I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership lately—how we develop better leaders at Jenesis, how Lisa and I make the company less dependent on us, and how we help the insurance agencies we serve build stronger teams.
A few days ago, I found an old CD of The One Minute Manager. I had read the book more than once, but it had been years, so I listened to it again in my car.
What struck me was how simple the ideas are. Leadership can become complicated, but this book brings it back to three basic practices:
- One Minute Goals
- One Minute Praisings
- One Minute Reprimands
The original book called the third practice a One Minute Reprimand. In the updated version, it is called a One Minute Re-Direct. The name changed, but the main idea is similar: address problems quickly and directly without attacking the person.
The point of the “one minute” concept isn’t that every conversation must last exactly 60 seconds. The point is to keep leadership clear, focused, and simple.
One Minute Goals: Make Sure Everyone Knows What Winning Looks Like
Leaders and team members need to agree on the expected result, what success looks like, who owns it, and when it is due.
The word “agree” matters.
I can say, “Bill, go do this thing,” and Bill may nod his head. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Bill and I have the same understanding of what needs to be done.
A better approach is to clearly explain the assignment, ask Bill to paraphrase it back, answer any questions, and then ask, “Do we have an agreement?”
Once Bill accepts the assignment, he owns it. I can support him, but we shouldn’t keep passing ownership back and forth.
This fits nicely with EOS, which we use at Jenesis. Everything should have one owner, a clear definition of done, and a due date.
For example, an insurance agency owner might tell a team member, “I need you to improve our retention.”
Improve it from what to what? By when? How will we know when it has improved? What specific actions should the employee take?
The same problem happens when a sales manager says, “Make more outbound calls,” or, “Improve your closing ratio.” Those are good intentions, but they aren’t clear goals yet.
Even a simple assignment can be too vague.
A Jenesis manager might say, “Bob, reach out to Smith Insurance Agency and make sure they’re happy.”
First, Lisa doesn’t like the phrase “reach out.” She thinks we should just say what we mean: call them, email them, or go visit them. “Reach out” doesn’t tell anyone what to do.
A clearer assignment would be:
“Bob, please call Smith Insurance Agency today and ask if they’re happy with the new feature we added. If they aren’t, get the details about what isn’t working for them and let me know before the end of the day. Does that make sense? Do you have any questions? Can you do that today?”
That may not be a perfect example, but it is much clearer. Bob knows what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be finished.
Here is an interesting exercise from the book: Write down what you believe are the three most important goals for each person who reports to you. Then ask each person what they believe their three most important goals are.
Don’t give them the answers. Be quiet and listen.
You may discover that you are not nearly as aligned as you thought you were.
One Minute Praisings: Catch People Doing Things Right
Managers tend to notice mistakes.
“Bob, you didn’t do this correctly.”
“Bob, we need to fix this.”
“Bob, we’ve talked about this before.”
Meanwhile, Bob may be doing 20 things right every day without hearing anything about them.
The book encourages leaders to catch people doing things right. I really like that idea, and I’ll admit that I don’t always do it as consistently as I should. Things get busy, and it’s easy to forget to thank people or recognize good work.
But an effective One Minute Praising needs to be more specific than saying, “Good job, everyone,” or, “I appreciate all you guys.”
There is nothing wrong with saying those things, but nobody is going home that evening and telling their spouse, “Guess what? Eddie said he appreciated everybody in the team chat today.”
Specific praise means more.
For example, I might say:
“Benny, I really appreciated how quickly you responded to that customer today. You didn’t wait four hours. You jumped on it, which made us look good as a company. I also liked the words you used. You empathized with the customer, told them you were sorry they were having the problem, and made it clear that you were taking ownership of it.”
That tells Benny exactly what he did well and why it mattered.
You don’t have to use corporate language. Say it in a way that sounds like you. I might say, “Man, that was really good,” or even, “Dude, I loved how you handled that.” You may not use “man” or “dude,” and that’s fine. The important thing is that it feels sincere.
Mix up how you give praise. Sometimes do it privately by phone, chat, text, or email. Other times, recognize the person publicly during a meeting.
Don’t wait for an annual review or the completion of a major project. Look for progress and recognize it frequently.
Generic praise feels good for a moment. Specific praise teaches people what they should continue doing.
One Minute Reprimands: Be Direct and Kind
The third practice is the One Minute Reprimand, or what the newer version calls a One Minute Re-Direct.
The main point is to correct the behavior without attacking the person.
Address the problem close to when it happens. Don’t allow frustration to build for weeks, but also don’t fly off the handle while you’re angry.
First, determine whether the original expectation was clear. Sometimes a performance problem began as a leadership problem. The person may not have been lazy, careless, or indifferent. They may have misunderstood what the leader wanted.
Describe what was expected, what actually happened, and why it matters.
The “why” is a big deal.
If you want team members to call customers the day after solving a problem, don’t just tell them to do it. Explain why.
Calling the next day can turn a satisfied customer into a raving fan. Most businesses solve the problem and move on. When someone calls the next day and says, “I want to make sure everything is still working properly,” that feels unusual. It shows the customer that you genuinely care.
Before reaching a conclusion about someone’s mistake, ask what happened. Listen to the answer. Agree on what needs to happen next, and then reaffirm your confidence in the person.
The purpose is improvement—not embarrassment or punishment.
When I was a little kid playing baseball, I was hit by a pitch. I don’t remember where the ball hit me, but I remember being afraid every time I came to bat after that. Instead of standing in there and swinging hard, part of me wanted to pull away because I was worried about being hit again.
When people get hurt mentally or physically, it can take time to rebuild their confidence.
If you come down too hard on someone when they make a mistake, you can create that same kind of fear. They may hesitate, avoid decisions, or stop giving their best because they’re afraid of getting hit again.
That doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations. You still need to be direct.
At C12, we talk about having a buffalo culture. When a storm approaches, a buffalo runs into it instead of running away. That’s a good picture of how leaders should handle difficult conversations.
Run into the storm. Address the problem head-on. Be direct and kind.
Most of the time, the conversation will go better than you expected, and you’ll be glad you didn’t continue losing sleep over it.
How the Three Practices Work Together
These three practices support one another:
- Goals without feedback become forgotten instructions.
- Praise without clear goals can feel random.
- Correction without clear goals feels unfair.
When leaders use all three, they create clarity, encouragement, accountability, confidence, and more independent team members.
That last part is especially important to me.
One of our goals at Jenesis is to develop leaders who can make good decisions without Lisa or me being involved in everything. I want to spend more of my time coaching and mentoring, but that only works if we intentionally help other leaders grow.
Try This With Your Team
Here is a simple challenge you can complete during the next seven days:
- Clarify one important goal with one person.
- Give one specific praising when you notice someone doing something right.
- Have one respectful reprimand or re-direct you may have been avoiding.
Leadership does not have to be complicated, but it does have to be intentional.
Keep things quick, simple, clear, and kind. Make sure people know what winning looks like. Catch them doing things right. When something goes wrong, address it quickly without tearing them down.
In my experience, those habits lead to stronger relationships, stronger teams, and better service—whether your team is serving Jenesis customers or helping families protect their homes, cars, businesses, and everything else that matters to them.