Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy called ''Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A''

by Ken Blanchard, Garry Ridge

Ken Blanchard’s Leading at a Higher Level techniques are inspiring thousands of leaders to build high-performing organizations that make life better for everyone. Now, in Helping People Win at Work, Blanchard and WD-40 Company leader Garry Ridge reveal how WD-40 has used Blanchard’s techniques of Partnering for Performance with every employee--achieving levels of engagement and commitment that have fortified the bottom line.

 

Ridge introduces WD-40 Company’s year-round performance review system, explaining its goals, features, and the cultural changes it requires. Next, he shares his leadership point of what he expects of people, what they can expect of him, and where his beliefs about leadership and motivation come from. Finally, Blanchard explains why WD-40 Company’s Partnering for Performance system works so well--and how to leverage its high-value techniques in your organization. In this book, you’ll learn how

 

·         Stop building failure into your mentoring of employees

·         Set goals using the SMART specific, motivational, attainable, relevant and trackable

·         Help people move through all four stages of mastery

·         Create a culture that shares knowledge and encourages nonstop learning

 

 “I’m thrilled that the first book in our Leading at a Higher Level series is with Garry Ridge, president of WD-40 Company. For years I’ve been concerned about how people’s performance is evaluated. People are often forced into a normal distribution curve, or even worse, rank ordered. Not only does this not build trust, it also does not hold managers responsible for coaching people and helping them win. The manager’s responsibility is focused on sorting people out.

 

When I was a college professor, I always gave my students the final exam at the beginning of the course and spent the rest of the semester helping them answer the questions so that they could get an A. Life is all about getting As, not some stupid normal distribution curve. Garry Ridge got this, and wow! What a difference it has made in WD-40 Company’s performance.”

--Ken Blanchard

 

“When I first heard Ken talk about giving his final exam at the beginning of the course and then teaching students the answers so they could get an A, it blew me away. Why don’t we do that in business? So that’s exactly what I did at WD-40 Company when we set up our ‘Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A’ performance management system. Has it made a difference? You’d better believe it. Ever since we began the system, our company’s annual sales have more than tripled, from $100 million to more than $339 million. And we’ve accomplished this feat while making the company a great place to work.”

--Garry Ridge

 

 

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Self Help, Management, Personal Development, Professional Development

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 8, 2009

About the author

For business & leadership, see Kenneth H. Blanchard

Reviews

[Bryan Rahija · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was suggested that I read this for work. Philosophy is nice - all about setting expectations early, providing frequent feedback, confronting tradeoffs in values, and making managers accountable for their reports' performance. It's high on fluff, and could probably be condensed to a pamphlet / listicle on LinkedIn.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get an A at work

Great and easy read. Inspires you to rethink how you evaluate yourself and others to achieve results. It’s great to know there are businesses that succeed financially by investing in their “tribe.” I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered what it would feel like to make a difference as a leader or wanted to become one.

[Genette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a scan

The three sections written by Garry Ridge were interesting, if a little wordy. I felt like a lot of his philosophy was common sense, but I know many managers who fail to employ such common sense. I would recommend adding this to their bookshelves.

The section written by Ken Blanchard was mostly commentary on Mr. Ridge's philosophy and a lot of plugging his own books. I feel like my time would have been better spent discussing Mr. Ridge's philosophy with my colleagues than reading the final section of the book.

Fair warning: there are a lot of buzzwords--tribe, Situational Leadership, etc. They do get overwhelming at times. It's important to remember to take any leadership book as advice, not gospel, so if those buzzwords don't fit (like calling your team a 'tribe'), you can still employ the aspects of Mr. Ridge's philosophy that will be beneficial to you and your team.

[Nick Woodall · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is just a specific company repeat of many of the Ken Blanchard principles. Don't get me wrong-I love Ken Blanchard. It's just that this book was so repetitious of what he has earlier taught and written about. Sorry, Ken!

[Seth Johnson]

I liked the first three chapters more than the fourth (the only one Blanchard wrote). I loved that it was a case study (sorta) from a successful company. I felt like it would be fun to work for the WD 40 guy. Have a few takeaways to consider advocating for and/or using.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps a bit simplistic, but it provides a useful approach to re-thinking performance reviews.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept and certainly some good points, but the writing was distractingly repetitive. It felt as though the authors reused phrases to increase word count.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of manager's setting up their annual reviews so accomplishments are measurable and obtainable is good in this book and explaining how both parties manager and employee should understand how these goals are graded is well explained. I think the last quarter of the book is weak, a lot of information about other books to read and did not pertain to the subject matter of the book, it also ended rather abruptly. I can say after reading I did find the information useful.

[Caroline Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken Blanchard and Gary Ridge deliver a book that is small in size and big in usefulness. Short, snappy chapters and simple, structured guidance on how to help different types of individual to succeed in your organisation make this a must-read for managers who want their teams to succeed. Contains helpful templates for performance reviews and evaluations.

[Ronak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book mostly for managers but it was good knowing how performance appraisal should be done which would be beneficial for both the company and employee and how it is manager's responsibility to ensure that the employee gets an "A".

[Danielle Routh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think this needed to be an entire book. Also, I would perish if someone fired me by saying "we're going to share you with a competitor." But I work for an organization that uses these principles, and it's a league of its own.

[Kameron Nettleton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this as part of a work reading program. Didn't move me. I didn't even disagree with the premise, it just seemed like a lot of this was pretty self-explanatory. I've had bad bosses, though, so it is good to know that the place I work now is thinking about these kind of things.

[Brandon Early · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bottom line: "Don't mark my paper, help me get an A"

Are you simply grading your teams/individuals or are you helping them win?

[Jason G · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on leadership.

[Marci · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for the concept - completely agree, been doing this for years.

[Amanda Ackerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book for work and I feel like it was good. A lot of common sense items but great reminders for managers in the workplace

[Ana Maria]

muy buen libro.. fácil de leer y es una guía práctica para evaluación de desempeño...

[Leader Summaries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desde Leader Summaries recomendamos la lectura del libro Ayudar a las personas a ganar en el trabajo, de Ken Blanchard y Garry Ridge.
Las personas interesadas en las siguientes temáticas lo encontrarán práctico y útil: recursos humanos, atraer, motivar y retener a los empleados.
En el siguiente enlace tienes el resumen del libro Ayudar a las personas a ganar en el trabajo, Un método para realizar evaluaciones del desempeño periódicas para aumentar el compromiso y el rendimiento de los empleados: Ayudar a las personas a ganar en el trabajo

[Iris]

interesting book

[Evelina Rimkute · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creative and encouragind ideas for managers. Takes in to account many good and vital aspects. Recommended to all, who has a team and wants to achieve good results together

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this read. It was a big heavy on leadership mantras, and phrases, but I looked past that and saw the lessons that I needed in my own young career as a 20-something.

[Haritha Burra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a mandatory reading as part of our 'Performance Management System' class at UCSD. A great read. Threw a lot of great insights. Helped us a lot in our class discussions and projects.

[Leslie Wheeling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great philosophy of clarifying what "excellent" is for your direct reports. Helpful for managers and especially talent management professionals.

[Michal Stransky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great example of servant leadership in company WD-40.

[John Bechtold · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors present a good picture of how management and performance reviews can function to motivate members at work. They share a lot of good ideas.