🎯The One Minute Manager | A Steemit Review⏰

“People who feel good about themselves, produce good results.”― Kenneth H. Blanchard

I have written a similar review for another book co-authored by Ken Blanchard here: 🎯🐳Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships in Steemit🐳.

About The Authors

The One Minute Manager is just one of over 60 books published in Blanchard's extensive writing career. Kenneth Hartley Blanchard is the Chief Spiritual Officer of San Diego, California based company - The Ken Blanchard Companies. The Ken Blanchard Companies is a training and consulting firm on management with international clients. Patrick Spencer Johnson who co-authored the book with Blanchard is most popular for hi 1998 motivational book Who Moved My Cheese?. Before Johnson died in San Diego on July 3, 2017 at the age of 78 he was known for being an author and physician.

About The Book

The book can be read in one sitting being only 100-pages long. Just like Whale Done, The One Minute Manager is written in narrative form. The main character was in search of an effective manager for many years all over the world when he heard about one specific manager - "The One Minute Manager". He spent time speaking with him and his staff to talk about some realistic and practical management and leadership practices. The lessons from the book will seem almost simplistic and common sense in nature, yet many leaders of today still miss many of the practices presented.

Mid-level managers probably have the most challenging roles in the corporate world. One one hand, they are accountable for making sure that their staff feel supported, accomplished, and satisfied; on the other hand ensure that they drive the organization's bottom line and protect the company's interests. This often leads to a great separation between leaders that are pro-employees, and leaders that are pro-management. The One Minute Manager presents practices in leadership and management without having to make a choice between the two.

Here are the main ideas presented in the book.

• Effective managers conduct themselves in a way from which both the people, and the organization benefit/profit.

• How to make people feel good about themselves, people they work with, and the organization - producing valuable results in the process.

• How investing an extra minute with staff makes a big difference in business results.

One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praises, and One Minute Reprimand in the following sections are all taken directly from the book.

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 goals.

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.

One Minute Reprimands

• 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:

• Reprimand people immediately.
• Tell people what they did wrong—be specific.
• Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong—and in no uncertain terms.
• Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel.

The second half of the reprimand:

• Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side.
• Remind them how much you value them.
• Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation.
• Realize that when the reprimand is over, it’s over.

Steemit Review

The book while being a best-seller was heavily criticized for it's simplicity - as if it was written for school children, some claims - poorly. I think there is point to the book being written just the way it was. I am a firm believer that leadership in a great majority of time is about simplifying things for the people we lead. I have no claim in saying I am the smartest leader. My staff will tell you about my being one of the simplest, and understanding leader.

I refuse to do an hour long meeting if by being organized I can deliver the message and answer questions in five minutes. People who don't know me much can take me as impatient - my staff knows I am efficient, I hate wasting other people's time and expect that people will have the same respect for my time. Impatience can be a virtue too as Richard Branson one time said.

Goals whether personal, or professional need to be explicit, and actions need to be kept aligned with them. I knew early on from when I was just new in the platform that I am in this for the long haul. Because of this, I am refusing to take any short-term gains and am focused on growing my account overtime. Praises need to be public, instantaneous, very specific, and encouraging. This is how comments in Steemit posts one really liked should be too. Tell the Steemit world what you appreciated the most in the post, do it while the post is active so more people will get to read about your appreciation, and a simple encouraging phrase towards the end like "Steem on!", "Keep up the good work!", or "Stay awesome!".

Reprimand is the hardest for most, myself included. I am not fond of confrontations. There are times however that one has to put a foot (or two) down to redirect a wrong behavior. Reprimand should be focused on redirecting an incorrect behavior, and not bringing the person down. I agree in using downvotes only for activities that inappropriately take advantage of the reward pool, I will not use such power for mere difference in opinion.

Credits:

Cover Photo Background Image - Pixabay
Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson Photo
The One Minute Manager Book Photo
Darts Photo - Pixabay
Business People Applause - iStock

References:

The One Minute Manager
Ken Blanchard
Patrick Spencer Johnson