Catch people doing things right
Most management attention goes to problems — systematically noticing good work is both rarer and more powerful.
Why it works
Negative attention is salient and immediate; positive attention is often assumed or delayed until formal occasions. When the feedback loop is asymmetric — correction is timely, praise is delayed or absent — people learn that performance is noticed only when it fails, which can paradoxically increase anxiety about performance and reduce discretionary effort. Deliberately noticing good work re-balances the feedback loop, which both reinforces the behavior and communicates genuine attention.
How to do it
- Build a habit of actively looking for good work, not just for problems — most managers are already attuned to the latter.
- At the end of each week, ask: "Who did something worth naming this week?" and act on the answer.
- Be specific even in small praises: "The way you handled that question in the meeting" is more useful than "nice work today."
- Resist saving recognition for exceptional performance — consistent good work deserves consistent recognition.
Evidence
The ratio of positive to negative interactions in relationships has been studied in couples and workplace research; higher ratios of positive to negative are associated with higher engagement and relationship quality. Catching people doing things right is the management implementation of this ratio principle. (observational)
The Gottman ratio (five positives to one negative) is from couples research; generalization to management contexts is plausible but the specific ratio is not validated in workplace settings. The principle of balancing correction with recognition is broadly supported.
Common mistake
Reserving recognition for outcomes (delivered the project) rather than behaviors (the specific way they handled the hard moment) — outcome praise is random (outcomes depend on many factors) while behavior praise is accurate and actionable.
Practice this with IX Coach
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More practices for The One Minute Manager: Three Practices That Still Work
- One-minute goals: write them short enough to re-read in a minute
A goal that cannot be stated on a single page is too vague to be evaluated or acted on.
- One-minute praisings: specific, immediate, genuine
Praise that names the exact behavior immediately after it occurs reinforces that behavior far more effectively than delayed or generic recognition.
- One-minute reprimands: immediate, specific, behavior-not-person
Effective correction is fast, focuses on the specific behavior, and ends with reaffirmation of the person’s value.
- Agree in advance on what good performance looks like
Performance conversations go badly because the standard was never made explicit — the reprimand is the first time it is stated.
- Use brief, frequent touch-points rather than long, rare meetings
Frequent short feedback loops beat rare long reviews because the gap between behavior and feedback is what determines whether feedback changes anything.
Related concepts
- Radical Candor, Made Practical
The 2x2, the mechanisms behind real candor, and an honest read on the evidence
- Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
The report-owned, recurring meeting for growth and unblocking
- The Coaching Habit: Seven Questions to Be More Coach-Like
Seven questions that make you more useful than advice — and why they work