•when you praise a person, tell them exactly what they’ve done right

•KISS = Keep It Short and Simple

•ABC method: A = activators. It is those things that are done by a manager before someone accomplishes a goal (instructions, performance standards, metrics). B = behavior. It is what a subordinate does. C = consequences. It is what a manager does after someone accomplishes a goal (praising, reprimand). If managers can learn to understand and deliver the necessary activators (A) and consequences (C), they can ensure more productive behavior (B).

•reprimand shouldn’t be used for subordinates who are just learning. It can demotivate them and make them feel insecure 

•you can really tell how good a manager you are, is not by what happens when you are next to your subordinates, but by what happens when you're not there. And the secret to getting good performance from them when you're not there is how effectively you deliver consequences when you are there

•Good performers are usually self-correcting. If they make a mistake, they fix it before anyone else notices.

•you only reprimand when you know the person can do better. When you leave your people after a reprimand, you want them to be thinking about what they did wrong, not about the way you treated them.

•one way to implement the ABC system is to create praising coupons which customers can give to the most friendly and helpful personnel

•if someone says, “you can't measure performance in my job”, we

suggest that maybe we should eliminate the position and see if we've lost anything. It's amazing how interested people get in establishing ways to measure performance in their jobs.

•proof of someone’s mistakes should be shared without judgment and in a spirit of learning

•feedback is the breakfast of champions 

•In the beginning, when working on performance, you need to set things up so you can catch people doing things approximately right (short-term realistic goal), not exactly right (final ideal goal). It allows subordinates to build the right system of habits

•PRICE method: Pinpoint (determine the area of improvement), Record (set a graph that the subordinate can use for continuous feedback), Involve (agree on short-term and long-term goals), Coach (observe performance), Evaluate (determine future strategies)

•You can use PRICE to achieve excellence in all parts of your life. Set it up for losing weight or for your kids' school grades.

•We find it more constructive to have people competing against themselves and a performance standard rather than competing with each other.

•incentives which aren’t personal and which don’t involve any emotional commitment from the boss are insulting to employees