Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson in their book "The One Minute Manager" in an easy way demonstrates three management techniques. I will not go into details, but here is a short summary of these three "One Minute Manager" secrets. 
 
 
First Secret - One Minute Goal Setting
 
1. Agree on your goals.
2. See what good behavior looks like.
3. Write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words.
4. Read and re-read each goal, which requires only a minute or so each time you do it.
5. Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance, and
6. See whether or not your behavior matches your goal.
 
I don't think that I need to add anything, it is very true, very needed, very simple and very hard at the same time.
 
 
Second Secret - One Minute Praisings
 
1. Tell people up front that you are going to let them know how they are doing.
2. Praise people immediately.
3. Tell people what they did right-be specific.
4. Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there.
5. Stop for a moment of silence to let them "feel" how good you feel.
6. Encourage them to do more of the same.
7. Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the organization.
 
This is a wonderful technique that helps you to unveil the potential of the people you manage, you will get more this way. The key in developing a good employee will always be on catching them doing something right instead of something wrong. The worst scenario is when people are basically left alone in their work and manager notice them only when they make some big mistake. How ling will a person work in the environment like this? I bet that not too long.
 
 
Third Secret - One Minute Reprimands
 
1. Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing and in no uncertain terms.
 
the first half of the reprimand:
2. Reprimand people immediately.
3. Tell people what they did wrong-be specific.
4. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong-and in no uncertain terms.
5. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel.
 
the second half of the reprimand:
 
6. Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side.
7. Remind them how much you value them.
8. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation.
9. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it's over.
 
I would use this third management technique very carefully, because if you are going to reprimand an active learner, that might beat him out of his track, but if he has done similar tasks successfully in the past then it's definitely worth it.
 
It was fun reading this book, because it is written ...differently then other management books, I found a lot new things for myself and I hope that you will too, it  was time well spent. Share these secrets, use them as you think needed and keep CoMindWorking .