‘Whale Done’ - Review and Takeaways

I recently re-read 'Whale Done' by Ken Blanchard – a brilliant author, and I highly recommend all of his books.

The main idea of the book is to focus on positive reinforcement in order to achieve desired outcomes, rather than relying solely on negative feedback. This concept has been proven time and time again to be more effective for both employees and business owners alike.

The authors provide a multitude of examples from their own experiences that demonstrate how this approach can be applied in any environment, whether it's at home or work. They also discuss specific methods that can help individuals become better managers. Such as praising good behaviour instead of punishing bad behaviour, setting clear expectations with rewards when goals are met, and recognising effort even if results don't turn out as expected.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their management skills or create a more positive working environment.

Here are three actions businesses can take to implement the Whale Done philosophy:

Provide consistent recognition for success

Create an atmosphere where employees feel appreciated by rewarding them with verbal praise or tangible rewards when they hit targets or exceed expectations. Even better, make it such that the team are recognising each other, rather than it being a top-down approach.

Focus on problem-solving

Instead of immediately pointing out mistakes made by employees, give them the opportunity to come up with solutions themselves, so they learn from their errors without feeling embarrassed or discouraged. In the long run, this has the massive benefit of having team members come to management with solutions and ideas, rather than just problems and issues.

Make use of “time-outs”

When tensions run high during meetings, allow team members a few minutes away from each other, so everyone can clear their heads before continuing the discussion in a calmer manner.

While there are no “silver bullets” in business, the ideas from Whale Done are relatively easily implementable, and the results are seen quickly. At Kaizen, we have worked with hundreds of businesses, and usually the largest improvements are seen when we start working with the whole team. People really do make or break businesses, and Whale Done is a fantastic approach at maximising the positive impact that they have.