“The One Minute Manager” by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson

Re-inspired by the simple common sense of Ken Blanchard in "Customer Mania!" I felt this would be a good time to add "The One Minute Manager" to my blog, seeing as it would be a shame to not include one of the most popular management methods of all time to this effort. I have mentioned before that it will probably take a long while to write about all the books I have read prior to beginning this blog, but slowly I will get there, and adding this book is a step in the right direction.

First published in 1981, Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson set managers the world over on a quest to use and apply the simple One Minute Manager formula. I read the book a few years back and now having just reread it I am still amazed at how simple it all should really be. A One Minute Manager operates on 3 simple secrets and they are revealed below. I would still recommend picking up a copy and reading the book for yourself, it only takes a hour and is a nice little story about how to treat people the way they want to be treated, ‘People who feel good about themselves produce good results.’

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
See whether or not your behavior matches your goal.

One Minute Praising:
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 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 Reprimand:
1. Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing and in no uncertain terms.
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.
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.

The whole thing is pretty basic, make sure your people know what is expected, praise them when they are doing it right and let them know when they are doing it wrong and they should obtain the desired result and feel good about doing it. The concept is simple; implementing it, well that seems to be the ultimate struggle doesn’t it?