The One Minute Repirmand

OK, so you can see that I'm on a One Minute Manager kick, but this will be a brief article about the "One Minute Reprimand".

So far I have never gotten a "One Minute Reprimand". I actually have never gotten a reprimand that hasn't turned into a "One hour or two hour reprimand"... though parents have the habit of lecturing their kids a little bit too much.

In the work environment though, I have felt that negative feedback often is vague... and almost always not very constructive. I think the problem is with people using "feedback" as a code word for "tearing someone a new one in a politically correct manner". Shouldn't feedback be about correcting or reinforcing particular behavior?

Maybe that is why so many people are afraid of getting feedback and why so many new managers are very uncomfortable with giving good and useful feedback. Maybe they have forgotten that feedback should be about catching people doing good more so than catching people doing wrong.

At least in the places that I have worked, I see that most "managers" are too "busy" to actually do much managing. It's kind of ironic. Managers are too busy doing their subordinates work (micromanaging) and don't give good feedback for fear of being "micro-managers".

The One Minute Reprimand (in a nutshell)

• Immediate - Give the reprimand immediately. Don't you hate those, "Remember two weeks when you were doing that thing... yeah that wasn't really good." Why couldn't the manager tell me this two weeks ago so that I could have fixed it immediately and not have wasted my time and effort on something she didn't like?
• Specific - Be specific about what the offending behavior is so that the person receiving the reprimand will know what to fix.
• Share your feelings - Let them know how you feel about the offending behavior. Let them know the reason why it is wrong... not just that what they did was "bad" in some vague way.
  
• Reaffirm - Even after using the first three rules, people still won't be happy with any reprimand, so take a second to reaffirm to them that you value their contribution to the team and that they are better than the offending behavior.
  

You don't have to leave these rules at the work place. Try them at home... your friends and family will thank me for it.

Until next time,
-Jason