This article answers the burning business questions: Why don’t you play golf at night? … How do I get my employees to do the right things and focus on profit? … What is the real secret to motivating my employees?  … How do I create an environment that fosters employee enthusiasm?  And, tell me again, why don’t you play golf at night? … 

The One Minute Manager
Excerpt from Chapter 11:
“Why One Minute Goals Work”

You want to know why One Minute Goals work,” the manager said.  “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’ve never seen an unmotivated person after work. Everyone seems to be motivated to do something.

“One night, for example, I was bowling and I saw some of the ‘problem employees’ at work from my last organization. One of the real problem people, who I remembered all too well, took the bowling ball and approached the line and rolled the ball. Then he started to scream and yell and jump around. Why do you think he was so happy?”

“Because he got a strike. He had knocked down all the pins.” “Exactly. Why don’t you think he and other people are that excited at work?”

“Because he doesn’t know where the pins are,” smiled the young man. “I get it. How long would he want to bowl if there were no pins?”

“Right,” said the One Minute Manager. “Now you can see what happens in most organizations. I believe that most managers know what they want their people to do. They just don’t bother to tell their people in a way they would understand. They assume they should know. I never assume anything when it comes to goal setting.

“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 that they play at night, they laughed because who would ever play golf without being able to see the pins?

“It’s the same with watching football. How many people in this country would sit in front of their TV’s on a Sunday afternoon or Monday night and watch two teams run up and down the field if there were no goals to shoot at or any way to score?”

“Yeah! Why is that?” asked the young man. “It’s all because clearly the number one motivator of people is feedback on results. In fact, we have another saying here that’s worth noting: ‘Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions.’  Feedback keeps us going. Unfortunately, however, when most managers realize 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 the falling pins, and the supervisor holds up two fingers to signify you knocked down two pins. Actually, do most managers say you got two?”

“No,” the young man smiled. “They usually say you missed eight.”

“Right on!” said the One Minute Manager.

“The question I always used to ask was why doesn’t the manager ‘lift the sheet up’ so both he and his subordinate can see the pins.

Why? …”

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 Feedback is the
Breakfast of Champions.

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Take a Minute:
Look at Your Goals

Look at
Your Performance

See if Your Behavior
Matches Your Goals

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A final thought: Ken Blanchard spoke at a conference I attended several years ago.  He observed that the reason the One Minute Manager concept was so popular around the world was because: “it is so simple, that even upper management can understand it!”