The One Minute Manager – Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson – Book Review

The One Minute Manager is a fast read, very brilliantly and clearly written. The idea are straightforward and very powerful. Very simple to implement but takes brilliance to utilize. A must read for all managers and leaders and aspiring managers.

Take a minute out of your day to look into the face of the people we manage. Realize that they are our most important resource.

“The Essence of Knowledge is, having it, to use it”

Effective managers manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence.

One Minute Manager has meetings once a week for a couple of hours. The manager listens while staff reviews and analyzes what they accomplished last week, the problems, they had, and what still needs to be accomplished. Then they develop plans and strategies for the next week.

You need to care about people and results. They go hand in hand.

Helping people to feel good about themselves is a key to getting more done.

Productivity is both the quantity and quality. Best way to achieve both these results is through people.

One Minute Manager does not make decisions for other people, he lets them make the decision.

There are three secrets of One Minute Manager

1. One Minute Goals
2. One Minute Praising’s
3. One Minute Reprimands

THE FIRST SECRET – ONE MINUTE GOALS

One minute goal setting is the first and the foundation for one minute management.

The one minute manager always makes it clear what staff’s responsibilities are and what are they held accountable for.

Each goal is recorded on no more than a single page. It should be no more than 250 words, so it can be read in a minute. Both manager and the employee keep a copy of the goals.

One minute manager believes in the 80-20 goal setting rule. That is 80% of your really important results will come from 20% of your goals. So total of three to six goals are set for each employee.

In case a special project comes up, special one minute goals are setup.

Once the employee knows their job is the manager always makes sure what good performance is. The performance standards are clear. The manager shows what he expects.

“A problem only exists if there is a difference between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening.”

• Read and re-read each goal, this only requires a minute or so each time you do it.
• Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance
• See whether or not your behavior matches your goal.