would you think he was a winner or a loser?” The young man grinned and said, “Probably a loser.”

“Sure,” the Manager responded. “I would, too. But we’d both be wrong, wouldn’t we?” The young man nodded his agreement.

“It’s easy for any of us to make this mistake,” the Manager said. Then he showed his visitor something on his computer. “Look at this.”

Everyone is a potential winner. Some people are disguised as losers don’t let their appearances fool you. You see the manager said you really have three choices as a manager.

First, you can hire winners. They are hard-to-find and they cost money or second if you can find a winner, you can hire someone with the potential to be a winner. Then you systematically help that person become a winner.

If you are not willing to do either of the first two and I am continually amazed at the number of managers who won’t spend the money to hire a winner or take the time to develop someone to become a winner and there is only the third choice left prayer that stopped the young man cold.

Prayer? The manager laughed quietly. That’s just my attempt at humor young man, but when you think about it there are many managers who were saying this prayer daily.

Please let this person work out. The young man laughed and said if you hire a winner. It’s really easy to be a one minute manager isn’t it?

Sure that the manager with a smile. All you have to do with people who were winners is that one minute goals and let them run with the ball.

I understand from John Leavy you almost don’t even have to do that with him. You’re right said the manager. he’s forgotten more than most people know around here but with everyone winner war potential winner setting strategic one minute goals is a basic tool for productive behavior.

Is it true that no matter who initiates setting the one minute goals? the young man asked.

Each goal always needs to be described on one page, including due dates?

Yes, it’s true.

Why is that ?So people can quickly review their goals daily and check their performance against those goals. 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. As you might’ve seen people on our team keep this valuable reminder nearby. He handed him a card that read take a minute to look at your goals, then look at what you’re doing and see if it matches your goals.

The Young man was amazed at the powerful simplicity of those words. Could I get a copy of that? He asked. Sure, the manager said.

As he was taking notes on what he was learning the aspiring young managers said: you know it’s difficult to grasp everything there is to learn about one minute management in such a short time. There’s certainly more like to learn about one minute goals but could we move on to discuss one minute praising’s?

Sure you’re probably wondering why they work too.

Well I think everyone likes to be praised. But after a while don’t people start to feel like the praising’s are fake? The manager responded that depends on whether the praising is merited and sincere.