A friend bought a copy of the One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson in the 1990s and kept it by his desk. I have often been told about the book and judged its relevance by the problems my friend had hitting his targets and motivating his team. When he moved on, he left the book to me and for a year it has sat in my in-tray.
As a raving fan of Gung Ho!, I believed that I should read One Minute Manager and I read the first half without great enthusiasm. The business fable of a young executive setting out to find how to manage and the people that he met seems a bit forced. The concept of one minute goals, one minute praisings and one minute reprimands seems like a cheat. I was ready to sneer...
I had two issues with the book. Firstly, managers need to have domain knowledge before their reports will give them the credibility to be one minute managers. Secondly, the idea of managers having lots of spare time seemed like a cheat. This book will mess lots of people up, like my friend, I thought.
But then I read, on page 72, this:
"'You see', the manager said, 'you really have three choices as a manager. First, you can hire winners. They are hard to find and they cost money. Or second, if you can't find a winner, you can hire someone with the potential to be a winner. Then you systematically train that person to become a winner. If you are not willing to do either of the first two (and I am continually amazed at the number of managers who won't take the time to train someone to become a winner), then there is only the third choice left - prayer.'"
Wow.
What this book is great for is reminding you that you need to invest in your people. Invest in them by setting them stretching and achievable goals. Invest in them by giving them space to work but keeping in regular touch. Take a minute, look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behaviour matches your goals, the book suggests you should say to your team. Goals begin behaviours, consequences maintain behaviours, it adds.
Many local shop operators pay low wages. But this does not mean that you should have low expectations of your people or for your people. Applying the ideas in the One Minute Manager will help your business become more successful. It's short. It's cheap. Make a plan to read it in the next month.
As a raving fan of Gung Ho!, I believed that I should read One Minute Manager and I read the first half without great enthusiasm. The business fable of a young executive setting out to find how to manage and the people that he met seems a bit forced. The concept of one minute goals, one minute praisings and one minute reprimands seems like a cheat. I was ready to sneer...
I had two issues with the book. Firstly, managers need to have domain knowledge before their reports will give them the credibility to be one minute managers. Secondly, the idea of managers having lots of spare time seemed like a cheat. This book will mess lots of people up, like my friend, I thought.
But then I read, on page 72, this:
"'You see', the manager said, 'you really have three choices as a manager. First, you can hire winners. They are hard to find and they cost money. Or second, if you can't find a winner, you can hire someone with the potential to be a winner. Then you systematically train that person to become a winner. If you are not willing to do either of the first two (and I am continually amazed at the number of managers who won't take the time to train someone to become a winner), then there is only the third choice left - prayer.'"
Wow.
What this book is great for is reminding you that you need to invest in your people. Invest in them by setting them stretching and achievable goals. Invest in them by giving them space to work but keeping in regular touch. Take a minute, look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behaviour matches your goals, the book suggests you should say to your team. Goals begin behaviours, consequences maintain behaviours, it adds.
Many local shop operators pay low wages. But this does not mean that you should have low expectations of your people or for your people. Applying the ideas in the One Minute Manager will help your business become more successful. It's short. It's cheap. Make a plan to read it in the next month.
Comments
Post a Comment