Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called "Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A" (Leading at a Higher Level Series) »

Ken Blanchard has had an extraordinary impact on the day-to-day management of millions of people and companies. He is the author of several bestselling books, including the blockbuster international bestseller The One Minute Manager® and the giant business bestsellers Leadership and the One Minute Manager, Raving Fans, and Gung Ho! His books have combined sales of more than 18 million copies in more than twenty-five languages. In 2005 Ken was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top twenty-five best-selling authors of all time. The College of Business at Grand Canyon University bears his name.

Ken is the chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international management training and consulting firm. He is also coauthor of Lead Like Jesus and cofounder of Lead Like Jesus, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and equipping people to lead like Jesus.

Garry Ridge is president and chief executive officer of WD-40 Company, headquartered in San Diego, California. WD-40 Company is the maker of the ever-popular WD-40, as well as other household cleaning products. Garry has been with WD-40 since 1987 in various management positions, including executive vice president and chief operating officer and vice president of international. He has worked directly with WD-40 in 50 countries.

A native of Australia, Garry has served as national vice president of the Australian Marketing Institute and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association. He received his M.S. degree in executive leadership from the University of San Diego in June 2001. Garry is an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego. He teaches leadership development, talent management, and succession planning in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership program.

In March 2003 Garry was awarded Director of the Year for Enhancement of Economic Value by the Corporate Directors forum. In April 2004 he received the Arthur E. Hughes Career Achievement Award from the University of San Diego. In 2006 Garry was awarded the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur Award.

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, 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 view: what he expects of people, what they can expect of him, and where his beliefs about leadership and motivation come from. Finally, Ken 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.

Partnering to help virtually everyone succeed

Stop building failure into your mentoring of employees

Agreeing on what to evaluate and how to evaluate it

SMART goal setting: specific, motivational, attainable, relevant, and trackable

Coaching via Situational Leadership® II

Help people move through all four stages of mastery

Building a tribe, not just a team

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

Introduction 1

1 Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A 17

2 Building the Right Culture 43

3 My Leadership Point of View 67

4 The Simple Truths About Helping People Win at Work 89

Simple Truth 1 Performing Well: What Makes People Feel Good About Themselves 91

Simple Truth 2 To Help People Perform Well, an Effective Performance Management System Must Be Established 94

Simple Truth 3 It All Starts with Performance Planning 97

Simple Truth 4 The Biggest Impact on Performance Comes from Day-to-Day Coaching 101

Simple Truth 5 Trust Is Key to Effective Coaching 117

Simple Truth 6 The Ultimate Coaching Tool: Accentuating the Positive 122

Simple Truth 7 Redirection Helps Get Performance Back on Track 125

Simple Truth 8 Deliver Reprimands with Caring Candor 129

Simple Truth 9 Performance Reviews Should Be About Retaking the Final Exam 133

Simple Truth 10 Developing and Sharing Your Leadership Point of View Is a Powerful Communication Tool for Your People 136

Simple Truth 11 Servant Leadership Is the Only Way to Go 139

Simple Truth 12 Celebrate Successes 149

Epilogue 155

Appendix A The WD-40 Company Goal Review Form 159

About the Authors 171

Services Available 175

Index 179